lost worlds
Civilizations swallowed by time
Lost worlds are remote, undiscovered places where prehistoric life or ancient civilizations supposedly survive, isolated from the modern world.
The concept became a literary genre after Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel *The Lost World*, featuring dinosaurs on a South American plateau.
The term extends to any forgotten or hidden realm: explorers searching for lost worlds in the Amazon, the lost world of silent film.
Figuratively, it describes vanished ways of life: My grandmother's stories were glimpses of a lost world.
- AtlantisMythical sunken island
- Göbekli TepeAncient megalithic ritual site
- ancient ruinsDecayed structures from antiquity
- AvalonMystical island of lore
- PompeiiVolcano-buried Roman city
El Dorado · Lemuria · Zealandia · Beringia · Machu Picchu · Mu · Angkor Wat · Shangri-La · Neverland · Easter Island · Babylon · Narnia · Middle-earth · Troy · Wakanda · dinosaurs · temple · jungle
- adventure fictionpirates, treasure hunts, shipwrecks, sea voyages, exploration
- exploration themesexploration, adventure tales, pioneering spirit, sea voyages, polar exploration
- fictional mapsfantasy maps, treasure maps, Neverland, Atlantis, enchanted lands
- boys' booksadventure stories, adventure tales, mystery tales, mystery novels, survival stories
- dinosaur topicsfossil finds, fossil digs
- adventureadventure, quest, quests, exploration, explorers