I guess I have so much material on newly discovered ancient cities, either because I haven't wrote about them for awhile or because this was just a period of great discovery or both.

Sabastiya is located within the city walls of Jerusalem. It was built by Alexander the Great. This is a very special site because it is said that there are remains of many different civilizations in this area and that they go back over 10,000 years. This has to boggle the imagination. It is believed that the area had been home to the Canaanite, Ancient Greek, Herodian, Roman and even the Byzantine empires. The ruins are only one km northwest of Nablus. Omri, King of Israel, settled in this area in the 9th century B.C. Most of the exposed ruins are gone or disappearing, but are open to explore. Anne Gwynne wrote an informative piece on this area and stated that anyone sighted by the settlers will be shot on sight. It is a shame that all this history is just left sitting in the ground.

King David's palace is still being excavated and is located in the ancient city of David which is located in Jerusalem. A seal has been found from 580 B.C. that seems to indicate it is the Seal of the City of David. The seal contains the name Jucal or Jehucal who was the son of Shelemiah and this name appears in the bible in Jeremiah 38:1.

The Carcal City ruins have been recently opened to those who like to explore. These are very important ruins since they are the oldest known in the Americas and date back almost 5,000 years. The ruins are located in a remote Peruvian valley. Many people think that these ruins, because of their great age, prove that our concept of history in the Americas is wrong and that our history goes back much further than first thought. I guess that this can only be proven if more ancient ruins dating back this far, or further, are found. One has to realize that this city was built before the pyramid of Cheops.

In 1999 excavation began on Meroe, an African Kingdom that developed along the nile, somewhere between 800 B.C. and 350 A.D. Archaeologists are not quite sure of the exact date. Its location was about 120 miles north of Khartoum. One of the biggest discoveries found is a stone block. This is not just any stone block, but one that bore the name of King Anlamani from 620 - 600 B.C. This was invaluable because it dated the object. Many beautiful carved blocks were found. Iron smelting furnaces were discovered as were temples and streets. A prison was excavated. The reason archaeologists were sure that this was a prison was that Herodotus spoke of the prison.in the 6th century B.C.

You never know what you will find when you dig up one of these ancient cities. An example of this is that scholars have discovered that libraries go all the way back to over 4,500 years ago. A Sumerian library was dug up that dated back to 2,500 B.C. that contained clay tablets that were located in a single room.

Tel Gezer was a very important Canaanite city from about 2,000 B.C. The city was protected by a huge wall that had a very large tower. The tower was 52 feet in diameter and is the largest tower found in that period. It overlooks the Aijalon Valley and takes up about 33 acres. The city gate can be seen and dates back to 1650 B.C. The city's walls were over 13 feet thick. It is believed that the city had about 25 towers. An ancient water system served the city. This dig suffered terribly from bad archeology when the dig was begun over 100 years ago, but things are getting better as the site is reexamined. Some examples of this are the gate from the time of Solomon that was initially identified as a Maccabean castle and earth strata that was disregarded even when articles were found. It was so bad that the head archeologist stated that "the exact spot in the mound where any ordinary object chanced to lie is not generally of great importance." Nothing could be further from the truth. The main gate of Solomon was dated by the level of destruction below it and above it that was able to be traced. This dig is ongoing today.

Engineers uncovered a Byzantine city quite by accident in Turkey. They were drilling an underground rail tunnel. It seems that you can't dig anywhere in that country without encountering ruins of some kind. The city was a port city discovered in the Yenikapi neighborhood of Istanbul. It is being called the Port of Theodosius. So far they have found a church, a city gate and entrance and eight ships. The ships have the archeologists very excited because they are a mix of old and new ship building methods and have been called the missing links of ship building. It is believed that they date back to around 1,000 A.D.

Scientists have found, what they believe, to be the city of Dwaraka at the bottom of the ocean in the Gulf of Cambay region. This is a city who's existence was thought to be a myth. It was part of the great epic of Mahabharata of India. This is the longest poem ever written. It seems that the scientists were working for British Gas and just stumbled upon the ancient city. So far, artifacts, pieces of pottery and other items have been brought up from the site. Along with the city site, scientists were able to see that two rivers had also sunk and were astonished at this find. Studies show that the Indian landmass was seismically active during the last 10,000 years and major quakes seem to have occurred in 5,000 B.C., 3,000 B.C. and 1,500 B.C.

Not all ancient cities are being dug out of the ground or sea. A new dam in Turkey is set to be built. Like the Aswan Dam that caused an artificial lake to be built that put many ancient towns under water, the new Turkish dam will submerge the town of Hassankeyf, which was the heart of ancient Mesopotamia. Sometimes the needs of modern people for water and electricity are just more important that those needs to preserve the past.