Droughts have also been linked to the fall of the Maya around 900 AD and the demise of the spectacular Cambodian city of Angkor in the early 1400s. Ubar disappeared when water levels dipped so low that a sinkhole formed and enveloped the outpost.Īn Egyptian kingdom, likewise, collapsed during an extended drought 4,200 years ago.
Even though Ubar is now located in one of the driest places on Earth, the region was once much wetter and underground water sources were plentiful. Credit: NASA/JPL.Īs scientists dig in to these sites, they are turning up evidence that changes in climate – both large and small – are at least partly responsible for the rise and fall of many ancient civilizations. On the right is an enhanced optical image taken by astronauts onboard the Space Shuttle. On the left is a radar image of the region around the site of the fabled Lost City of Ubar. This pair of images from space shows a portion of the southern Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula in the country of Oman. There, archaeological excavations showed that the team had indeed located a site that matched some descriptions of the legendary Ubar, which it turned out had actually been an important water source and a desert outpost where camel caravans assembled to transport frankincense. Some of the roads ran beneath modern sand dunes but all of them converged on a central point: in southern Oman in the Middle East. Using Clapp’s historical research as a guide, Blom and his team used the space shuttle Challenger to take images that allowed them to detect ancient tracks in the desert. “Nick stood out because he had actually done quite a bit of homework.” Ron Blom, Program Manager for Solid Earth Science and Natural Hazards at NASA's JPL. “When he called, he was obviously not part of the lunatic crowd we often get calls from,” says Dr. At some point many centuries ago, Ubar had disappeared into the sand and Clapp wondered if he might use NASA spacecraft to look for it. The search for the fabled city of Ubar began with a cold call to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1982.ĭocumentary filmmaker Nicholas Clapp had heard stories about a lost settlement in the Arabian Desert that was once teeming with riches.
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