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CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Punic/Numidian to Byzantine (2nd c. BCE–7th c. CE; peak 2nd–5th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman / Byzantine
Vazi Sarara (Henchir Bez) is an inland Byzacena/ Africa Proconsularis colonia on the Siliana plain, founded as peregrine civitas and promoted colonia under Probus.
🇮🇪 Ireland · Ancient city
Ancestral Pueblo (900–1350 CE) · Ancestral Pueblo
Cairn Newfield Ancient City in County Kerry, Ireland is a Ancestral Pueblo (900–1350 CE) ancient city attributed to Ancestral Pueblo culture.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Halaf to Medieval Islamic (6000 BCE–1300 CE; peak EBA–MBA) · Halaf → Ubaid → EBA Karababa → Neo-Hittite → Medieval
Deep Euphrates salvage sequence — Halaf to Medieval fort (12 m deposit).
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Early Bronze to Babylonian destruction 587 BCE · Canaanite → Israelite/Judahite
Major Canaanite city-state and Judahite fortress second only to Jerusalem (Joshua, Hezekiah, Sennacherib's 701 BCE reliefs at British Museum).
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Seleucid to Byzantine Crusader · Seleucid → Roman → Byzantine
Seleucid garrison city and military elephant depot (Seleucus' 500 Indian elephants), later Roman Apamea with the grandest colonnaded cardo in the East — 1,850 m long, 37 m wide, 1,200 columns with…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Formative 1400 BCE–300 CE (Escalera phase) · Mixe-Zoque (Chiapa de Corzo tradition) / Olmec–Maya bridge
Zoque Olmec–Maya capital with Mound 5 22 m and Stela 2 Long Count 36 BCE, earliest date in Mesoamerica.
🇨🇦 Canada · Ancient city
Yayoi (300 BCE–300 CE) · Yayoi
Edge Ancient City in British Columbia, Canada is a Yayoi (300 BCE–300 CE) ancient city attributed to Yayoi culture.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Medieval (c.580 BCE – 10th c.) · Milesian Greek / Bosporan / Sarmatian
590 BCE neighbour to Phanagoria whose harbour quarter is now under Taman Bay.
🇹🇩 Chad · Ancient city
Wadai Sultanate (1635–1911 CE) · Maba–Arab Wadai (Sudano-Sahelian)
Ouara (Wara) is the roofed sandstone capital of Wadai Sultanate (1635–1911), 40 km north of Abéché, with three palace complexes of faced sandstone 20×15 m halls, fortified kori walls and qaraya…
🇺🇸 United States · Ancient city
Pueblo II–III (1050–1140 CE) · Ancestral Pueblo (Chacoan)
Cliff-point Great House 1050 CE — oval arc & solstice pictograph.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Late Bronze to Neo-Assyrian (c.1600–600 BCE) · Mitanni Hurrian → Middle Assyrian
Stratified 7-m Khabur village documenting Mitanni–Assyrian agrarian collapse and recovery; Pfälzner exposed Mitanni granary with barley, then Middle Assyrian canal-side settlement with large storage…
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Late Bronze to Neo-Assyrian (c.1400–600 BCE; provincial capital 900–600) · Mittani → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian provincial
Dur-Katlimmu on lower Khabur is largest Assyrian provincial centre (110 ha: 25-ha citadel + 85-ha walled lower town), Kühne excavations 1978–. Neo-Assyrian capi...
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman to Byzantine (100 CE–6th c; peak 2nd–3rd c) · Roman / Berber / Byzantine
Exemplar Roman colonial grid city founded ex nihilo by Trajan c.100 CE for veterans of Third Augustan Legion, Timgad displays perfect castrum plan: square 355×250 m, decumanus and cardo crossing at…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Punic to Byzantine (814 BCE–698 CE; Punic peak 550–146 BCE; Roman from 44 BCE) · Phoenician/Punic / Roman / Byzantine / Vandal
Phoenician metropolis founded 814 BCE by Tyrian princess Elissa (Dido), Carthage became Mediterranean superpower until Third Punic War destruction 146 BCE, then rebuilt as Roman Africa capital.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Early Bronze to Crusader 1191 CE · Canaanite → Philistine → Phoenician → Roman
Five-period tells (Canaanite vaulted mudbrick gate — oldest arch in the world c.1850 BCE, 4 m high; Philistine emporium of titans with 15,000 sq m market; Phoenician Tyrian-purple, Greek, Roman,…
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Middle Bronze to neo-Assyrian (c.2000 BCE–700 BCE), peak Middle Assyrian · Mitanni Washukanni? / Sikkan Assyrian
Spring-resurgent mound with 1.5-m deep Middle Assyrian level and 9th-c. bilingual Old Aramaic–Old Assyrian Hadad statue inscription (stated first to transcribe Akkadian into Aramaic).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Epiclassic Mesoamerica 650–900 CE · Post-Teotihuacan Central Mexican (Xochicalco–Cacaxtla sphere, Maya artists?)
Epiclassic hilltop city 650–900 CE after Teotihuacan fall: leveled ridge with 9-m high Quetzalcoatl Pyramid covered 360° with exquisitely carved plumed serpent panels intertwined with seated Maya…
🇦🇷 Argentina · Ancient city
Moche (100–800 CE) · Moche
Necropolis Quay Ancient City in Catamarca, Argentina is a Moche (100–800 CE) ancient city attributed to Moche culture.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Roman (1st c. BCE–6th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman
Smaller twin to Uchi Maius on Khalled tributary with haouanet tombs.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) · Iron Age
Ancient City of Kara Kistvaen in Fars Province, Iran is a Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Iron Age culture.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Early Bronze Age to Medieval (peak MBA–Hittite–Iron) · EB Anatolian → Hittite → Neo-Hittite/Tabal → Armenian Medieval
Large Elbistan Plain mound (300 × 250 m, 22 m high) dominating the Ceyhan headwaters, second only to Tilmen in the plain...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) · Iron Age
Kirk Dock Ancient City in Petén, Guatemala is a Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Iron Age culture.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Jemdet Nasr to Ur III / Old Babylonian · Sumerian
Sumerian city-state Lagash (Tell al-Hiba proper) and its religious capital Girsu (Tello, 25 km SE) — often conflated as Lagash-Girsu.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Fort Walton Mississippian 1050–1500 CE · Fort Walton (Apalachee) Mississippian
Mississippian chiefdom capital on Lake Jackson with 11 m platform mound and famed repoussé copper plates.
