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CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇨🇿 Czech Republic · Ancient city
Early Middle Ages (6th c. settlement; Great Moravian 830–907) · Great Moravia (capital hypothesis)
Mikulčice-Valy Great Moravian Agglomeration in South Moravia, Hodonín District, Mikulčice, Morava floodplain, Czech Republic is a Early Middle Ages (6th c.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (c. 700 BCE – 600 CE) · Corinthian Greek / Roman
Saronic harbour of Corinth with twin Roman moles and submerged quay walls 1–3 m offshore at Kechries.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Phoenician to Late Antique (800 BCE – 600 CE) · Phoenician / Punic / Roman / Nuragic
8th c. BCE Nora Stone Phoenician colony — 120 m quay at −3 m off Capo di Pula isthmus with 7 wrecks at −8 m.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Late Classical to Hellenistic (350–133 BCE) with Roman upkeep to 600 CE · Ionian Greek (Milesian) and Hellenistic Attalid
Alexander-dedicated Athena temple 334 BCE by Pytheos and pristine Hippodamian grid city.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Archaic (600–500 BCE) · Aeolian Greek under Lydian and later Persian rule (Assian polis)
Only Archaic Doric temple in Anatolia 530 BCE, sculpted architrave atop 238-m acropolis.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Medieval (580 BCE – 1100 CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan / Slavic Tmutarakan
Northern bay harbour of Hermonassa in Tuzla Bay — 70 m timber quay at –1.5 m behind spit.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Sabaean to Himyarite (8th c BCE–6th c CE) · Sabaean / Himyarite
North sluice of Great Dam of Ma'rib (750 BCE–575 CE) — 23-m cut-stone control feeding northern oasis.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom to Middle Kingdom (c.2650 – 1700 BCE) · Old Kingdom Egyptian (Snefru–Khufu–Khafra)
Old Kingdom world's oldest harbour 2650 BCE — paired Ayn Sukhna jetty 0.2–1 m submerged and Wadi al-Jarf galleries with Khufu boat caches.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Hellenistic to Early Islamic (300 BCE – 800 CE) · Hellenistic / Byzantine Egyptian
Eastern Mareotis harbour of Marea behind Lake Mareotis — 90 m Pharos mole at –1.5 m and eastern quay with chirho dumps.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (275 BCE – 550 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman Egyptian
Southern Foul Bay lagoon of Berenike behind Ras Benas — gypsum quay at –1.5 m and elephant ramp.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom to New Kingdom (2500 – 1400 BCE) · Middle Kingdom Egyptian
12th dynasty pharaonic harbour at Mersa Gawasis — limestone anchor shrine with Senusret stele at –1 m and 8 cedar anchors at –1.5 m.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Late Longshan Taosi phase 2300–1900 BCE → Erlitou transition · Longshan (Taosi culture) → Early Xia? (Yao/Shun legend)
Late Longshan (Taosi phase) walled regional capital (c.2300–1900 BCE) at Tao Temple basin near Linfen, Shanxi — 280 ha enclosure (largest Longshan city in Yellow River basin) with rammed-earth outer…
🇧🇿 Belize · Ancient village
Preclassic – Classic (c.900 BCE–950 CE) Late Formative to Classic Maya · Maya (Lowland)
Barton Ramie is the classic lowland Maya household archaeology micro-settlement along the Belize River near Georgeville, Cayo, at 65 m.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Hellenistic to Roman · Seleucid, Pergamene, Carian
Maeander university city with Apollo temple, bouleuterion-library of Strabo and 100-m theatre tunnel, Hellenistic.
🇬🇾 Guyana · Ancient city
Conquistador 1530–1740 map life; indigenous Wapishana seasonal flood memory kernel · Manoa? (Akawaio/Wapishana misheard) + Spanish/English cartographic invention
Raleigh's 200-mile Lake Parime (3.5N 59.5W) with golden Manoa — kernel is 5 km Rupununi savanna floodpan.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Roman (647 BCE – 4th c. CE) · Milesian Greek
Milesian Dnieper–Bug emporium — second-phase lower harbour terrace 2–6 m submerged under Bug Liman estuary.
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Medieval Sudanic (11th–17th c; peak 14th–16th c under Mali-Songhai) · Tuareg / Soninke / Malinke / Songhai / Berber / Moroccan (Arma)
Scholar caravan metropolis on Niger Bend with three 14th-c earthen Sudano-Sahelian mosques and 600,000-manuscript university Sankore.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Archaic to Hellenistic · Dorian Rhodian
NW Rhodes hilltop Doric Athena Polias above Hellenistic fountain agora with 200-m aqueduct, 6th BCE–408 synoecism.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Epiclassic (c.300–900 CE) Bajío – El Bajío Tradition · Bajío (Tierra Blanca) tradition
Peralta (Tierra Blanca) dominates the Bajío wetlands of southern Guanajuato at 1,710 m as the largest Epiclassic city of the Bajío (300–900 CE).
🇦🇲 Armenia · Ancient city
Early Bronze Age (3500-2500 BCE) · Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes
Metsamor Fortress Citadel North Bastion — Western Terrace in Armavir Province, Armenia is a Early Bronze Age (3500-2500 BCE) ancient city attributed to Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes.
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Medieval (800-1200 CE) · Ghana Empire
Koumbi Saleh Market Enclosure East Wall Annex — Eastern Outlier in Hodh Ech Chargui, Nema, Mauritania is a Medieval (800-1200 CE) ancient city attributed to Ghana Empire.
🇵🇹 Portugal · Ancient city
Chalcolithic – Early Bronze Age (c.3000–1700 BCE) · Vila Nova de São Pedro / Bell Beaker (Estremadura)
Atlantic Copper Age hilltop proto-town (3000–1700 BCE) with walls, bastions, barbican and Bell Beaker metallurgy.
🇩🇪 Germany · Ancient city
Viking Age (c.770–1066 CE) · Danish Viking (later German Ottonian)
Hedeby (Heiðabýr, 8th–11th century CE), on the Haddebyer Noor inlet at the base of the Jutland Peninsula, was the largest Viking Age emporium in Scandinavia, a 27-hectare semicircular…
🇬🇷 Greece · Hydraulic works
Archaic to Hellenistic · Corinthian Greek
Perachora peninsula (45 m, 38°01′48″N 22°57′00″E 38.03,22.95) Classical to Hellenistic gravity aqueduct (5.2 km) tapping Penteskouphia springs behind Acrocorinth to supply Heraion of Perachora…
