⌂Ancient cities

🇸🇩 Sudan · Archaeological wonder

Wadi Hawar (Wadi Howar) – Yellow Nile

Early Holocene to Late Antiquity (9500 BCE–500 CE) · Holocene Saharan pastoral / Nubian

1000-km Yellow Nile former tributary with 400 Holocene pastoral scatters 9500–2000 BCE.

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Kavuşan Höyük

Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze (c.6000–1500 BCE) · Hassuna-Halaf → Ninevite 5 → Akkadian → Khabur ware

Large Tigris terrace tell (320 × 280 m, 15 m high) in the Ilısu reservoir zone, excavated 2002–2011 by G. Kozbe and Halu...

🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Lachish

Neolithic to Persian (c.5000–400 BCE; peak Judah fortress 900–586 BCE) · Canaanite → Judahite fortress → Assyrian → Persian

Tel Lachish is the great Judahite fortress-city (second after Jerusalem), famed for 701 BCE Sennacherib siege ramp — Assyrian reliefs at Nineveh show Lachish ba...

🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city

Uchi Maius (Henchir Douamis)

Numidian to Late Antique (5th c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman (Africa Proconsularis)

Hill town 20 km from Dougga with Severan arch and aqueduct.

🇨🇾 Cyprus · Submerged site

Salamis of Cyprus – Sunken Harbour at Ammochostos (Famagusta Bay)

Bronze Age to Late Roman (1180 BCE Enkomi-Salamis – 648 CE Arab sack) · Teucrid Greek / Cypriot / Persian / Hellenistic / Roman

Salamis Cypriot kingdom — 10 ha walled city whose 500 m mole at Pediaeus mouth now 1–2 m under Famagusta Bay.

🇨🇾 Cyprus · Ancient city

Aetokremnos

Aetokremnos is a rock shelter near Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus. It is widely considered to host some of the oldest evidence of human habitation of Cyprus, dating to around 12,000 years…

🇰🇭 Cambodia · Ancient city

Angkor Borei

Protohistoric Funan to Chenla (c.400 BCE–800 CE, peak 2nd–7th cent CE) · Funan (Mekong Delta Oc Eo–Angkor Borei)

Funan delta capital (400 BCE–800 CE) — 300 ha moated brick city with Phnom Da hill temples and earliest Khmer Vishnu.

🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city

Can Hasan I

Chalcolithic (c.5500–4800 BCE) · Ubaid-related Central Anatolian Chalcolithic

Middle Chalcolithic tell (200 m diameter, 8 m high) on the Konya Plain’s southern apron, excavated by David French. Sequ...

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Kazane Höyük North Burned Quarter

Halaf-Ubaid to Islamic (5500 BCE–1200 CE; peak EBA 2600–2000 BCE) · Halaf → Uruk → EBA Syro-Anatolian → Mitanni → Neo-Assyrian

EBA burned quarter of 100 ha Kazane mega-tell — Uruk to Neo-Assyrian sequence.

🇺🇦 Ukraine · Ancient city

Maidanetske

Trypillia C1 · Cucuteni-Trypillia

Largest Cucuteni-Trypillia mega-site (c.3900–3600 BCE, 200 ha mapped core but estimates to 450 ha, perhaps 46,000 houses phases, peak 12–15k inhabitants), direct neighbour to Talianki forming…

🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city

Wukari (Jukun) – Benue Valley Palace Area

Jukun Kwararafa (c. 1300–1900 CE; peak 16th–18th c) · Jukun (Kwararafa confederacy)

Capital of the Jukun–Kwararafa Benue empire, Wukari's palace enclosure (400×350 m) houses the Aku Uka sacred kingship shrine and town walls that controlled Benue–Cameroon corridor...

🇦🇲 Armenia · Ancient city

Erebuni Fortress

Urartian (782 BCE Argishti I) · Urartu

Domineering hill citadel (Arin Berd) whose cuneiform foundation stele says Argishti son of Menua built on empty land and brought 6,600 captives.

🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city

Thuburnica (Sidi Ali Belgacem)

Roman (Late Republic to Late Antiquity; peak 1st–3rd c. CE) · Roman (Africa Proconsularis)

Veteran colonia near Chemtou with monumental Roman bridge and basilica.

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Pursuklu Höyük

Pottery Neolithic to Early Chalcolithic (c.6200–5500 BCE) · Çatalhöyük–related Konya Plain Neolithic

Low Konya Plain mound (150 m diameter, 6 m high) north of Çatalhöyük, part of the Çarşamba fan settlement cluster survey...

🇧🇩 Bangladesh · Temple complex

Ananda Vihara — Mainamati

Early Medieval (7th–12th c.) · Chandra-Pala

Ananda Vihara — Mainamati in Comilla District, Mainamati Hills, Bangladesh is a Early Medieval (7th–12th c.) temple complex attributed to Chandra-Pala culture.

🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city

Huchuy Qosqo

Early Late Horizon 1420–1438 CE (pre-Pachacuti) · Inca (pre-imperial)

Wiraqocha's 3600 m royal estate above Sacred Valley with 40 m Kallanka, terraces and reservoir 23 m.

🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city

Thigibba Bure (Djebba) – Hilltop Sanctuary

Numidian to Byzantine (3rd c BCE – 7th c CE) · Numidian / Punic / Roman

Ridge refuge 540 m above Bagrada plain, Thigibba Bure preserves Punic walls, Roman sanctuary terrace, mausoleum, baths and Christian basilica with mosaics, amid fig orchards famed...

🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city

Altıntepe

Urartian Kingdom 8th–6th century BCE (late empire western frontier) · Urartian → Median → Achaemenid

Argishti II's Euphrates citadel with pillared hall, subterranean passage and ivory tombs.

🇺🇸 United States · Ancient village

Los Morteros — Tucson Basin Hohokam Village

Hohokam Colonial to Classic (950–1350 CE; peak 950–1200 CE) · Hohokam (Tucson Basin)

Hohokam platform precursor 950 CE — 600 bedrock mortars & ballcourt (Bayman).

🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city

Old Dongola

Medieval Christian–Islamic Nubia (500–1317 CE; peak 800–12th c.) · Makuria (Christian Nubia) / Islamic

Old Dongola on Nile opposite Letti is Makuria Christian Nubia's capital 500–1317 CE, 45 ha walled town with colonnaded citadel, palace of Ioannes (11th c.) 28×18 m with frescoes, five churches…

🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city

Tegdaoust (Aoudaghost) West Ksar

Aoudaghost (c. 500–1400 CE; Berber–Ghanaian citadel) · Berber (Sanhaja) / Soninke Ghanaian conquest 1055

Berber ksar on Aoukar dune edge, Aoudaghost West preserves citadel, mosque and cavern granaries that stored caravan millet, described by al-Bakri and Ibn Hawqal; Ghana 1055 seizure...

🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city

Ebla

Early Bronze IVA–B (2400–1600 BCE) · Eblaite Semitic (Northwest Semitic)

Syrian superpower Ebla (c.3500–1600 BCE) with double-walled city (60 ha) and Royal Palace G — where Paolo Matthiae 1975 found the Ebla archive: 17,000 cuneiform tablets in Sumerian and Eblaite…

🇮🇳 India · Ancient city

Padri — Gulf of Khambhat Harappan

Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) · Harappan

Padri — Gulf of Khambhat Harappan in Gujarat, Gulf of Khambhat, India is a Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) ancient city attributed to Harappan culture.