The Atlas of Mysterious Places: A Guide to the World’s Most Awe-inspiring Riddles

For many people the “hook” of history is not so much what we know about the past as what we don’t know.

Time has left behind a legacy of mysteries and secrets, manifested in the ruins of ancient cities, temples and tombs; in strange, symbolic landscapes and designs upon the earth; in sacred sites where ancient people have sought communion with their gods; and in the persistent rumours of lost lands and fabulous treasures.

Interweaving myth with history and archaeology, this atlas charts the locations of these places and recounts stories that have fired our imaginations and raised a multitude of questions about our ancestors’ mysterious past. Here is a close-up look at more than 50 sites, from the megalithic temple of Stonehenge to the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu, from the lost continent of Atlantis to the fabled treasure of Eldorado, and from the strange earthen mounds of North America to the giant stone statues of Easter Island.