Ancient cities

🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder

Abu Mena

Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian

Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.

🇷🇴 Romania · Ancient city

Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea

Archaic Greek to Early Medieval (657 BCE – 7th c. CE) · Milesian Greeks → Getae → Romans → Byzantines

Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea in Dobruja, Constanța County, Istria commune, Sinoe Lake shore near Danube delta, Romania is a Archaic Greek to Early Medieval (657 BCE – 7th c.

🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works

Dholavira Rock-Cut Reservoirs – Rann of Kutch

Early to Mature Harappan to Late Harappan · Harappan (Sindhu–Sarasvati)

16 Harappan rock-cut reservoirs (2600–1900 BCE) — 250,000 m³ desert catchment, Dholavira.

🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex

Notion (Notium) — Temple of Apollo at Claros Outpost

Classical to Late Antiquity (500 BCE – 600 CE) · Aeolian Greek (Kolophonian) and Roman

Kolophon harbour city with Doric Apollo temple facing mother city.

🇲🇹 Malta · Ancient city

Outer Hypogeum Settlement Central — Hypogeum, Paola (59-16)

Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age

Outer Hypogeum Settlement Central — Hypogeum, Paola (59-16) at Hypogeum, Paola, Malta is a Iron Age (regional) ancient city of the Iron Age tradition, built c.

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Casas Grandes (Paquimé) — Unit 12 North Room Block

Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban

Casas Grandes (Paquimé) — Unit 12 North Room Block in Chihuahua, Casas Grandes, Paquimé, Mexico is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city…

🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city

Knossos (Palace of Minos)

Minoan · Minoan

Knossos (Palace of Minos) in Crete, Heraklion, Greece is a Minoan ancient city attributed to Minoan culture.

🇲🇩 Moldova · Ancient city

Orheiul Vechi Cave Monastery and Geto-Dacian Fortress

Iron Age Geto-Dacian (5th–1st c. BCE) + Medieval Tatar Golden Horde Shehr al-Jadid 14th c. + cave monastery 13th–18th c. · Geto-Dacians, Golden Horde, Moldovan monks

Orheiul Vechi Cave Monastery and Geto-Dacian Fortress in Orhei District, Trebujeni–Butuceni, Răut river loop cliffs, Moldova is a Iron Age Geto-Dacian (5th–1st c.

🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site

Chersonesos — Quarantine Bay Central Submerged Mole

Classical to Byzantine (5th c. BCE – 1400 CE) · Herakleian Greek / Bosporan / Byzantine

Central mole of Chersonesos Quarantine Bay — 65 m ashlar harbour mole at 2–5 m dividing naval/mercantile basins.

🇾🇪 Yemen · Ancient port

Ophir – King Solomon's Gold Harbour (Hypothetical Red Sea Port)

Iron Age (10th c. BCE) / Biblical Trad. (hypothetical) · Israelite / Phoenician / hypothetical Ophirite

Solomon's three-year gold voyage (1 Kings 9) — candidates from Mahd adh Dhahab to Sofala Mozambique (no layer found, 100 km hypothetical).

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Cempoala

Postclassic (c.1200–1519 CE) Totonac – Late Classic foundations · Totonac

Cempoala (Nahuatl Cēmpoalātl, place of twenty waters) is the lowland Totonac metropolis on the coastal plain at Úrsulo Galván, Veracruz, at 10 m asl.

🇱🇻 Latvia · Ancient city

Grobiņa

Migration → Vendel → Viking Age 650–850 (Curonian–Scandinavian) · Curonian Baltic + Gotlandic–Swedish Vendel–Viking (Seeburg)

Grobiņa (Grobin/Seeburg, Cur. *Gruobins*) — Curonian–Gotlandic–Swedish emporium (c.650–850, Great Migration → Viking Age) on Ālande River 8 km east Liepāja, South Courland, largest Scandinavian…

🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex

Temple of Dionysus at Nysa on the Meander

Hellenistic to Roman (Mithridatic to Hadrianic) · Carian-Lydian Greek under Pergamene and Roman rule

Gorge-spanning double-city Dionysus temple 6×11 with vaulted bridge and library, Strabo's school.

🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city

Tebtunis — Canal Bridge Harbour at Kom Umm el-Brigat North (Fayum South)

Middle Kingdom to Byzantine (1991 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian / Ptolemaic / Roman

Northern canal harbour of Tebtunis at Umm el-Brigat — 12 m bridge pier at –1.5 m and 60 m quay.

🇧🇷 Brazil · Buried city

Marajoara – Mound Complex of Marajó Island, Pará (Hypothetical Urbanism)

Marajoara Phase (800–1400 CE) Amazonian Polychrome · Marajoara / Aruã / Ananatuba

Amazon mouth tesos 12 m high with 3 km causeways at +1 m (800–1400 CE) — continental city 40,000 vs chiefdom 10,000 debated.

🇪🇸 Spain · Ancient city

Tartessos and Doñana – Western Atlantis Hypothesis

Late Bronze to Iron Age Tartessian (1200–550 BCE collapse) · Iberian Tartessian with Phoenician Tartessos emporion + Greek

Arganthonios's Tartessian kingdom Guadalquivir — Doñana marsh 'rings' claimed Atlantis 2011, disproved as salinas.

🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex

Smyrna Temple of Athena — Bayraklı (Old Smyrna)

Geometric to Archaic (Old Smyrna) · Ionian Greek (Aiolian foundation)

Bayraklı 630 BCE hekatompedon Athena with Aeolic capitals, earliest Ionian temple on Old Smyrna 8th BCE walls.

🇸🇰 Slovakia · Fortress

Nitra

Early Medieval Slavic 770–907 (Pribina 828 → Svatopluk 870–894) · Slavic Principality of Nitra (Pribina) → Great Moravia (Svatopluk)

Nitra (Nitra Castle and Martin's Hill — Martins Hill 220 m) — Slavic princely seat of Principality of Nitra (late 8th–9th c Pribina c.828 church — first Christian church north of Danube) and Great…

🇰🇭 Cambodia · Temple complex

Banteay Chhmar Temple

Angkorian Bayon period 1181–1218 CE (Mahayana Buddhist imperial) · Khmer (Angkorian Mahayana Buddhist)

Vast Jayavarman VII Buddhist–Hindu temple city (c.1181–1218 CE) in Banteay Meanchey — 9 km² walled complex (outer laterite wall 1.9×1.7 km) enclosing 4.6 ha central temple with enigmatic Bayon-style…

🇿🇦 South Africa · Ancient city

Mapungubwe Hill Summit Enclosure South Annex — Eastern Outlier

Medieval (1075-1220 CE) · Mapungubwe

Mapungubwe Hill Summit Enclosure South Annex — Eastern Outlier in Limpopo, Musina, South Africa is a Medieval (1075-1220 CE) ancient city attributed to Mapungubwe.

🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city

Koumbi Saleh Market Enclosure East Wall Annex

Medieval (800-1200 CE) · Ghana Empire

Koumbi Saleh Market Enclosure East Wall Annex in Hodh Ech Chargui, Nema, Mauritania is a Medieval (800-1200 CE) ancient city attributed to Ghana Empire.

🇹🇳 Tunisia · Archaeological wonder

Chemtou (Simitthus)

Numidian to Byzantine (quarry 2nd c BCE–6th c CE) · Numidian / Roman / Byzantine

Imperial marble quarry source of giallo antico with 80 m high quarry face, loading ramps and bridge over Medjerda.

🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city

Harappa Mound F Granary Annex — Northern Annex

Harappan Mature (2600-1900 BCE) · Harappan

Harappa Mound F Granary Annex — Northern Annex in Punjab, Sahiwal, Pakistan is a Harappan Mature (2600-1900 BCE) ancient city attributed to Harappan.

🇧🇿 Belize · Ancient city

Altun Ha

Preclassic 900 BCE–1000 CE (plazas 200–900 CE; jade tomb early 300 CE) · Maya (northern coastal Belize, Altun Ha polity, Lowland–Caribbean zone)

Coastal-plain trade port city controlling Caribbean shell, salt and jade routes near Rockstone Pond wetlands: twin Temple of the Masonry Altars (B4, 16 m high) with three altar superstructures and…

Notable ancient cities

Iram of the Pillars – Ubar, Atlantis of the Sands (Hypothetical)

Si Thep Historical Park (Ancient Town of Si Thep)

Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea

Dholavira Rock-Cut Reservoirs – Rann of Kutch

Mikulčice-Valy Great Moravian Agglomeration

Tartessos and Doñana – Western Atlantis Hypothesis

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2,294 places · page 1 of 96

Abu Mena

Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea

Dholavira Rock-Cut Reservoirs – Rann of Kutch

Notion (Notium) — Temple of Apollo at Claros Outpost

Outer Hypogeum Settlement Central — Hypogeum, Paola (59-16)

Casas Grandes (Paquimé) — Unit 12 North Room Block

Knossos (Palace of Minos)

Orheiul Vechi Cave Monastery and Geto-Dacian Fortress

Chersonesos — Quarantine Bay Central Submerged Mole

Ophir – King Solomon's Gold Harbour (Hypothetical Red Sea Port)

Cempoala

Grobiņa

Temple of Dionysus at Nysa on the Meander

Tebtunis — Canal Bridge Harbour at Kom Umm el-Brigat North (Fayum South)

Marajoara – Mound Complex of Marajó Island, Pará (Hypothetical Urbanism)

Tartessos and Doñana – Western Atlantis Hypothesis

Smyrna Temple of Athena — Bayraklı (Old Smyrna)

Nitra

Banteay Chhmar Temple

Mapungubwe Hill Summit Enclosure South Annex — Eastern Outlier

Koumbi Saleh Market Enclosure East Wall Annex

Chemtou (Simitthus)

Harappa Mound F Granary Annex — Northern Annex

Altun Ha

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Notable ancient cities

Iram of the Pillars – Ubar, Atlantis of the Sands (Hypothetical)

Si Thep Historical Park (Ancient Town of Si Thep)

Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea

Dholavira Rock-Cut Reservoirs – Rann of Kutch

Mikulčice-Valy Great Moravian Agglomeration

Tartessos and Doñana – Western Atlantis Hypothesis

Country

Heritage

Excavation

Tags

2,294 places · page 1 of 96