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The world has seen the rise and fall of many civilisations. Most of these societies left great buildings to identify them by; others precious manuscripts or stone carvings. Yet, some ancient

civilisations left little to nothing at all for future generations to identify them. The Middle East was once home to some of the world's oldest cultures, many of them forever lost to

time and space. However, in some remote parts of the region, there exist subtle hints at once thriving communities, their isolation being the only reason why archaeologists have yet to find

them. This is when researchers turn to archive works, great stashes of documentation and testimonies that often reveal long-forgotten peoples and histories. Anthropologist Dr Jesse Casana is

one of these people and was previously given access to a catalogue of photographs taken by the CORONA Spy satellite, something that flew over various places of interest to the US between

1960 and 1972. Operated by the CIA, the satellite used the most advanced technology of the day to take detailed and high-definition pictures of secluded areas in places like the Middle East.

Studying the images, Dr Casana found some of the region's - and perhaps the world's — oldest settlements. When they were captured the countryside areas were less industrialised

and so show more of what used to be there, and these ancient sites were explored during the Smithsonian Channel's documentary, 'The Life of Earth: The Age of Humans'. "We

were able to document something like 10,000 previously unknown archaeological sites that through the history of 150 years of archaeologists working in the Middle East, no one had ever

documented," Dr Casana explained. It wasn't until 2007 that the images hinted at a breakthrough, revealing a site that led researchers to reevaluate where the world's first

city may have been, and when it existed. They believe what they identified to be at least 4,000 years older than the Pyramids of Egypt. Known as Tell Brak, the city is largely a mystery,

although experts believe the locals once called it Nagar. Located on the Khabur plain in northeastern Syria, it sits near the Turkish and Iraqi borders and is considered one of the largest

ancient sites in what was formerly northern Mesopotamia. People are believed to have settled more than 8,000 years ago — no surprise given Tell Brak's strategic location on a major

route from the Tigris Valley northwards to the mines of Anatolia and westwards to the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. Researchers assume that because of this the city was a commercial

centre, a notion backed up by some workshops found at the site. Other excavations have revealed evidence of the mass production of bowls and other items made of obsidian and white marble.

Stamp seals and sling bullets have also been unearthed. The city's population was skilled, involved in making things like flints and weapons, as well as grinding basalt to make blocks.

Excavations also suggest that the urban-based society was based on rain-fed agriculture Cuneiform tablets, a system of writing developed in the Middle East, found in Ebla, Syria, suggest

that during the third millennium — some 5,000 years ago — Nagar was one of the dominant cities in this part of northern Mesopotamia. While Tell Brak is thought to have grown even bigger in

the fourth millennium BC, afterwards, it began to dwindle until eventually fading away, coinciding with the so-called Uruk period, Mesopotamia's Copper Age.