🇪🇬 Egypt · Tell
Tell Nabasha (Imet)
Old Kingdom to Late Period (2680–332 BCE) · Egyptian (Delta)
Wadjet shrine centre with Amasis monoliths and Cartonnage cemetery.
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CategoriesTemple complexes
Sacred precincts, sanctuaries and the architecture of ritual.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Late Neolithic · Grooved Ware Orcadian
Major Late Neolithic walled enclosure (c.3200–2300 BCE) between Ring of Brodgar and Stenness, with monolithic structures including Structure 10 (25 m hall) with painted stone, tiled roof and imported…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Tell
Old Kingdom to Late Period (2680–332 BCE) · Egyptian (Delta)
Wadjet shrine centre with Amasis monoliths and Cartonnage cemetery.
🇱🇧 Lebanon · Megalith
Phoenician to Roman (c. 16 BCE–250 CE major Roman phase) · Roman / Phoenician
Monumental Roman temple complex on earlier Phoenician tell, with Temple of Bacchus (best preserved Roman temple) and Trilithon – three megalithic limestone blocks 19 x 4.5 x 3.6 m, 800 tonnes each,…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Late Roman to Mamluk (5th–14th c. CE) · Coptic Christian
Coptic hermitage complex (90 cells) with Church of Gabriel and wall paintings.
🇨🇱 Chile · Megalith
Rapa Nui Period 900–1500 CE; ahu construction 1000–1600 CE · Rapa Nui (Polynesian)
Remote Polynesian island 3,700 km west of Chile with nearly 900 basalt moai monoliths (up to 10 m, 86 t, one unfinished 270 t) carved 900–1500 CE at Rano Raraku tuff quarry and erected on stone ahu…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Archaic / Norte Chico · Caral-Supe / Norte Chico
Oldest city in Americas and largest Late Archaic New World pyramids (c.2600 BCE) – six truncated earthen pyramids with sunken plazas, residential sectors and early quipu and flutes in Supe Valley,…
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Megalith
Tiwanaku Period 536–600 CE (complex radiocarbon dated) · Tiwanaku
Terraced platform mound within Tiwanaku complex famous for precision-cut andesite and red sandstone blocks with drilled holes, flat planes and interlocking joints to 0.5 mm tolerance, scattered as if…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Temple complex
Kushite (3rd c BCE – 4th c CE; Lion Temple c. 300 BCE) · Kushite (Meroitic, King Arnekhamani)
Vast Kushite labyrinth (180×150 m Great Enclosure with 55 columns) and Lion Temple of Apedemak with vivid reliefs of king and lion-god, possibly elephant training ground; Hintze ex...
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Makurian Christian (c. 500–1500 CE; cathedral 707 CE) · Makurian Nubian Christian
Annex quarter south of Old Dongolo's famous cruciform church, with 707 CE cathedral (32×28 m) with 6 granite columns, 11th c frescoes of archangels and king portraits, and palace a...
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Preclassic to Postclassic (300 BCE – 1200 CE) · Mix: Cholulteca, Teotihuacan, Olmeca-Xicallanca
Largest pyramid by volume in world: 450 m sided adobe brick pyramid with successive construction phases, now hill topped by Spanish church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Temple complex
Sabaean–D‘MT (c. 700 BCE – 300 CE; Great Temple c. 700 BCE) · Sabaean–Ethiopian (D‘MT kingdom, South Arabian influence)
Best-preserved pre-Axumite monument, Yeha's Great Temple (18.5×15 m, 14 m high) in ashlar with Sabaean inscription and Ethiopian–South Arabian altar, beside Grat Beal Gebri palace...
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Hellenistic to Roman · Greek/Hippocratic
Asclepieion of Kos in Dodecanese, Kos, Greece is a Hellenistic to Roman temple complex attributed to Greek/Hippocratic culture.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Middle Kingdom (1990–1650 BCE) · Egyptian (12th Dynasty)
Unfinished Sobek temple with 7 shrines on Lake Qarun shore.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic (Maya-Toltec) · Maya (Itzá) / Toltec-influenced
Stepped pyramid-temple at Chichén Itzá with 365 steps representing solar year; equinox feathered-serpent shadow (Kukulkán) descends balustrade.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
New Kingdom · Egyptian (Seti I)
Abydos Osireion (paired detail) in Sohag, Egypt is a New Kingdom temple complex attributed to Egyptian (Seti I) culture.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Temple complex
Nabataean 1st c BCE–1st c CE · Nabataean
Detailed precinct within Petra (already listed as city) – but as distinct temple elaboration: Al-Khazneh 40 m façade and Ad-Deir 50 m, both tombs-temples with Hellenistic façades.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Classic Teotihuacan (100–550 CE) · Teotihuacan
Giant stepped truncated pyramid in Teotihuacan, largest Mesoamerican structure before Spanish, built over cave-tunnel. Avenue of the Dead aligned 15.5° east of north. Faced with tezontle and plaster.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Middle to Late Preclassic · Maya (Preclassic)
Late Preclassic Maya super-complex: La Danta triadic pyramid atop 18 m basal platform, volume exceeds Great Pyramid of Giza. Center of Mirador Basin city covering >2000 km² with causeways.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Maya Classic 250–900 CE · Maya (Chontal)
Maya brick city 56 million bricks, Chontal 250–900 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Epiclassic 650–900 CE · Olmeca-Xicalanca
Epiclassic painted citadel Battle Mural 22 m, 700–800 CE.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Late Classic Maya · Maya (Mutal polity)
Tallest temple-pyramid in Tikal, atop 7 m supporting platform, roof comb; from summit see canopy and other temples. Part of vast Classic Maya city (16 km²) with ~3000 structures.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka · Archaeological wonder
Moriyan Anuradhapura · Sinhala
5th-century rock fortress-palace of Kassapa I atop 180 m column, frescoed Mirror Wall, Lion Gate, with summit palace, hydraulic gardens and moat. Short-lived capital 477–495 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Teotihuacan Classic · Teotihuacan
Second largest Teotihuacan pyramid capping north end of Avenue of the Dead, mirroring Cerro Gordo mountain. Contains burial of sacrificed jaguars, eagles and human offerings.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Temple complex
Zagwe dynasty · Ethiopian Orthodox
11 medieval monolithic rock-cut churches chiselled from tuff into trenches, connected by tunnels, built for King Lalibela as New Jerusalem pilgrimage site; UNESCO 1978.