Search places, or jump to a section
CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 736 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 770 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 791 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 798 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 876 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 889 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 900 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 918 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 944 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle Sector 958 in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Iron Age · Iron Age
Iron Age ancient-city at Huanuco.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Archaic / Norte Chico · Caral-Supe / Norte Chico
Oldest city in Americas and largest Late Archaic New World pyramids (c.2600 BCE) – six truncated earthen pyramids with sunken plazas, residential sectors and early quipu and flutes in Supe Valley,…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Late Period to Byzantine (6th c BCE – 8th c CE) · Egyptian / Greek
Legendary port of entry to Egypt before Alexandria, submerged after earthquake/liquefaction 6th–8th century CE, rediscovered 2000 by Franck Goddio (IEASM) with stele of Nectanebo I, temples of…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Pre-Harappan to Late Harappan (2800–1500 BCE) · Harappan
Banawali excavated by Bisht 1973–, with barracks and seal of unicorn.
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Ancient city
According to inscription on the stele of Sdok Kok Thom, Indrapura (Khmer: ឥន្ទ្របុរៈ) or Amarendrapura (Khmer: អមរិន្ទ្របុរៈ) was the first capital of Jayavarman II reign about 781, before the…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Ghar el-Melh (Arabic: غارالملح, Ghar al-Milh, "Salt Grotto"), the classical Rusucmona and Castra Delia and colonial Porto Farina, is a town and former port on the southern side of Cape Farina in…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Fortified city
Hausa classical (c. 1100–1807 CE; Ganuwa built 13th–14th c) · Hausa (Katsina scholarly centre)
Seven-gate 14 km mud rampart enclosing 405 ha Hausa scholarly city of Gobarau minaret (14th c mudbrick tower 15 m, oldest multi-storey mud in West Africa), manuscript libraries and...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Old Kingdom / Second Intermediate · Egyptian
Lost capital of Xoite 14th Dynasty (76 kings) contesting Hyksos Avaris. Stepped temple of Amun and 8 m Hyksos walls detected by magnetometry; Herodotus lists Delta metropolis.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
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 · Ancient city
Old to Middle Kingdom / Late Period · Egyptian
Capital of Heracleopolitan dynasty (Dyn 9–10, 2160–2055 BCE) whose 'Instruction for Merikare' defines First Intermediate Period.
🇯🇲 Jamaica · Submerged site
Early Modern (1518–1692) · English colonial / pirate
Infamous pirate capital of Caribbean ('Wickedest City in the World'), 2/3 slid into harbour by liquefaction in 1692 earthquake + tsunami, preserving 17th c storehouses under sediment - 'Pompeii of…
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Numidian / Roman · Romano-Berber
High-plateau Roman university town famed as birthplace of Apuleius (Golden Ass) and Augustine's school.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Kebbi Kingdom (1515 Kebbi revolt from Songhai – 1808 Fulani) · Zarma–Hausa–Songhai (Kanta Kotal founder)
Rival capital to Songhai after Kebbi's 1515 revolt, Birnin Kebbi on Sokoto River with 5.8 km walls and citadel where Kanta's cavalry defeated Songhai at Surame aftermath; annual Ar...
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
ED to Isin-Larsa (c.3000–1750 BCE) · Sumerian → Akkadian → Ur III → Isin-Larsa
Kisurra (Abu Hatab) is a Sumerian city-state between Isin and Larsa, with ED palace and Ur III archive. German excavations (1900, 1990s) revealed city wall (2 k...
