🇮🇹 Italy · Temple complex
Paestum Temples of Poseidon
Archaeic-Classical Greek 600–450 BCE · Greek (Achaean colonists) then Lucanian and Roman
Mainland Italy's three perfect Greek Doric temples, era 550–460 BCE.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Cairnbaan Cup and Ring Marks
Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age · Kilmartin Late Neolithic
Cup-and-ring schist panels above Kilmartin Glen with >100 carvings, c.3000 BCE.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Longmen Grottoes
Northern Wei to Tang 493–907 CE (peak Northern Wei 493–534, Tang 618–907) · Chinese Buddhist (Wei-Tang)
1-km limestone gorge with 1345 caves and niches, 2,345 caves total? Actually 1,345 caves, 43 pagodas and 100,000+ Buddhist images (largest Vairocana 17.14 m) carved 493–907 CE from Northern Wei…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Maijishan Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang ~384–907 CE · Chinese Buddhist Northern Dynasties
Stacked-cliff wheat-plant-shaped grotto city with 7,200 sculptures on bolted plank galleries.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tianlongshan Cave 8 — Manshan Pavilion Buddha Sanctuary
Eastern Wei to Tang (534 – 750 CE) · Buddhist Northern dynasties under Gao Qi and Tang
Cave 8 Manshan Buddha 3.6 m of Northern Qi–Tang on western slope.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Mogao Northern Caves — Dunhuang Oasis North Cliff Monastic Cells
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (366 – 1368 CE) northern cells 960–1300 · Buddhist monastic Dunhuang oasis international
North cliff austere monastic cells 1000–1300 CE opposite southern painted scripture halls.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Tell Leilan (Shubat-Enlil)
Early Bronze to Old Assyrian · Akkadian → Amorite Assyrian
Akkadian provincial capital turned Assyrian royal city Shubat-Enlil (Shamshi-Adad I c.1813–1791 BCE), with 90 ha walled city, Akkadian palace on Acropolis, and the Weiss 4.2ka climate event…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Ancient Agora of Athens
Archaic to Roman 600 BCE–267 CE, Classical peak 5th c. BCE · Athenian Greek
Democratic square of Athens with intact Hephaisteion, Stoa of Attalos and Socratic stoa.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Naachtun — Pyramid La Perdida (Structure XII)
Maya Preclassic to Late Classic, c.150 BCE–900 CE · Maya (Mirador Basin)
Pyramid La Perdida (Lost Pyramid, Structure XII) at Naachtun (c.150 BCE–900 CE, massive 130-ha city between Tikal and Mirador).
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bingling (Binglingsi) Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Ming ~420–1644 CE · Northwestern Chinese Buddhist (Western Qin to Tibetan)
Yellow River cliff grotto accessible only by boat, bearing China's earliest dated 420 CE inscription.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Kiuic
Late Classic Puuc 600–900 CE peak (with Middle Preclassic origins) · Maya (Puuc)
Major Puuc city in protected 1,800 ha reserve: Palace 38 m long with Puuc mosaic colonnade, Yaxché Group 60 m-tall conical karst hill with EAC twin concentrations, and chultunes.
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Ise Grand Shrine (Ise Jingu)
Yayoi legend 4 BCE; historically Asuka period c.692 CE, rebuilt every 20 years · Yamato / Shinto (Japanese imperial)
Shinto's holiest shrine complex (founding legend 4 BCE, attested 692 CE) in primeval cryptomeria forest, dedicated to Amaterasu Ōmikami (Naikū) and Toyouke (Gekū).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Uruk (Warka)
Neolithic to Sassanian (c.5000 BCE–632 CE; Uruk period city 4000–3100 BCE) · Sumerian / Babylonian / Persian
Type site for Uruk period and first true city (c.4000–3100 BCE), Uruk at peak 2900 BCE housed 50,000–80,000 inside 9.5 km city wall built by Gilgamesh (per Epic).
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Cahuachi Sector Y
Early Intermediate Nazca 1 BCE–500 CE with Initial 400 BCE foundations · Nazca (with Paracas antecedent)
Sector Y 500 m west of Great Pyramid at Cahuachi: adobe (adobito) pyramid 8 m high 40×35 m base with plastered terrace for feasting middens and Paracas-Cahuachi polychrome offering cache (head jars).
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Sanxingdui Archaeological Site
Shu Culture 1200–1000 BCE (Sanxingdui period III) · Shu (Sichuan Basin, non-Han?)
Shu Kingdom sacrificial pits (1200–1000 BCE) revealed 1929 and sensationally 1986 with two pits of bronzes unlike Anyang Shang: 2.6 m bronze standing figure, mask with 132 cm protruding eyes, and…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Yoshinogari Site
Yayoi period 400 BCE–300 CE (peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Yayoi (Kyushu farmer, Korean peninsula immigrants)
Largest Yayoi (400 BCE–300 CE) moated village and chiefdom at Yoshinogari hills, 40 ha inner enclosure within 117 ha, with outer moat 2.5 km, watchtowers, raised-floor granary precinct, and king's…
EG · Submerged site
Berenike Troglodytica – Ptolemaic Red Sea Port & Lagoon Harbour
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (275 BCE – 6th c. CE) · Ptolemaic Greek / Roman Egyptian / Indian Ocean
Ptolemaic elephant port turned Indo-Roman pepper emporium — lagoon harbour behind coral reef now silted 1 m on Foul Bay.
🇺🇸 United States · Rock art
Painted Rock Petroglyph Site
Archaic through Hohokam 7500 BCE–1400 CE · Hohokam and Archaic–Patayan
4,000-petroglyph basalt concentration, 7500 BCE–1400 CE.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Nakbe Structure 1
Early to Middle Preclassic 1400–400 BCE (Mamom), latest major 300 BCE · Maya (Mirador Basin early Preclassic)
Centerpiece of Nakbe East Group: Structure 1 is 45 m high Triadic pyramid dating to 1000 BCE early Mamom, with massive stucco masks 5 m wide on first tier.
🇮🇹 Italy · Temple complex
Selinunte Archaeological Park
Archaeic-Classical 651–409 BCE · Greek (Megaran colonists)
Largest Greek archaeological park with colossal unfinished Temple G.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur
Chola 1003–1010 CE · Hindu (Shaiva, Tamil Chola)
Chola granite imperial vimana 66 m still tallest pre-modern; capstone ramp mystery.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Pyramid of Neferirkare
Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty mid · Ancient Egyptian
Largest 5th Dynasty pyramid at Abusir for third king Neferirkare Kakai (originally 72 m high, 105 m base, angle 54°), built as step pyramid then converted to true pyramid but left unfinished at…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Longmen Binyang Central Cave — Mt Long Gate Middle Grotto Sanctuary
Northern Wei to Tang (493 – 750 CE) · Buddhist imperial Luoyang under Empress Dowager Hu
Central Binyang 11 m Buddha of Northern Wei Emperor Xuanwu at Yi Gorge.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Alalakh (Tell Atchana)
Middle to Late Bronze Age (c.2000–1200 BCE; Level VII palace 1650–1600 BCE) · Amorite / Yamhad / Hittite / Mitanni
Bronze Age capital of Mukish kingdom in Amuq plain, Alalakh yielded Levels VII–0 (Middle–Late Bronze) with cuneiform archives of King Idrimi's inscription (statue autobiography), Yarim-Lim palace,…