🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Ouadane (Wadan)
Medieval to Early Modern (12th–19th c) · Berber (Sanhaja) / Arab / Almoravid
Almoravid twin-ksar 12th c on Adrar scarp with 13-m minaret and caravan cisterns 300 m.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Mount Nemrut (Nemrut Dağı)
Hellenistic Commagene (c.62 BCE under Antiochos I Theos) · Commagenian (Armenian/Greek/Persian syncretic) Hellenistic
Hierotheseion (tomb-sanctuary) of Antiochos I of Commagene (69–34 BCE), Nemrut Dağı tops 2,150 m peak with 50 m tumulus of crushed rock surrounded by three terraces bearing 8–10 m colossal seated…
🇮🇳 India · Rock art
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters
Upper Paleolithic to Medieval (100,000 BCE – 2nd century BCE – 1500 CE) · South Asian hunter-gatherer to early historic
Cluster of about 750 sandstone shelters on the Vindhyan fringe with a layered sequence of paintings spanning Mesolithic hunting scenes to historic horsemen and battle processions.
🇯🇵 Japan · Megalith
Oyu Stone Circles
Late Jomon 2000–1500 BCE · Jomon Late
Twin Late Jomon double-stone circles (2000–1500 BCE) — Manza (46 m dia) and Nonakado (42 m dia) placed either side of prefectural road at Oyu, Kazuno, each concentric with sundial-like 2.1 m central…
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Palmyra
Hellenistic to Roman (Palmyrene Empire interlude) · Aramaean Palmyrene → Roman
Desert oasis emporium on Silk Road (1st c. BCE–273 CE) — 'Bride of the Desert' — caravans of Queen Zenobia who challenged Rome (267–272 CE, sacked by Aurelian).
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Sabratha
Phoenician to Byzantine (c.500 BCE–643 CE; monumental Roman 1st–3rd c CE) · Phoenician / Punic / Hellenistic / Roman / Byzantine
Tripolitanian Phoenician port (5th c BCE) with Hellenistic and then Roman city: Theatre of Sabratha – most complete Roman theatre in Africa (Marcus Aurelius era 175–200 CE, cavea 92.6 m, three-storey…
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Shushtar Hydraulic System
Achaemenid foundation to Sassanian peak (5th century BCE – 3rd century CE) · Achaemenid, Sassanid Persian (with Roman engineering)
Sassanid re-engineering of the Karun River where the Band-e Kaisar (Caesar's Dam) — said built by Roman soldiers captured with Emperor Valerian — diverted the river into the Gargar canal feeding 40…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Babylon
Old Babylonian to Neo-Babylonian and Hellenistic (1894 BCE–141 BCE; monumental peak Nebuchadnezzar II 604–562 BCE) · Babylonian / Assyrian / Persian / Hellenistic
Capital of Babylonian empire (1894 BCE–539 BCE) on Euphrates, Babylon at its greatest under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE): Processional Way, Ishtar Gate (glazed brick dragons and…
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Ancient city
Hegra (Mada'in Salih)
Nabataean to Roman (1st c BCE–106 CE annexation; tombs 1st c CE) · Nabataean / Roman / Thamudic
Southernmost major Nabataean city on incense route, Hegra preserves 111 rock-cut tombs with facades akin to Petra (but freestanding massifs), hydrological wells, and Roman annexation inscriptions.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Leptis Magna
Phoenician to Byzantine (7th c BCE–643 CE; Severan peak 193–235 CE) · Phoenician / Punic / Roman / Byzantine
Best-preserved Roman city in Africa, Leptis Magna Phoenician foundation (7th c BCE) expanded under Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211 CE native son): Arch of Septimius Severus, Basilica…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Earthwork
Stonehenge Cursus
Early Neolithic 3800–3600 BCE · Early Neolithic Britons
2.7-km Neolithic processional enclosure predating Stonehenge by 500 years.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Bingling Temple Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms → Qing 420–1911 · Buddhist (Hexi Silk Road)
Yellow River gorge sanctuary of 183 caves and 694 statues cut into 60 m yellow sandstone cliff above reservoir since 420 CE (Western Qin) to Qing, famous for 27 m Maitreya Buddha (Tang) carved from…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
El-Kurru Pyramids
Early Kushite (El-Kurru phase 860–310 BCE; Piye 747–716 BCE) · Kushite (early Napatan)
Earliest Kushite royal necropolis (860–310 BCE) with 22 pyramids for Napatan kings including Piye (Piankhi), founder of Egypt's 25th Dynasty, Taharqa, and early ancestors.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Chauvet Cave
Aurignacian, Upper Paleolithic (~37,000–33,000 BCE) · Aurignacian hunter-gatherer
Sealed Aurignacian cave above the Ardèche gorge containing the earliest known figurative art, with over 430 animal representations including woolly rhinoceros, cave lions, panthers and megaloceros…
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Pasargadae
Achaemenid (559–530 BCE construction; occupied to Seleucid era) · Achaemenid Persian
Earliest Achaemenid capital built by Cyrus the Great (559–530 BCE) on victory site over Medes.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Marib Dam
Sabaean Kingdom, Early South Arabian (~1750 BCE – 570 CE) · Sabaean (South Arabian, Kingdom of Saba)
Earthfill diversion dam spanning the Wadi Adhanah and flanked by the limestone North and South Sluices with Sabaean monumental inscriptions.
🇰🇿 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.
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Djenné-Djeno
Bio. Iron Age to Medieval (c.250 BCE–1400 CE; peak 400–1200 CE) · Djenné-Djeno culture / Inland Niger Delta Iron Age / Soninke-Bozo
Oldest sub-Saharan city (250 BCE–1400 CE) on Inland Niger Delta: 33 ha tell 8 m high with 69 mounds cluster spanning 4 km, without stone architecture but rich bio-archaeological sequence: slag, rice,…
🇸🇾 Syria · Archaeological wonder
Citadel of Aleppo
3rd millennium BCE to present (Yamhad Bronze Age peak; current fortress 12th–13th c CE) · Amorite (Yamhad) / Hittite / Neo-Hittite / Hellenistic / Ayyubid / Mamluk / Ottoman
One of the oldest continuously fortified mounds in the world, Aleppo citadel occupies a 45 m-high tell (Yamhad kingdom capital c.1800 BCE).
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Timgad (Thamugadi)
Roman to Byzantine (100 CE–6th c; peak 2nd–3rd c) · Roman / Berber / Byzantine
Exemplar Roman colonial grid city founded ex nihilo by Trajan c.100 CE for veterans of Third Augustan Legion, Timgad displays perfect castrum plan: square 355×250 m, decumanus and cardo crossing at…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Archaeological Site of Carthage
Punic to Byzantine (814 BCE–698 CE; Punic peak 550–146 BCE; Roman from 44 BCE) · Phoenician/Punic / Roman / Byzantine / Vandal
Phoenician metropolis founded 814 BCE by Tyrian princess Elissa (Dido), Carthage became Mediterranean superpower until Third Punic War destruction 146 BCE, then rebuilt as Roman Africa capital.
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Goshono Jomon Site
Late Jomon 2500–1200 BCE · Jomon Late
Late Jomon pit-dwelling settlement (2500–1200 BCE) on Mabechi River plateau, UNESCO 2021 component 1632-010, with 20 pit-houses, 800+ pit graves, burnt mound middens and 4 m earthwork stone pavements…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Paquimé (Casas Grandes)
Postclassic (Medio/Chihuahua culture) · Mogollon-Paquimé (Oasisamerica)
Largest pre-Hispanic pueblo city of northern Mexico (c.1130–1340 CE, 70 ha, population ~2,500) with multi-storey adobe apartments, T-shaped doors, I-shaped ballcourts (Mesoamerican), macaw breeding…
🇸🇪 Sweden · Ancient city
Hovgården on Adelsö – Birka Royal Estate
Vendel Period to Middle Ages (c.600–1279 CE) · Scandinavian Viking Age to Medieval
Royal estate on Adelsö opposite Birka, with thing mound (Skansberget), harbour, cemetery and ruins of Magnus Ladulås' brick palace Alsnö Hus (1279).