🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Harbetsuvan Tepesi
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A–B · Taş Tepeler PPN
Tektek summit acropolis with round terrazzo building and T-pillars, 7 km from Karahan Tepe.
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🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A–B · Taş Tepeler PPN
Tektek summit acropolis with round terrazzo building and T-pillars, 7 km from Karahan Tepe.
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Asuka 593–710 CE (Suiko–Jomei) · Asuka Buddhist (Baekje immigrant artisan school → Japanese)
Asukadera (Hōkō-ji) — first full Buddhist temple in Japan (596 CE) at Asuka, founded by Soga no Umako with immigrant Baekje artisans (Koreans) per Nihon Shoki.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Moche to Middle Horizon / Early Intermediate (600–900 CE dominant) · Casma (Sechín) culture, Moche substrate
Largest single adobe structure in Peru and largest pyramid by volume in the New World — 270 m long, 180 m wide, 30 m high truncated pyramid (4 platforms stepped) dominating Casma plain, debated Late…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Formative, c.1400-500 BCE (Early Horizon, Cupisnique–Chavín) · Andean (Cupisnique / Chavín)
Garagay in San Martín de Porres district, Lima: three-platform U-temple (central pyramid 28 m high, 100×80 m) with sunken circular court, atrium with polychrome painted reliefs (3.
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Heian–Kamakura 1087–1189 CE (Fujiwara Ōshu) · Northern Fujiwara (Ōshu) — Frontier Pure Land Buddhist
Hiraizumi — northern Fujiwara capital (1087–1189 CE) 35 km south Morioka, Iwate Hiraizumi, excavated 1950s–2010s.
🇧🇿 Belize · Pyramid
Preclassic to Contact Period (1500 BCE–1675 CE) · Maya (Lamanai polity, Yucatec–Mopan)
Continuous 3000-year Maya city (1500 BCE–1675 CE) surviving Classic collapse into Spanish contact, on 1 km lagoon shore.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Temple complex
Yuezhi 130–30 BCE → Early Kushan 30 BCE–50 CE → Kushan imperial 50–150 CE · Yuezhi–Early Kushan (North Bactria)
Early Kushan palace (50 BCE–50 CE) at Khalchayan near Denau — earliest Kushan princes fresco 2 m and terracotta court before Surkh Kotal.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Intermediate to Late Horizon (1200–1476 CE, Inca 1476–1532) · Chincha (Ica regional) / Inca occupied
Flagship adobe pyramid complex of the maritime Chincha Kingdom (1200–1476 CE), sole coastal polity to sustain independent kingdom beside Chan Chan at Inca conquest (recorded by Inca Garcilaso).
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Late Horizon Inca Imperial (1480–1536 CE) · Inca (Topa Inca Yupanqui – Wanka campaign)
Planned Inca city founded by Topa Inca Yupanqui c.1480 to replicate Cusco as headquarters for conquering Guarco (Huarcu) kingdom of Cañete valley: full Qorikancha-like Temple of the Sun with…
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Formative to Early Intermediate · Kotosh–Chavín–Wari local (Tantamayo highland)
Formative hilltop temple-citadel (1500 BCE–1000 CE) above Tantamayo on knife-edge jalca ridgetop at 3900 m, with Kotosh-tradition rock-walled temple pyramid 15 m, sunken court, and...
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Middle Horizon to Late Horizon · Wari–Ychsma–Inca (Lurín valley)
Qhapaq Ñan valley-center (900–1470 CE) on left bank Lurín River in Cieneguilla gorge at 560 m, with 15-m adobe pyramid on Wari enclosure, Ychsma repainted palace, Inca kallanka hal...
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Early Intermediate to Middle Horizon (350–800 CE) · Huamachuco culture (Highland, Wari contemporary)
Vast 240-ha hilltop capital of Huamachuco culture (350–800 CE) eclipsing Wari north, built on 3595 m mesa dominating Carabamba plateau.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Classic to Terminal/Postclassic 550–1200 CE (Río Bec apogee 730–830) · Maya (Río Bec–Chenés, between Calakmul and Chenés region)
Major Río Bec–Chenés fortified Maya capital surrounded by unique 2 km-long, 16 m-wide, 5 m-deep continuous ditch-moat (English ‘Be’ecs ditch’) enclosing 25 ha core – only fully ditched major Maya…
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Kushan 3rd c CE → Hepthalite 6th–7th c → Early Islamic 8th c · Kushan–Hepthalite Buddhist (Ghazni Zabul)
Tepe Sardar — Kushan–Hepthalite Buddhist monastic complex (3rd c CE–8th c CE) 3 km SE Ghazni, excavated 1956–79 IsMEO (Taddei, Verardi).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Classic to Early Postclassic (300–1200 CE, walls 900–1200) · Maya (Tojolabal / highland Chiapas)
Fortified Late Classic–Postclassic Maya capital (300–1200 CE, fortification 900–1200) crowning limestone hilltop 250 m above Comitán valley: 60+ structures, walled core (60 ha) with 4.5-m-thick…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Kerma to New Kingdom (2000–1100 BCE) · Kerma / Egyptian syncretic
Separate walled ceremonial city 400x200 m discovered 700 m north of Kerma's Western Deffufa, revealing sub-Saharan African architecture (oval huts, timber palisades and 20 round temples) alongside…
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Initial Period–Early Horizon (Chavín predecessor) · Manchoïd–Chavín (Garagay tradition)
Formative U-temple (1400–600 BCE) in Lima urban sprawl on hill above Chillón Valley, with U-shaped adobe mound 30 m, central court frontal stair, facing wings 150 m, and recently u...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom (12th Dyn) · Ancient Egyptian
Amenemhat III's mudbrick Hawara pyramid and Herodotan labyrinth mortuary temple.
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Formative to Early Intermediate (Chavín–Recuay) · Chavín–Recuay (Pashash)
Valley-head platform complex (1000 BCE–600 CE) at foot of Cordillera Blanca east of Huaylas, on Hualcayán fan at 3180 m with terraced Chavínoid temple overlain by Recuay galleries,...
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Early Preclassic–Postclassic Puuc (300 BCE–1500 CE, zenith 475–750) · Maya (Early Puuc – northwestern border)
Strategic Puuc border capital (300 BCE–1500 CE, florescent 475–750 Classic Early Puuc) northwest tip of Puuc, controlling Mérida–Uxmal–Calakmul corridor: 3 major groups (Ah Canul, May, Dzib) over 50…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Late Classic 400–830 CE (peak 608–808 CE, Dynasty of Piedras Negras 7 lords) · Maya (Yo’k’ib / Piedras Negras kingdom, western Petén)
Largest Classic Maya city on Guatemala's Usumacinta north bank (1,000+ structures, pyramid temples 20 m high) famous for epigraphy: Tatiana Proskouriakoff here invented phonetic Maya glyph…
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Late Intermediate – Late Horizon (900–1536 CE) · Chachapoya (Levanto) → Inca (mitma gate)
Hilltop Chachapoya fortress-village (900–1470 CE, Inca-enhanced 1470–1530) 26 km SW of Chachapoyas city: D-shaped 4 ha walled enclosure 3–5 m high following limestone ridge, enclosing 40+ circular…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Classic–Early Postclassic (600–1200 CE) · Maya (Eastern Yucatán – Cupul province)
Late Classic–Postclassic eastern Yucatán dense town (600–1200 CE) 35 km SE of Tizimín, 6 sq km with 3 core groups (Group A palace 70×50 m, Group B temple pyramid 8 m, Group C ballcourt) of…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Preclassic to Late Classic (100 BCE–900 CE) · Maya (Kaan polity satellite)
Hugely sprawling 4 km² Late Classic centre (250–900 CE) between Tikal and Calakmul, dominated by Pyramid M1 (30x25 m, 14 m high with roof comb) and K2 double pyramid acropolis (two 12 m pyramids on…