What is lost typically is not the location of a city so much as its story, its life in the world. Ancient cities and towns held in their crowded streets entire cultures: rulers and workers, foods ...

Knowing that entire cities once thrived, then vanished without warning, is quite thrilling on its own. The thought of discovering–or exploring them–draws thousands of curious visitors worldwide.

One of the many lost cities is a place called Tharais, which dates all the way back to the Byzantine Empire. And researchers might have just found it.

Two cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, once home to 40,000 to 50,000 people, testified to their sophistication and central planning. They were farmers, traders, and arti­sans.