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CategoriesAncient cities
Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (600 BCE – 400 CE) · Milesian Greek / Bosporan
Central bay quay of Kepoi in Taman Gulf mid-bay — 100 m ashlar quay at –2 m and Aphrodite terrace at –1 m.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Submerged site
Punic to Byzantine (5th c BCE–7th c CE; garum peak 1st–3rd c) · Punic / Roman / Byzantine
20-ha partly submerged garum metropolis with 80 cetariae and tsunami-drowned waterfront since 365 CE.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman (Flavian to Late antique; peak 2nd–3rd c) · Roman / Berber
Headquarters of Legio III Augusta 81–238 CE with Praetorium aedicula, amphitheatre and 3,000+ Latin inscriptions.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Classic (Río Bec) · Maya (Río Bec–Chenes)
Classic Río Bec palatial city (c.550–900 CE) at Becán-Chicanná dispersed urban nebula, with Structure II jaguar monster-mouth zoomorphic mascarón doorway (12 m high 18 m wide — bes...
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Roman to Modern (19 BCE–present; medieval ksar 7th c CE onward) · Garamantine / Berber Ibadi / Arab / Ottoman
UNESCO saharan ksar Ghadames — whitewashed roof-terrace oasis fed by Ain Al Faras.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Iron Age Neo-Assyrian · Aramaean Hadatu → Assyrian province
Assyrian provincial Hadatu with 2.5 km walls, 11 lion gates and Phoenician ivory hoard.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Preclassic to Postclassic Huastec (600 BCE–1520 CE, Florescent 600–900) · Huastec (Tenek – Maya linguistic isolate)
Great Huastec city (600 BCE–1520 CE, peak 600–900 CE) on Tampaón River bend covering 50 sq ha with 70 mounds, artificial lagoons and plazas: 21×40 mound group, Stepped Pyramid of the Moon, Temple of…
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Middle Bronze to Neo-Babylonian (c. 2000 – 603 BCE) · Canaanite / Philistine / Judahite / Assyrian / Babylonia
Philistine olive oil harbour industrial city – 115-press oil zone and Sorek canal basin 30 m at –1.5 m.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Middle Kingdom to New Kingdom (1900–1070 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian occupier
Twin customs forts Semna–Kumma bracketing Second Cataract with Sesostris III's negro-ship decree.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Late Postclassic (1470 – 1524 CE) · Kaqchikel Maya
Iximche Alt in Chimaltenango, Guatemala is a Late Postclassic (1470 – 1524 CE) ancient city attributed to Kaqchikel Maya culture.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Roman to Merinid (1st c CE to 14th c) · Roman / Mauretanian / Merinid Islamic
Roman port Sala Colonia beneath Merinid walled necropolis with stork-colonised minaret and Roman spolia throughout Islamic masonry.
🇪🇷 Eritrea · Ancient city
Pre-Aksumite D'mt to Aksumite (700 BCE–600 CE) · D'mt / Sabean-Eritrean / Aksumite
Qohaito (Koloe) is a 750 ha pre-Aksumite to Aksumite highland city on the Eritrean plateau edge at 2595 m, flourishing 500 BCE–600 CE as D'mt precursor to Aksum.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Preclassic – Postclassic (300 BCE–1500 CE, mask palace 300–500 CE) · Maya (Northwestern Yucatán – Acanceh)
Maya town in central-north Yucatán occupied continuously 300–1500 CE with unique layered architecture: Early Classic steep step-pyramid buried under Palace of the Stuccos (1st c.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (3rd c BCE–5th c CE; peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Ptolemaic Egyptian / Roman
Ptolemaic–Roman grain city Karanis with 85 ha mudbrick and papyri archive.
🇦🇹 Austria · Ancient city
Carnuntum (from Ancient Greek Καρνοῦς (Carnous) according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress (Latin: castra legionis) and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Ancient city
Hellenistic 330 BCE → Mauryan 305–180 BCE → Indo-Greek 180–50 BCE → Kushan 50–350 CE · Hellenistic → Indo-Greek–Kushan–Roman Silk Road
Kushan Kapisa capital at Begram (600 BCE–400 CE) — 30 ha Alexandretta with Begram Treasure of 200 Roman glass ivories.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Epiclassic (650 – 900 CE) · Olmeca-Xicalanca
Cacaxtla in Tlaxcala, Mexico is a Epiclassic (650 – 900 CE) ancient city attributed to Olmeca-Xicalanca culture.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Neolithic I (7000–4000) → Chalcolithic II (2500–1200) → NBPW III (600 BCE–300 CE) → Gupta IV · Vindhyan–Gangetic Neolithic → Gangetic Chalcolithic → Kuru-Panchala NBPW
Massive Neolithic–Early Historic mound (c.7000 BCE–1200 CE) on the Ganga's east bank opposite Prayagraj Sangam — 4 ha mound with 16 m cultural deposit excavated 1995–2003 by Allahabad University (G.R.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Middle Woodland 1–500 CE (Pinson phase) · Middle Woodland (Pinson Mound culture, Hopewell-influenced)
Largest grouping of platform mounds in Tennessee and largest Middle Woodland earthwork complex: 17 mounds (12 platform, burial, effigy) in 1,200-acre Forked Deer River park, with Saul's Mound (Sauls’…
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Chalcolithic to Islamic (5600 BCE–1500 CE; urban peak MBA 2000–1500 BCE) · Zagros Chalcolithic → Early Dynastic Zagros → Old Babylonian peripheral → Kassite → Islamic
45 m Zagros mound with Old Babylonian archive linking Babylon to Iranian intermontane valley.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Iron Age Saharan (900 BCE–200 CE) · Proto-Garamantian / Garamantian
80-m black-capped mesa hillfort 900–400 BCE pre-Garamantian stone rampart enclosing 2-ha citadel.
🇦🇱 Albania · Ancient city
Albanopolis (Albanian: Albanopolis; Ancient Greek: Ἀλβανόπολις, romanized: Albanópolis) was a city of the Albanoi, an Illyrian tribe.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Minoan to Byzantine (c. 2000 BCE – 6th c. CE) · Minoan / Mycenaean / Greek
Knossos' Minoan harbour at Amnisos — villa frescoes and 70 m quay now –1 to –3 m in surf below Eileithyia cave.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Numidian to Byzantine (5th c BCE-11th c CE; peak 2nd-4th c CE) · Numidian / Roman / Byzantine
Plateau colony Madauros.
