Ubar, the Atlantis of the Sands
Legend told of Ubar, a rich city of the incense trade swallowed by the sand. In 1992, satellite images led explorers to its ruins.
What was reported
Arabian legends and the Quran speak of Iram or Ubar, a wealthy city destroyed for its people's pride. T.E. Lawrence called it 'the Atlantis of the sands'. Explorers searched the deserts of southern Arabia for it for decades.
In the early 1990s, a team including filmmaker Nicholas Clapp, archaeologist Juris Zarins and explorer Ranulph Fiennes used radar images from NASA's Space Shuttle to trace old caravan tracks, which converged on Shisr in Oman.
Explanations offered
There, in 1992, they excavated a fortress around a well, a trading post on the frankincense route, which had partly collapsed into a sinkhole beneath it. Many think this was the Ubar of legend, though some historians argue Ubar was a region rather than a single city.
- When
- Legend for centuries; found in 1992
- Where
- Shisr, Dhofar, Oman
- Witnesses
- Explorers, archaeologists and NASA radar
- Status
- Partly confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.