Search places, or jump to a section
CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Temple complex
Gandhara Kushan 1st century BCE–5th century CE (peak 2nd–4th CE) · Gandhara Buddhist (Kushan patronage)
Gandhara Buddhist monastery perched 154 m above plain on rocky ridge, founded 1st c BCE and flourishing 1st–5th c CE Kushan.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Yarmukian to Ghassulian (c.6400–3500 BCE) · Yarmukian → Wadi Raba → Ghassulian Chalcolithic
Stratified Neolithic–Chalcolithic mound (5 m high) in the central Jordan Valley, excavated by Jean Perrot. Yarmukian Pot...
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Iron Age II–III (c.1200–550 BCE) · Iranian Iron (Persian pre-history)
Qazvin plain Iron Age type-site: four-period red-slipped citadel with storeroom jars red-burnished late Bronze to Iron I transition, “Sagzabad Ware”.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell
Late Bronze Age to Iron Age (1500–700 BCE) · Canaanite / Aramean / Israelite
Tell Deir Alla — Balaam Inscription in Jordan Valley, Jordan is a Late Bronze Age to Iron Age (1500–700 BCE) tell attributed to Canaanite / Aramean / Israelite.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Tell
Hyksos to Saite-Persian (1700–343 BCE) · Hyksos / Egyptian (Leontopolite nome)
Hyksos-to-Saite suburb 600m south of Leontopolis with lion statues.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Archaeic to Hellenistic-Roman 9th c. BCE–69 BCE, sacred from Bronze Age · Greek (Ionian) to Hellenistic-Roman
Sacred island birthplace of Apollo - entire island is UNESCO open-air museum.
🇮🇱 Israel · Tell
Early Bronze Age to Hellenistic (3500–150 BCE) · Canaanite / Phoenician / Assyrian
Tel Keisan — Acco Plain in Galilee coastal plain, Israel is a Early Bronze Age to Hellenistic (3500–150 BCE) tell attributed to Canaanite / Phoenician / Assyrian.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Kushan to Sasanian (1st–5th century CE) · Kushan → Sasanian Kidarites
Kushan–Sasanian delta city in Surkhandarya — 15 ha shahristan mapped by multispectral remote sensing.
🇪🇨 Ecuador · Ancient city
Formative to Integration (1500 BCE–1532 CE) · Machalilla to Manteño / Valdivia predecessor
Agua Blanca — Machalilla / Manteño spa in Manabí Province, Ecuador is a Formative to Integration (1500 BCE–1532 CE) ancient-city attributed to Machalilla to Manteño / Valdivia predecessor.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Old Kingdom to Late Antique (2700 BCE–7th c. CE) · Egyptian (nome capital)
Nome capital Tjebu with Ptolemy IV temple 18-column pronaos on high tell.
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Nara Period 710–784 CE (with brief return 745–784) · Yamato / Nara Japanese (Ritsuryo)
Imperial palace of Heijō-kyō capital (710–784 CE) modeling Tang Chang'an, 1.2×1.6 km enclosure with Daigokuden audience hall, Suzaku Gate and Eastern Palace Garden ponds.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Ming Dynasty 1372–1540 CE (major 1484 rebuild) · Ming Han Chinese
Ming western gateway fortress (1372–1540) on Hexi Corridor terminus of Great Wall, 33,500 m² bastioned rammed-earth and brick rectangle abutting Qilian foothills and Black Mountain gorge.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Tell
Late Bronze to Early Iron (c.1500–500 BCE; Yaz I–III Iron 1200–500, Achaemenid Yaz III) · Margiana (BMAC) → Yaz I (Early Iron handmade) → Yaz II–III (Median–Achaemenid)
Yaz Depe in Murghab delta is type-site of Yaz I–III Iron culture (c.1200–500 BCE) — Early Iron fortified village with handmade painted Yaz ware, successor to BM...
🇩🇿 Algeria · Fortress
Roman (Hadrian to Diocletian) · Roman (Numidia, Fossatum)
Fossatum Africae southern rampart and ditch bastion south of Gemellae.
🇦🇲 Armenia · Fortress
Urartian (c.685–590 BCE Rusa II) · Urartu → post-Urartian Scythian
Huge fortress (300 × 200 m) with massive ashlar rampart, beer brewery vats, inscribed bronze shields, Teisheba tower and a lower town archive of cattle tribute.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Early Jezirah I–III (c.3000–2200 BCE) · Ninevite-5 → Early Dynastic Jezirah
30-ha EB town with nine-phase Ninevite-5 through ED III defensive wall, gate with corbel vault, “Animal House” kitchen with fauna scatters, eye-idol temple and Soviet-Polish plan 7 stratified ED…
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Samanid to Shaybanid 9th–16th c (settled from 1st c CE) · Samanid / Qarakhanid / Shaybanid Islamic (Persian)
2000-year-old Silk Road oasis city preserved as intact medieval Islamic townscape with 140+ monuments.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Lydian Archaic to Roman (550 BCE – 400 CE) · Lydian to Hellenistic to Roman Sardian
100 m Lydian–Hellenistic Artemis temple on Pactolus gold terrace.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Old Babylonian (c.2000–1750 BCE; peak c.1800 BCE) · Isin-Larsa → Old Babylonian (Amorite-Eshnunna)
Best-preserved Old Babylonian planned town (2.25 ha, 150×150 m orthogonal walled) with twin temples (Šara, Bēlet-Agade), admin complex (3000 tablets including a...
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Ubaid to Persian (c.3800 BCE–300 BCE; Early Dynastic/Ur III peak 2600–2000 BCE) · Sumerian / Akkadian / Babylonian / Persian
Sumerian city-state of the moon god Nanna (Sîn), Ur famous for Woolley's excavations 1922–34: Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (2112 BCE) best-preserved ziggurat, Royal Cemetery with Standard of Ur, Pu-abi's…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Terminal Classic Puuc 800–1000 CE · Maya (Puuc)
Free-access Puuc site at Km Xlapak 20.17N -89.60W between Sayil (4 km west) and Labná (3 km east) within Puuc Hills valley.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Punic to Byzantine (3rd c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Punic / Roman (Tripolitana)
Causeway waystation over sebkha between Zarzis and Gigthis.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Roman to Byzantine (1st c.–7th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman-Christian
Episcopal village over spring with Saturn stelae and church.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Nabataean to Byzantine (300 BCE–600 CE) · Nabataean (Aretas)
Avdat Highland Annex — Negev Nabataean Town Extension in Southern District, Israel is a Nabataean to Byzantine (300 BCE–600 CE) ancient-city attributed to Nabataean (Aretas).
