🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Zincirli
Iron Age (c.1000–676 BCE) plus Bronze substrate · Aramaean–Neo-Hittite Samʾal
Iron Age Samʾal 40 ha triple-walled (Kuttamuwa Stele, lion orthostats) in Islahiye valley.
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CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Wiracochapampa — North Compound Wall (Huamachuco, Peru) in La Libertad, Wiracochapampa, Peru is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city at…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Iron Age (c.1000–676 BCE) plus Bronze substrate · Aramaean–Neo-Hittite Samʾal
Iron Age Samʾal 40 ha triple-walled (Kuttamuwa Stele, lion orthostats) in Islahiye valley.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Formative / Initial Period (Chillón tradition) · Andean Formative (Chillón / Lima precursor)
Formative pyramid mound Huaca de la Florida Baja — 40 m Collique platform pyramid 8 m high c.1200–600 BCE, Chillón Valley Lima tradition companion to Garagay.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Archaeological wonder
Chalcolithic to Byzantine (c.4100 BCE–600 CE; peak Iron Age II) · Egyptian New Kingdom (eastern Timna sphere) → Edomite/Neo-Assyrian desert polity → Nabataean → Roman chrome convict mines
Jordanian Arabah slag-mountain copper belt — Iron Age Edomite desert industry outweighing Timna.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Ninevite 5 to Old Babylonian (3200–1728 BCE) Shamshi-Adad capital · Akkadian Shekhna→Amorite Shubat-Enlil (Shamshi-Adad I)
Tell Leilan Lower Town South — Shubat-Enlil Annex in Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria is a Ninevite 5 to Old Babylonian (3200–1728 BCE) Shamshi-Adad capital ancient-city attributed to Akkadian…
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Ancient city
Early Swahili (13th–16th c) · Swahili-Shirazi
Kaole is a 13th–16th c Swahili settlement 3 km S of Bagamoyo, Tanzania's earliest Swahili site (Shiraz origin legend 13th c).
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Mari — Palace East Wing Archive Room in Deir ez-Zor, Tell Hariri, Mari, Syria is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Bro…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Altyn-Depe — North Craft Quarter (Mary) in Mary Province, Altyn-Depe, Turkmenistan is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed t…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Carchemish — Inner Town North Gate (Karkamış, Gaziantep) in Gaziantep, Karkamış, Carchemish, Turkey is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient …
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Medieval Ibadite (11th–14th c to present continuous) · Ibadite Berber (Mozabite) / Rustumid
M'Zab Valley is the intact 11th c Ibadite Pentapolis 480 m deep limestone hamada: 5 fortified ksour (Ghardaïa, Beni Isguen, El Atteuf, Melika, Bou Noura) each on hill with pyramidal mosque-minaret,…
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Ugarit — Royal Palace West Archive (Ras Shamra) in Latakia, Ras Shamra, Ugarit, Syria is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attribute…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Old Hittite to Empire (1650–1200 BCE) · Hittite (Hattic substrate)
Old Hittite cult terrace that produced the four-register Inandik vase (acrobats and goddess).
🇪🇨 Ecuador · Ancient city
Late Horizon Inca Imperial 1490–1533 CE · Inca (Tomebamba Cañari–Inca)
Huayna Cápac's northern capital second to Cuzco: Pumapungo 40 ha palace, kallanka and 300 m aqueduct under modern Cuenca.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Vajji / Licchavi republic to Gupta 600 BCE–600 CE · Vajji confederacy / Licchavi clan / Mauryan / Gupta
Capital of the Vajji (Vriji) confederacy and world's first republican state (c.600 BCE), where Buddha delivered his last sermon and Licchavis enshrined his relics in the earliest known stupa (c.483…
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Great Zimbabwe — Valley Enclosure North Wall Terrace in Masvingo, Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attr…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Harran — University North Lecture Hall (Ruha) in Şanlıurfa, Harran, Turkey is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Bronze…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Hebenu (Ancient Egyptian: 𓎛𓃀𓈖𓏌𓍢𓊖, Coptic: ⲧϩⲁⲃⲓⲛ, ⲡⲙⲁⲛϩⲁⲃⲓⲛ, romanized: t-Habin, p-Manhabin, Arabic: حفن, romanized: Hafn) or Alabastron (Koine Greek: Ἀλάβαστρων πόλις) was a city in ancient…
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Timgad — Trajan Arch Ancillary Insula North (Thamugadi) in Batna, Timgad, Algeria is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Byzantine (peak Antonine 2nd century CE) · Pamphylian Greek → Hellenistic → Roman → Byzantine → Seljuk
Pamphylian city with the world's most intact 15,000-seat Roman theatre (155 CE) and inverted-siphon aqueduct.
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Ancient city
Nguyen dynasty 1802–1945 · Vietnamese (Kinh) Nguyen
Nguyen dynasty capital (1802–1945) and last imperial city of Vietnam inside 10 km vauban-style citadel (Kinh Thanh, 1804–1832, 2.5×2.5 km square with 4 m thick bastioned walls copied from French…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Urartian Kingdom (9th–6th century BCE; later Urartian–Median–Achaemenid–Ottoman) · Urartian (Biainili) → Median → Achaemenid → Ottoman
Urartu's 100 m limestone citadel over Lake Van with royal rock-tombs and Xerxes trilingual.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Islamic Hammadid (1007–1152 CE) · Berber Hammadid / Zirid
Kalaa (Qal'a) of Beni Hammad is the 1007 CE Hammadid capital 1418 m in Hodna mountains, UNESCO 102.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Early Bronze to Mitanni (Hurrian Urkesh) · Hurrian
Hurrian capital Urkesh (c.3000–1350 BCE) attributed to the god Kumarbi, with monumental Royal Palace of Tupkish (c.2250 BCE) and underground stone Abi (nekromanteion — pit to summon underworld…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Late Ife to Yoruba Oyo-Benin (1100–1928) · Yoruba Idanre (Udane)
Idanre Hills (Oke Idanre) is the hilltop abandoned Yoruba city 680 m above sea on Inselberg 3 km N of Idanre town, occupied 11th–1928 c.
