Ancient Villages of Northern Syria

Human Settlements during and before the Byzantine period can be seen at the ruined site of what is now collectively known as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria which dates back to as early as 1st century AD. Till 8th century AD, the villages were in occupation when they were left deserted due to scenes of epidemics which eventually created conditions of food shortage, etc,. UNESCO registered a group of 40 villages clustered in eight sites located in the Limestone Massif as the World Heritage Sites. The ruined architectural remains contains the yesterdays human dwellings, pagan temples and other places of worship, cisterns, meeting places, etc,. It has also seen destruction in the past decade or so due to several unwanted activities of a group of human beings.  

Image from nationalgeographic, wsj, whc, Syria, unesco & farm1

KayaKoy - A World Friendship & Peace Village Where Greeks & Turks Once Used To Live Together

In the 13th century AD some Greeks arrived at the site of Levissi from Dodecanese Islands. There were around 3,500 homes which housed Greeks at first and Anatolian Turks & Greeks alongside after the first stages of its human developmental story. The Greeks were majorly artisans and lived on the hillside while the Anatolians were dominatingly farmers and inhabited the floor beds of the valley. The Anatolians named it as Kayakoy (which literally means the rock village) with which name it’s now known as. 

After the first world war in 1923, the population exchange treatise forced around 6,500 citizens to leave the lands of Kayakoy which aimed to ensure that each nation had only one main religion. The founders had to depart due to the games of humanity. An earthquake in 1957 of the magnitude of 7.1 destroyed the buildings and left it deserted, empty & ruined. It was designated a status of protected archaeological site in 1988 and named as a World Friendship & Peace Village by the UNESCO. It received a Global appeal after the novel ‘Birds Without Wings’ by Louis de Bernières' which was published in 2004 where he developed a fictional village of Eskibahce of whose inspiration lied in the historic district of Kayakoy where Greeks & Turks once used to live together in complete peace & harmony. 

The Nearby Town of Fethiye

Images from sunexpressnews, traveltofethiye, bbci, turkishtravelblog, wikimedia & albatrosyachting

Alberobello - An Italian Medieval Town Built To Look Like An UnInhabited Settlement

A trullo is a small dwelling unit with a cylindrical base and a conical limestone tiled roof. Its design is often remarked as an outcome of the stint performed by the local feudal lord, Count Acquaviva who moved his peasant workers here to clear the land and cultivate it thereafter - to evade the state’s taxation he thought of a distinct design which wouldn’t be considered as an uninhabited settlement. This continued till 1797, when Alberobello was given a status of being a town. The Trulli of Alberobello have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996 especially due to their exemplary display of various ancient construction techniques like drywall construction that has survived till present times and is in a functional state. Alberbello is a small medieval town in the metropolitan city of Bari in Puglia region of Italy which is also known as the ascendant region of the nation. It currently inhabits around 10,000 human beings and beholds in itself the rich heritage of our collective self. 

Images from mustseeplaces, tangoitalia, partinsieme, beautifulpuglia, effitimonholiday & crowdink

Tuvas - An Ancient Chinese Village with Swiss Influenced Architecture

This ancient village of Tuvas is located near to the site of Lake Kanas in China within the mountain ranges of Altai & has only 80 houses. The style of Architecture of the houses Swiss-style which is surrounded by wooden fences scattered among the trees of pine and birch. The valley can be found inhabited by the Kazakhs and the Tuvas which are one among the 55 Chinese ancient minority groups whose traditional occupation has been hunting & gathering till present times. They are great music lovers and usually play instruments during their social gatherings & festivals. 

Altai Mountain Ranges

Kanas Lake

Images from a146f2f200, pinimg,remotelands, thousandwonders, openworldmag & yinghotravel

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Gamsutl - An Abandoned Russian Town Built On The Natural Steps Of A MountainTop

Gamsutl is an ancient Avarian settlement carved out of the mountains in Dagestan, Russia. This human settlement is one of the oldest in this part of the planet. Here are some pictures of our collective ruined heritage that I found over the internet. Cherish few glimpses of our glorious past. 

 Images from lh3, c1, i, russiatrek, loveme & vimeocdn