. | Photo Credit: LuFeeTheBear

Myth or not, the Lost City of Atlantis, described by the Greek philosopher Plato as having sunk deep into the Atlantic Ocean, has ceaselessly captivated our imagination. But the discovery of another lost city — one that existed until about a thousand years ago, high up in the almost uninhabitable mountains of Central Asia — has caused a massive stir in the world of archaeologists and historians.

Few lent credence to references in 10^th century Arab texts to Marsmanda, located in the Tugunbulak highlands of Uzbekistan. It appeared near impossible that an ancient iron-making, industrial city could exist 7,200 ft above sea level, in what is today a barren landscape. That changed when Dr Michael D Frachetti, an archaeologist at Washington University in St Louis, went looking for relics of the Bronze Age people who lived in the region 4,000 years ago, but instead encountered thousands of mud-covered shards of broken pottery. Wow!

A drone equipped with LiDAR offered a clearer picture of what lay beneath. Soon, an ancient city began to reveal itself — around 150 buildings in a 35-acre area, possibly housing about 500 people.

The Smithsonian magazine reports that radiocarbon dating places the oldest excavated burial around 720 AD, while other finds suggest the region was among the earlier adopters of Islam, judging by burial practices.

The discovery of the fabled city of Marsmanda reminds us that archaeology has barely scratched the surface of history. Some day, even Atlantis may be found — who knows?

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Published on January 12, 2026