THESE incredible photos offer a glimpse inside some of ancient history's legendary abandoned civilisations.
They show citadels overgrown by jungle, statues lying half-hidden in the sand and gigantic bizarre sculptures carved into rock faces.
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Pictured is Bagan, an ancient city located Myanmar which once comprised 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries
All of these ruins were left behind after the inhabiting civilisations were abandoned following natural disasters, religious conflict and even shifting patterns of trade.
Their fascinating stories have been revealed in a new book called Abandoned Civilisations, detailing how vast societies can rise and fall.
Among them is Masada, an ancient mountaintop in Israel used in an ancient battle between Jews and Romans.
Another shows the lost ruins of Petra - discovered deep within the Jordanian desert by an explorer in the early 1800s.
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These are the giant carved statues, located on Easter Island in the South Pacific, that were created sometime between 1250 and 1500 AD
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This is one of the buildings carved into the cliffs at Petra, Jordan. The area was once a bustling city home to 20,000 people of the ancient Nabataean Kingdom
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This picture is of the Borobudur Temple Compounds, located in central Java, Indonesia
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Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Pictured are its remaining ruins in Turkey
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Naqsh-e Raqab is located in Iran and features mountainside carvings dating back to between 200 and 650 AD
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The Bhimbetka rock shelters, pictured, are an archaeological site in central India dating back to hunter-gatherer societies
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Great Kyz Kala, also known as Maidens' Castle, is found in Turkmenistan and was built in the 8th or 9th centuries
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Chan Chan, in Peru, was the largest city in South America prior to the arrival of Europeans
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Great Zimbabwe, pictured, is a medieval city located in the south-eastern hills of the African country
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Machu Picchu was home to the ancient Incas and is located high in the mountains of Peru
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Carnac, located in Brittany, France, contains thousands of prehistoric stones standing in rows
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Scotland's Callandish Stones also make the list. They were erected sometime between 4000 and 2500 BCE
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Myra Necropolis, in southern Turkey, is famous for its astonishing mountainside buildings from the ancient Lycian culture
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A second Incan ruin is featured in the book - this layered archaeological site in Peru which was designed to form irrigated terraces
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The so-called Nazca Lines in Peru feature stunning designs of shapes, monkeys, humans and other creatures
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Tikal is an ancient Mayan ruin located deep within the rainforests of Guatemala
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This stunning photo shows the Ajanta Caves, which are ancient cave monuments in India
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Twyfelfontein, in Namibia, is another series of ancient rock engravings featured in the book
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This image is of Sigiriya, an ancient rock fortress in Sri Lanka. It was said to have been selected as the location for a former king's palace
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This picture shows the ancient Mayan city of Palenque, located in modern day Mexico
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The Abu Simbel temples are two massive carvings located on the border between Egypt and Sudan
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Persepolis was the capital of the first Persian Empire and is located in Iran
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More than 90 ancient civilisations are pictured and analysed in the Abandoned Civilisations book
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