🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Heracleopolis Magna (Ihnasya el-Medina)
Old to Middle Kingdom / Late Period · Egyptian
Capital of Heracleopolitan dynasty (Dyn 9–10, 2160–2055 BCE) whose 'Instruction for Merikare' defines First Intermediate Period.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Paraetonium (Marsa Matruh) – Lagoon Fortress
Pharaonic to Byzantine (New Kingdom – 7th c CE; Ptolemaic port 300 BCE) · Egyptian / Ptolemaic / Roman / Byzantine
Egypt's western gate on Mediterranean lagoon, Paraetonium began as Ramesses II's western chain fort, then great Ptolemaic lagoon port with Alexander–Cleopatra stopover tradition; l...
🇯🇲 Jamaica · Submerged site
Port Royal
Early Modern (1518–1692) · English colonial / pirate
Infamous pirate capital of Caribbean ('Wickedest City in the World'), 2/3 slid into harbour by liquefaction in 1692 earthquake + tsunami, preserving 17th c storehouses under sediment - 'Pompeii of…
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Sala Colonia (Chellah – Rabat)
Roman / Merinid · Roman / Berber
Roman frontier city at sea, southernmost colonia of Tingitana. Hadrianic walls, capitol, nymphaeum and Merinid necropolis reusing gate.
🇬🇭 Ghana · Ancient city
Begho (Dwinfuor) – Akan Gold Entrepôt
Akan gold trade (c. 1000–1750 CE; peak 14th–17th c) · Akan (Bron) / Hausa Wangara merchants
Sprawling 45 ha Akan trading city with four ethnic quarters (Brong, Kramo Wangara Muslim, artisans, market), producing brass crucibles and glass beads for gold–kola caravans to Jen...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Gobir (Al Kalawa) – Desert Capital Remains
Hausa–Gobir kingdom (c. 1450–1808 reform jihad; abandonment 1808) · Hausa-Gobir (king Bawa Jangwarzo, Yunfa vs Usman dan Fodio)
Final capital of animist Gobir kingdom at Al Kalawa, with 4.5 km desert mud walls and palace tell where Sultan Yunfa hosted then fought Usman dan Fodio before 1808 Sokoto jihad cap...
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Madauros (M'Daourouch) – University City of Apuleius
Numidian / Roman · Romano-Berber
High-plateau Roman university town famed as birthplace of Apuleius (Golden Ass) and Augustine's school.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Birnin Kebbi (Argungu) – Kebbi River Fort Town
Kebbi Kingdom (1515 Kebbi revolt from Songhai – 1808 Fulani) · Zarma–Hausa–Songhai (Kanta Kotal founder)
Rival capital to Songhai after Kebbi's 1515 revolt, Birnin Kebbi on Sokoto River with 5.8 km walls and citadel where Kanta's cavalry defeated Songhai at Surame aftermath; annual Ar...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
El Kab (Elythias) – Walled Town & Tombs
Predynastic to Ptolemaic (c. 3500 BCE – 30 BCE; peak 1550–1070 BCE) · Egyptian (Naqada – New Kingdom – Late)
Twin to Hierakonpolis, El Kab's double walls 12 m high enclose predynastic to New Kingdom town with rock tombs narrating Hyksos expulsion (Ahmose son of Ibana biography). Temple of...
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Zama Regia (Siliana) – Battle Plain & Town
Numidian to Roman (3rd c BCE – 5th c CE) · Numidian / Roman
Applicant for royal Zama where Scipio defeated Hannibal 202 BCE on adjacent plain (battlefield scatter 5 km). Royal town with temple podium, walls and Byzantine fort shows Numidian...
🇺🇸 United States · Buried city
Cahokia Mounds
Emergent Mississippian to Stirling phase · Mississippian (Illinoian)
Largest Mississippian centre (650–1400 CE) with 120 mounds including Monks Mound (30 m, 1000x700 ft base, largest earthen platform north of Mexico).
🇪🇬 Egypt · Fortress
Tell el-Retaba (Wadi Tumilat Fortress)
Second Intermediate to Saite (c. 1800–525 BCE; Hyksos–Ramesside fortress) · Hyksos / New Kingdom Egyptian (Ramesside)
Wadi Tumilat gate fortress claimed as biblical Pithom/Succoth, with Hyksos glacis and Ramesside Tjeku fortress of Seti I (Pr-Atum). Excavated by Naville, Petrie and Polish mission...
🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city
Knossos (Palace of Minos)
Minoan · Minoan
Knossos (Palace of Minos) in Crete, Heraklion, Greece is a Minoan ancient city attributed to Minoan culture.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Kisurra
ED to Isin-Larsa (c.3000–1750 BCE) · Sumerian → Akkadian → Ur III → Isin-Larsa
Kisurra (Abu Hatab) is a Sumerian city-state between Isin and Larsa, with ED palace and Ur III archive. German excavations (1900, 1990s) revealed city wall (2 k...
🇲🇾 Malaysia · Temple complex
Lembah Bujang
Early Kedah to Bujang Valley (200 BCE–1400 CE; peak 500–1100 CE) · Kedah Tua (Qarun) to Srivijaya–Langkasuka
Lembah Bujang is Malaysia's earliest Hindu–Buddhist entrepôt (200 BCE–1400 CE) — 224 candi and iron-smelting furnaces (200 BCE, 30 furnaces) along the Muda River–Merbok estuary, iron export to…
🇪🇷 Eritrea · Ancient city
Adulis Bay – Axumite Port
Axumite (1st c BCE – 7th c CE; Adulis port 1st c CE Periplus) · Axumite / South Arabian / Greco-Roman trade
Axumite Mediterranean port in Zula Bay where Paribeni and Sundström found Axumite church (5th c), Roman wine amphorae and glass, linking Axum to Roman trade; Periplus harbour descr...
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chan Chan
Chimú · Chimú (Chanchan)
Largest adobe city in world: capital of Chimú Kingdom (850–1470) covering 20 km² with 10 walled citadels (ciudadelas) with friezes of pelicans and lattice, reservoirs, adobe walls.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Coptos (Qift / Koptos) – Desert Gate of Gold & Incense
Predynastic to Roman · Egyptian / Roman
Caravan terminus of Wadi Hammamat road to Red Sea moving gold, bekhen-stone and incense. Temple of Min–Isis (Elkab-scale).
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Altava (Ouled Mimoun) – Mauretanian Frontier
Roman to Vandal–Mauretanian Kingdom (1st c – 7th c CE) · Roman / Mauretanian–Berber kingdom of Altava
Most westerly Roman castrum in Algeria, Altava became 6th c Mauretanian kingdom capital of chieftain Masuna rex gentium Mauraorum, with Latin church inscriptions documenting Romano...
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Assuras (Zanfour) – Theatre Hill Settlement
Numidian to Roman (2nd c BCE – 5th c CE) · Numidian / Roman (Africa Proconsularis)
Hill town commanding the High Tell, Assuras' theatre (68 m) crowns a limestone spur above Oued Zanfour, with forum, arch and Byzantine chapel. Libyco-Punic stelae and Roman epitaph...
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city
Mohenjo-daro
Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) · Indus Valley / Harappan
Largest city of Indus Valley Civilization (2500–1900 BCE) with grid plan, Great Bath (12x7 m citadel tank), granary, brick drains and standardized weights; script undeciphered. Abandoned c.1900 BCE.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Thigibba Bure (Djebba) – Hilltop Sanctuary
Numidian to Byzantine (3rd c BCE – 7th c CE) · Numidian / Punic / Roman
Ridge refuge 540 m above Bagrada plain, Thigibba Bure preserves Punic walls, Roman sanctuary terrace, mausoleum, baths and Christian basilica with mosaics, amid fig orchards famed...
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Gao-Saney – Trans-Saharan Entrepôt & Tomb of Askia's Pilgrims
Trans-Saharan (c. 600–1300 CE; peak 9th–12th c as Kawkaw) · Songhai–Berber (Gao empire; Almoravid links)
Old Gao's eastern port suburb Gao-Saney with merchant quarter and cemetery of 11th c Arabic stelae (spirals, Kufic) documenting Islamisation and gold trade to Sijilmasa; stelae mar...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Wukari (Jukun) – Benue Valley Palace Area
Jukun Kwararafa (c. 1300–1900 CE; peak 16th–18th c) · Jukun (Kwararafa confederacy)
Capital of the Jukun–Kwararafa Benue empire, Wukari's palace enclosure (400×350 m) houses the Aku Uka sacred kingship shrine and town walls that controlled Benue–Cameroon corridor...