🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Abu Mena
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
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The catalogue
1,327 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
🇷🇴 Romania · Ancient city
Archaic Greek to Early Medieval (657 BCE – 7th c. CE) · Milesian Greeks → Getae → Romans → Byzantines
Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea in Dobruja, Constanța County, Istria commune, Sinoe Lake shore near Danube delta, Romania is a Archaic Greek to Early Medieval (657 BCE – 7th c.
🇲🇩 Moldova · Ancient city
Iron Age Geto-Dacian (5th–1st c. BCE) + Medieval Tatar Golden Horde Shehr al-Jadid 14th c. + cave monastery 13th–18th c. · Geto-Dacians, Golden Horde, Moldovan monks
Orheiul Vechi Cave Monastery and Geto-Dacian Fortress in Orhei District, Trebujeni–Butuceni, Răut river loop cliffs, Moldova is a Iron Age Geto-Dacian (5th–1st c.
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Sangam Period, Early Historic to Colonial · Tamil Chola (Sangam)
2nd century Chola granite anicut (329 m, 150 CE) on Kaveri River, oldest functional dam in world irrigating one million acres.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Submerged site
Medieval to Modern (c. 8th – 1922 CE) · Beja / Hadhrami Arab / Ottoman Egyptian
Former African Red Sea capital built entirely of coral rag — 19th-century houses collapsing into lagoon fringing reef.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Ancient city
Dvaravati Culture 6th–13th CE (Mon) → Khmer → Ayutthaya · Dvaravati Mon (Austroasiatic Mon) with Mahayana–Hindu–Theravada syncretism
Dvaravati (Mon) ancient twin-city (c.500–1300 CE) on the Pa Sak plains 200 km north of Bangkok in Phetchabun — UNESCO World Heritage 2023 'The Ancient Town of Si Thep and its Associated Dvaravati…
🇨🇾 Cyprus · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Byzantine (312 BCE – 1191 CE) · Cypriot-Greek / Ptolemaic / Roman
312–294 BCE outer harbour of Amathus city-kingdom preserved as three rubble moles at −4 m — Cyprus's first underwater archaeological park off Agios Tychonas.
🇬🇷 Greece · Buried city
Classical to Late Roman (333 BCE – 365 CE) · Greek / Hellenistic / Roman
333 BCE closed harbour of Phalasarna now stranded +6.6 m above sea by the AD 365 Crete earthquake — rock-cut basin and canal uplifted overnight.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Sabaean Kingdom 750 BCE - 570 CE · Sabaean (Saba) kingdom
750 BCE Sabaean secondary saddle dam (420 m) and north sluice extension of Marib, doubling irrigated area via 2.1 km north canal.
🇬🇷 Greece · Buried city
Early Bronze Age to Byzantine (3000 BCE – 1400 CE) · Helladic / Achaean Greek
Central borehole city of Helike on Gulf of Corinth — Classical grid at –3 m, tsunami couplet at –3 m.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Submerged site
Anglo-Saxon to Late Medieval (630 – 1350 CE) · Anglo-Saxon / East Anglian / Norman English
England's great medieval port lost to 700 years of North Sea erosion — churches, friary and quay now mapped 300–900 m offshore on Dunwich Bank.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (543 BCE – 600 CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan Kingdom
Central harbour insulae of Phanagoria in Taman Bay centre — orthogonal streets and 90 m embankment at –2 to –3 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Early Dynastic to Late Antique (3500 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian Saite / Persian / Greek mercenary / Ptolemaic
Saite 26th Dyn capital 664 BCE — Neith enclosure 700x600 m with walls 20 m thick and harbour 600x300 m now sebkha at +2 m under 8 m silt.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Neo-Assyrian Empire 879-612 BCE · Assyrian Neo-Assyrian imperial engineers
879 BCE Assyrian Tigris weir dam (200 m) at Nimrud with 5 gated sluices feeding Sennacherib's canal cascade to Nineveh.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Late Antique (274 BCE – 250 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman
Central basin of Myos Hormos at Quseir al-Qadim — 90 m coral quay at –1.2 m and 120 m silted lagoon.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Hydraulic works
Early Islamic to present (1,300-yr continuity) · Sijilmassa Hezran + Filali oasis communities
Tafilalet foggara line: 45 khettaras (0.8-6 km, 120-410 shafts) feeding Sijilmassa palm oasis since 8th c.
🇸🇰 Slovakia · Ancient city
Early Middle Ages (7th–12th c. Principality of Nitra; Great Moravian 833–907) · Principality of Nitra / Great Moravia (Pribina, Svatopluk)
Nitra Castle and Martin's Hill – Princely Seat in Nitra Region, Nitra city, Castle Hill and Martin's Hill, Slovakia is a Early Middle Ages (7th–12th c.
🇮🇱 Israel · Hydraulic works
Second Temple (Herodian) to Byzantine · Herodian Jewish / Roman / Byzantine
Mamilla (Birket Mamilla) reservoir (760 m asl, 31°46′42″N 35°13′15″E 31.7786,35.2209) 650 m NW of Jaffa Gate in centre of Mamilla Cemetery, one of Jerusalem's ancient pools (Upper pool of Gihon)…
🇵🇱 Poland · Ancient city
Early Middle Ages (8th–12th c., Viking Age peak 900–1100) · Pomeranian Slavs (Wolinian) + Viking Jomsvikings
Wolin (Jomsburg–Vineta) Slavic–Viking Emporium in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Kamień County, Wolin Island, Dziwna river mouth, Poland is a Early Middle Ages (8th–12th c., Viking Age peak 900–1100)…
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanian 470 CE to Safavid UNESCO 2011 · Sassanian hydraulic engineers; Safavid Shah Abbas I
Sassanian qanat (5th c. CE, 12 km, 400 shafts) feeding Fin Garden, UNESCO Persian Garden archetype hydraulic core.
🇨🇳 China · Submerged site
Tang to 1959 (208 CE – 1959, walls 1546–1563 Ming) · Sui/Tang / Ming / Qing Chinese
Ming county seat intentionally submerged 1959 for hydro-reservoir — stone lions, city wall and Qing mansions intact under 26–40 m fresh water.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Early Bronze (3500–2900 BCE) · Kura-Araxes Early Bronze
Early Bronze (3500–2900 BCE) ancient-city of Kura-Araxes Early Bronze in East Azerbaijan, Moghan (c.3350 BCE).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (700 BCE – 600 CE) · Dorian Greek / Carian / Roman / Byzantine
Dorian Myndus — 150 m causeway to Rabbit Island and drowned harbour walls at −3 m in Gümüşlük Bay, walkable at low tide.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mauryan–Sunga–Satavahana–Gupta 600 BCE–500 CE · Magadhan → Sunga → Satavahana → Gupta
Ancient Vesanagara city mound at Betwa-Bes confluence — Sunga–Satavahana twin capital of Vidisha (600 BCE–500 CE).