Compared to the billions of years of life on Earth, human history is really short, as short as just over two million years. However, in this short period of time, human beings have done what the earth's former overlord dinosaurs have not done for hundreds of millions of years.
The reason is that human beings have developed their own civilization and have their own language and writing, so that knowledge and culture can be passed on and continued. In fact, from ancient times to the present, an unknown number of civilizations have been born, and some have continued to this day, such as: ancient India, ancient Egypt, etc., but more have long disappeared. But it has to be said that these civilizations also deserve our attention, and they are equally brilliant.
Today, I will take you to see the civilization that was once brilliant in human history.
First: Pakistan's Indus Valley civilization, which is the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent and occupies a pivotal position in the history of world civilization. Between 7500 and 3300 BC, nomadic peoples established the earliest agricultural communities here and tried to develop animal husbandry, but at this time, the main position was still dominated by the fishing and hunting economy.
However, in the Indus civilization at that time, handicraft technology had already emerged, although the skills were not very skilled. However, with the development of time, not only pottery appeared, but even the city defenses around the village were gradually built, entering the early urban stage. Moreover, after the emergence of the state, the Indus civilization ushered in a stage of rapid development, forming a political and economic center dominated by Halapa and Mohenzodaro.
In addition, the emergence of private ownership has made the gap between the rich and the poor gradually obvious. However, after a long period of development and reform, a unified weights and measures and writing have been formed. Moreover, most importantly, the level of urban planning of this civilization is extremely high, and the residential areas, granaries, and handicraft workshops have been planned accordingly. What's more, the sanitation system is more advanced, archaeologists have found limestone in the drainage system, the sewage can be disinfected at any time, and the total drainage outlet is placed outside the city to avoid secondary pollution of the city by sewage.
However, it was such a civilization that gradually declined from 1900 to 1300 BC, the connection with the surrounding civilizations was gradually decreasing, the large cities degenerated into the countryside, and the powerful prehistoric civilizations quickly collapsed. In this regard, some people say that it is due to the invasion of outsiders, some say that it is a natural disaster, and some people say that it is a nuclear explosion, but in the end, there is no convincing answer.
Second: The Khmer Kingdom of Cambodia, and today many of the national territories of Southeast Asia, were once part of the Khmer Kingdom. Long ago, the Khmer Kingdom was the undisputed hegemon of Southeast Asia.
However, much of the scholarly study of the Khmer Kingdom is based on fragmentary literature and surviving temple reliefs from other countries. Thus, unlike other civilizations, it leaves no written record. Today, what we know is that the country's religious civilization is flourishing, mostly based on Hinduism and Buddhism. However, due to the influence of natural disasters, plague epidemics, food, war and other problems, the Khmer Kingdom gradually declined, and finally, it was completely wiped out by Thailand.
Third: Anasazi, New Mexico, USA, "Anasazi" is the Navajo language meaning "ancient people", and the Anasazi people are the ancient inhabitants of the southwestern United States.
But the anazarzi invasion of the American Southwest and their demise have always been a mystery. They first appeared in the southwestern United States in 100 BC, and unlike other civilizations, the Anasazi were best at weaving not mathematics, not astronomy, but weaving. Whether it was their straw shoes or the robes they wore, they were woven by themselves.
But in stark contrast to their backward agricultural techniques, they still had no irrigation system in place even by 400 AD. It can be said that their agricultural irrigation is completely dependent on the rainy season. In addition, as the population grew, it took them 150 years to build 800 public residences. Until the 1920s, it was the largest public residence in the United States.
However, such an artistically gifted civilization inexplicably declined in 1300 AD, and no one knows why. Therefore, scholars believe that the most likely cause is the great drought that struck the southwestern United States from 1276 to 1297 AD. Because the Anasazi people are completely dependent on the sky to eat, they do not have their own irrigation system, so when drought occurs they have to move collectively south or north.
Fourth: Mexico Olmec civilization, Olmec civilization, is the earliest representative culture in the formation of Mesoamerican civilization, mainly distributed in the Gulf coast of Mexico, is identified as the earliest birth of the culture in Central America, is the mother culture of Central America.
Moreover, through the excavations of archaeologists, three main living areas have been found: the ruins of San Lorenzo, the ruins of La venta and the ruins of Tres Sarpots, representing the three stages of the development of olmec civilization. In the San Lorenzo phase, the civilization began to build large stone artifacts, such as the famous giant human head stone statue; by the La Venta stage, the artistic style of the civilization was more complex, and the green rock gradually became the material for the statue; by the Time of Tres Sarptus, olmec's characteristic style was gradually replaced by other civilizations, marking the decline of the Olmec civilization.
According to this, scholars speculate that the main reason for the decline of olmec civilization should be the invasion of foreign enemies.
Because, on most of the stone artworks that have been excavated, people have found many traces of intentional mutilation, and even some human statues have been dismembered and their faces have been destroyed, which should be the masterpiece of the enemy.
Fifth: The Axum Dynasty of Ethiopia, ethiopia's history lasts for thousands of years, and the Axum dynasty period from the first century to the eleventh century AD is the most glorious era in Ethiopia.
The Axum dynasty was a great trading power, and the port of Aduris, which was controlled by it, was the largest harbor at the time. In the works of many Greek writers, the bustling prosperity of the port is described at great length. Moreover, during the Axum dynasty, not only did it completely control the Red Sea shipping, but even the surrounding countries were conquered by Axum. By the end of the sixth century, the Axum dynasty began to decline.
There are many theories about the causes of its decline:
First of all, it was the rampant piracy that the dynasty did not clean up these pests in time, resulting in the gradual depression of the Aduris Harbor;
Second, it was the rise of the Persians, where the Axum forces were driven back;
Moreover, it was the internal instability of the dynasty, and the wars caused by the succession to the throne consumed the strength of the dynasty;
Finally, it was the Revolt of the Queen of Judea that brought about its complete destruction.
Sixth: The Minoan civilization of Crete, in 1900 AD, archaeologists excavated the so-called "Minoan" royal palace.
Later, over the course of several years of excavations, more sites were discovered, most of them farmhouses, but in the eastern part of Crete in the Gurnia region, scholars made astonishing discoveries.
First, on the northern edge of the area, archaeologists discovered not only a complete pottery workshop, but also some complete sets of goods;
Secondly, traces of metal smelting and casting activity have been found in other areas, and some areas for the manufacture of food, bronze and bronze tools have been found on the border. All these phenomena indicate that there has been a long-lasting large-scale handicraft production here. Moreover, archaeologists have also found that the civilization already had a fully functional port for sea vessels 4,000 years ago.
Apparently it was an important part of the Mediterranean trade network at that time, but such a powerful and prosperous civilization gradually declined in an unknown catastrophe that occurred 1450 years ago, which made people have great curiosity. So far, however, no one has been able to explain its decline, and even the manuscripts left by the Minoan civilization cannot be deciphered, and one can only speculate that it is written in the management system of the civilization.
The above six civilizations were once brilliant and powerful, but because of various unknown disasters, they disappeared overnight.
Therefore, while looking for its specific causes, we must also take it as a warning, and we must continue to make progress and continuous development in order to continue our civilization, otherwise, we will also be completely extinct because of some irresistible disasters. In addition, we must strive to decipher the legacy left to us by these civilizations and absorb their essence in order to promote the continuous progress of modern society.
Resources:
[Ramayana,'" "Voyage of the Eritrean Sea," "Sutra of Mountains and Seas"]