The Pueblo Grande de Nevada is also known as the ‘Lost City’ (Image: Getty)
Have you ever imagined a house with 100 rooms which isn’t a hotel or a set of flats?
It may sound hard to believe, but such a place once existed in Nevada’s ‘Lost City’.
The , also nicknamed the ”, is an archaeological site in Southern Nevada, with evidence of Native American cultures dating back over 1,000 years.
The homes within the Lost City were characterised by elaborate structures often with houses of 20 rooms or more and even one huge house of 100 rooms.
The 100-room house was constructed around two main circular courts and on three levels, which suggests a very planned and communal design.
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Many parts of the Lost City remain submerged under the lake (Image: Getty)
Early houses in the Lost City consisted of circular or oval shaped pit-dwellings made from perishable materials.
Later structures incorporated adobe and stone and the larger rooms in the Pueblo Grande site were part of a more advanced architectural phase that evolved from the simple oval or circular shaped pit-dwellings.
The transition from circular, semi-subterranean rooms to rectangular, above-ground rooms is considered a critical step in the evolution of Pueblo architecture.
In the largest buildings, multiple rooms were arranged in a semicircular or horse-shoe layout around central courtyards.
Many of these rooms contained small storage bins made from adobe or slabs, often located in the corners.
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The US’ largest reservoir houses St. Thomas, a ghost town that was submerged in 1938 (Image: Getty)
Fireplaces were found in the larger rooms, generally positioned near one side of the room, and these could be either circular or corner-shaped.
The area was first explored in the 1800s, though it became popular as a tourist destination after being rediscovered in 1924.
The site was threatened by the creation of Lake Mead behind the Hoover Dam, and much of it was submerged.
The Lake Mead is the largest man-made reservoir in the US which spans 640 square kilometers and stretches 111 miles across the Mojave Desert.
Native American groups migrated to what is now Lake Mead in Southern Nevada, developing a unique culture in the Moapa Valley.
This culture, similar to the Puebloans of the Southwest, is now known as the Ancestral Puebloan people and the Hopi people of Arizona consider these early inhabitants their ancestors.
In addition to the Lost City ruins, nearby prehistoric salt mines were also excavated, revealing tools, pottery, and other artifacts.
In 1935, the National Park Service opened the Lost City Museum (formerly the Boulder Dam Park Museum) to display artifacts, allowing visitors to explore the history of Pueblo Grande de Nevada before much of it was lost to the rising waters of Lake Mead.
Several sets of human remains have also been found recently in the lake when the water levels came at a historic low due to a drought.
Today, the Lost City remains a significant part of Native American history, with ongoing efforts to preserve and study its legacy.