eli5: Why were some ancient cities like Palmyra and Machu Picchu left to ruin and fall apart over hundreds of years instead of being repopulated?
In: 1677
There are some common reasons:
1.) Historically, cities were often located where there was some sort of important natural resource. If that resource ran short or vanished, the city would decline or be abandoned. It could be water, natural resources, minerals, quarries, etc. There are many abandoned ghost towns across the U.S which were abandoned once the resource they were built to exploit ran out (coal, oil, gold, etc.).
2.) Many cites were built along trade routes. When those routes moved or were abandoned due to cultural or technological change, those cities declined or were abandoned. I believe shifting trade routes were one reason why Palmyra declined, IIRC.
3.) Some places declined because of the loss of political importance. Imperial capitals would lose population once an empire was no longer to funnel vast resources from remote areas into an imperial core and could not sustain as high a population. Rome is an example of this.
4.) Some cities were poorly located, which hastened their demise once people no longer had a reason to live there. As others pointed out, I believe Macchu Picchu was less of a true city and more of a fortress estate, somewhat like Megeddo in Israel which was destroyed by the Romans. Cities tend to get built on waterways, coasts or lowlands which are easy to transport resources to. Towns located elsewhere or in remote locations are at a big disadvantage.
5.) Sometimes cities are razed or destroyed by invading armies. Carthage was the most famous example of this. Baghdad was razed by the Mongols who destroyed the canals the city relied on. Rome was sacked several times over the years through the sixteenth century, all of which caused population decline.
Those are some reasons off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.
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