Age-old secrets revealed from the world's first metropolises. The hidden wonders of long-vanished cities that once housed kings and hummed with everyday life are being rediscovered thanks to ...

Archaeologists excavate the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Eridu, near Basra in southern Iraq, in 2022. Alla Al-Marjani/Reuters/GTRES. By Antonio Ratti. April 24, 2025.