🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Ditch-Newton Archaeological Complex
Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) · Ubaid
Ditch-Newton Archaeological Complex in Madhya Pradesh, India is a Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) archaeological wonder attributed to Ubaid culture.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Erlitou – Xia Capital
Early Bronze Age (~1900–1500 BCE; Xia to early Shang) · Erlitou ( Xia, early Bronze Age Chinese)
300-ha rammed-earth palace enclosure on the Luo River where 11,000 m² Palace No.1 and a bronze foundry document the transition from Longshan Neolithic to bronze kingship.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock art
Yazılıkaya Hittite Sanctuary
Late Bronze Age, Hittite Empire (~1300–1180 BCE; refurbished under Tudhaliya IV) · Hittite (Hatti–Hurrian)
Two natural limestone chambers behind Hattusa where 90 reliefs carved into living rock depict the Hurrian–Hittite pantheon procession: Chamber A shows 12 underworld gods, sword-god Nergal and the…
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Cussac Cave
Gravettian ~28–25 ka BP · Gravettian
Sealed 1.6 km Gravettian engraved gallery with 4 m bison and bear nests intact since 25 ka.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
El Castillo Cave
Mousterian to Magdalenian ~150–11 ka BP · Neanderthal then Aurignacian to Magdalenian
Monte Castillo reference sequence cave with 40 ka red disks and 150 kyr stratigraphy.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Archaeological wonder
Hanging Gardens of Babylon (claimed sites)
Neo-Babylonian claimed 600 BCE; Assyrian alternative 700 BCE · Babylonian or Assyrian (Neo-Assyrian Sennacherib)
Unlocated wonder: Nebuchadnezzar's terraces vs Dalley's Nineveh screw garden.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Helan Mountains Rock Art
Neolithic to Xixia (~4000 BCE – 1200 CE) · North Chinese pastoral–agricultural; Xiongnu, Xianbei, Tangut
20-km sandstone rift on the Helan fault scarp preserving over 10,000 petroglyphs from 6 major phases: masked faces 4 ka, northern hunter reindeer, Zhou chariots, Xiongnu horse archers and Tangut…
🇲🇲 Myanmar · Temple complex
Shwedagon Pagoda Yangon
Mon foundation legend 6th c. BCE; major form 14th–18th c. CE · Mon-Burmese Theravada Buddhist
Shwedagon Zedi Daw – 112m gilded stupa encrusted with 60 tonnes of gold leaf and 5,448 diamonds (76-carat crown), enshrining hairs of Gautama and relics of three prior Buddhas.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly III — Karatau Ridge Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Turkic (1400 BCE – 900 CE) · Andronovo to Saka-Scythian to Turkic, Chu valley pastoralists
Karatau outlier with 120+ sun-head and deer panels on basalt knolls SW of main gorge.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly-Tas II Ili River Bend North Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Oirat · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun, Oirat
North river-bend schist slabs at the Kurta confluence on the Ili, 1.2 km north of the main Tamgaly-Tas Buddha, comprising 90 panels on flood-scoured boulders and low cliff.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Cuicul Extramural Quarter (Djemila Outskirts)
Roman (1st–6th c. CE) · Roman (Numidia)
Southern suburb of Cuicul beyond Severan Arch with fullery and funerary basilica.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Les Combarelles Cave
Mid–Late Magdalenian ~14–12 ka BP · Magdalenian
Dense 600-figure engraved gallery opposite Font-de-Gaume, core Magdalenian engraving reference.
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Ancient city
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm
Afanasievo to Sarazm Chalcolithic–Bronze Age · Sarazm culture (Central Asian proto-Bactrian)
Earliest proto-urban centre in Central Asia (4000–2000 BCE) in Zarafshan Valley, Tajikistan's first UNESCO site (2010), 100 ha town with irrigation canals, palace, fortified citadel and aeolian…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Earthwork
Silbury Hill
Late Neolithic 2400–2300 BCE · Late Neolithic Britons (Grooved Ware)
Europe's tallest prehistoric mound – 39-m artificial hill with unknown purpose.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Panaramitee Engraved Rock Art
Pleistocene to Holocene (c.45,000 BCE–present; classic Panaramitee tradition) · Aboriginal Australian (Adnyamathanha, etc)
Panaramitee – pan-continental pecking tradition (Panaramitee style) of classic circle, dot, crescent, track and line motifs on desert varnished rocks; type site Panaramitee Station South Australia.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Gilda / Rirha
Mauretanian to Islamic (5th c. BCE–8th c. CE; Roman peak 1st–4th c. CE) · Mauretanian / Roman
Rirha (ancient Gilda) on the Sebou River is a Mauretanian city turned Roman colonia, 5th c. BCE–8th c. CE, excavated by Callegarin 2005–.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Kanheri Caves
Satavahana to Rashtrakuta 100 BCE–950 CE · Buddhist Hinayana → Mahayana → Vajrayana
Largest Buddhist cave-university in western India with 109 basalt caves spanning 1st c. BCE–10th c.
🇵🇪 Peru · Megalith
Laguna de los Cóndores (Leymebamba) Chachapoya Mausoleums
Late Horizon Chachapoya-Inca 1470–1532 CE · Chachapoya–Inca
219-mummy cliff mausoleum over alpine lake, 1470–1532 Chachapoya-Inca.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saimaluu-Tash East Summit — Upper Fergana Crest Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Early Turkic (2000 BCE – 800 CE) · Fergana pastoralist to Saka to Kyrgyz proto
Skyline crest 3200 m with 200+ ibex and deer blocks above main lake field.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace
Archaic to Roman 7th c. BCE–300 CE · Thracian-Greek mystery cult (pan-Hellenic pilgrimage)
Mystery sanctuary on Samothrace where Winged Victory crowned a sacred torrent ravine.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Jerash (Gerasa)
Hellenistic to Early Islamic (c.332 BCE–749 CE, peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Graeco-Roman / Nabataean / Byzantine / Umayyad
One of the best-preserved Greco-Roman cities in the Near East, Gerasa was a Decapolis city with colonnaded cardo, two tetrapylons, Hadrian's Arch (129 CE), Oval Plaza, Temple of Artemis and Temple of…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Thaenae (Thyna) – Roman Byzacena Port
Punic / Roman / Byzantine (4th c BCE–7th c CE) · Punic / Roman
Roman–Punic oil port with amphitheatre and thermae on Gulf of Gabès.
🇵🇪 Peru · Hydraulic works
Tipón Hydraulic Gardens
Wari to Late Horizon ~1200–1572 CE · Wari then Inca
Inca 12-terrace walled garden where spring water sings through 600-year-old stone drains.
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Choquequirao
Inca Imperial 1450–1530 Neo-Inca to 1572 · Inca (Pachacuti? Topa Yupanqui)
Inca cloud-city with white stone llamas paving terraces above Apurimac canyon.