🇮🇹 Italy · Buried city
Herculaneum
Roman · Roman
Roman seaside town buried under 20 m pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius 79 CE, preserving wooden furniture, upper storeys, frescoes and unique carbonized papyri scrolls (Villa of the Papyri, now being…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Ephesus (Efes)
Ionian to Byzantine · Ionian Greek / Roman
Ephesus (Efes) in Izmir Province, Turkey is a Ionian to Byzantine ancient city attributed to Ionian Greek / Roman culture. Inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site (ID 1018).
🇵🇪 Peru · Archaeological wonder
Machu Picchu
Late Horizon (Inca Imperial, ~1450–1530 CE) · Inca (Quechua)
15th-century Inca citadel perched at 2,430 m on a narrow saddle between Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu peaks above the Urubamba Valley.
🇺🇸 United States · Archaeological wonder
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Pueblo II–III 850–1250 CE (Chacoan fluorescence 1020–1140) · Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) / Chacoan
Chacoan canyon with 15 monumental Great Houses (Pueblo Bonito 650 rooms, 35 kivas) and engineered roads, built 850–1150 CE by Ancestral Puebloans as ritual and trade center for San Juan Basin,…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
West Kennet Avenue (Avebury)
Late Neolithic · Wessex
West Kennet Avenue (Avebury) in Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom is a Late Neolithic megalithic attributed to Wessex culture. Inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site (ID 373).
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Archaeological wonder
Tiwanaku
Formative to Tiwanaku Period 300–1000 CE (flourishing 500–950) · Tiwanaku Empire
Capital of Tiwanaku Empire (300–1000 CE) on Altiplano near Lake Titicaca at 3,850 m, featuring Akapana pyramid, Kalasasaya enclosure, and Gateway of the Sun carved from single andesite blocks…
🇱🇧 Lebanon · Megalith
Baalbek
Phoenician to Roman (c. 16 BCE–250 CE major Roman phase) · Roman / Phoenician
Monumental Roman temple complex on earlier Phoenician tell, with Temple of Bacchus (best preserved Roman temple) and Trilithon – three megalithic limestone blocks 19 x 4.5 x 3.6 m, 800 tonnes each,…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Pyramids of Meroë
Meroitic Kingdom · Kushite / Meroitic
Royal cemetery of Kushite Kingdom of Meroë (300 BCE–350 CE) with ~200 steep Nubian pyramids, smaller and narrower than Egyptian, with offering chapels decorated with Egyptian-Kushite reliefs.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Woodhenge & Durrington Walls
Late Neolithic · Grooved Ware
Timber-circle henge (Woodhenge, 6 rings, 168 posts) and Durrington Walls super-henge (500 m diameter, 17 ha, 2 entrances, largest henge in Britain) – contemporary settlement of Stonehenge builders…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Underground city
Derinkuyu Underground City
Byzantine (with Hittite/Phrygian antecedents debated) · Byzantine Cappadocian / earlier Phrygian/Hittite use
Deepest excavated underground city in Cappadocia, connected to Kaymaklı and 200+ subterranean complexes via 8 km tunnel. Rolling stone doors 500 kg, ventilation shafts, chapels, wineries.
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Megalith
Puma Punku
Tiwanaku Period 536–600 CE (complex radiocarbon dated) · Tiwanaku
Terraced platform mound within Tiwanaku complex famous for precision-cut andesite and red sandstone blocks with drilled holes, flat planes and interlocking joints to 0.5 mm tolerance, scattered as if…
🇮🇹 Italy · Buried city
Pompeii
Roman (foundation Oscan 6th c BCE, Roman from 80 BCE) · Roman
Roman city of 12,000 buried by Vesuvius eruption 24 August 79 CE under 4–6 m pumice and ash, preserving streets, villas, Forum, amphitheatre, baths and plaster casts of victims.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Seip Earthworks
Hopewell 1–500 CE · Hopewell tradition
121-acre Hopewell circle-square with 335 m Great Circle and Seip-Pricer mound, UNESCO 2023.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Buried city
Troy (Hisarlik)
Early Bronze Age to Byzantine (Troy I c.3000 BCE – Troy IX 85 CE–500 CE) · Anatolian / Mycenaean-associated / Greek / Roman
Mound of Hisarlik with 9 settlement layers Troy I–IX (3000 BCE–500 CE) plus Homeric epic city Troy VI/VII.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Ani
Bagratuni Armenian Kingdom · Armenian
Medieval Armenian capital (961–1045) at peak 100,000 inhabitants, Bagratuni palaces, Cathedral of Ani (1001), Tigran Honents church with frescoes, double city walls.
🇺🇸 United States · Ancient village
Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings
Pueblo I–III (600–1300 CE) · Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi)
Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings (600–1300 CE) with 600 sites including Cliff Palace (150 rooms, 23 kivas) under sandstone alcoves, transitioning from pithouses to masonry pueblos before…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Petra
Nabataean to Roman (312 BCE–363 CE earthquake) · Nabataean / Arab
Nabataean caravan city (312 BCE–106 CE) carved into sandstone cliffs: Al-Khazneh Treasury, Theatre, Monastery Ad-Deir, Royal Tombs, and hydraulic system capturing desert flash floods.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Qasr el-Sagha (Zarew) Temple
Middle Kingdom (1990–1650 BCE) · Egyptian (12th Dynasty)
Unfinished Sobek temple with 7 shrines on Lake Qarun shore.
🇺🇸 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).
🇯🇴 Jordan · Temple complex
Petra – Al-Khazneh & Ad-Deir Precincts
Nabataean 1st c BCE–1st c CE · Nabataean
Detailed precinct within Petra (already listed as city) – but as distinct temple elaboration: Al-Khazneh 40 m façade and Ad-Deir 50 m, both tombs-temples with Hellenistic façades.
🇵🇪 Peru · Megalith
Sacsayhuamán
Inca Imperial, 15th century; possibly Killke antecedents · Inca
Cyclopean fortress-temple complex 2 km northwest of Cusco with three zigzagging dry-stone ramparts of limestone blocks up to 120 tonnes and 9 m high, fitted without mortar with sub-millimeter…
🇵🇪 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.
🇵🇰 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.
🇫🇷 France · Archaeological wonder
Mont Saint-Michel Bay — Tombelaine Priory Tidal Islet
Medieval (c.1140 CE) · Norman Benedictine
Small tidal granite islet 3.5 km N of Mont Saint-Michel, Neolithic chipping floors under 12th-c priory ruins, now gull colony with restricted access.