Search places, or jump to a section
CategoriesArchaeological wonders
Places that defy a simple label.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Late Ptolemaic to Roman (54 BCE–117 CE; zodiac 50 BCE) · Ptolemaic Egyptian / Roman
Best-preserved Hathor temple with 24 sistrum columns, crypt 'Dendera light' reliefs and zodiac ceiling (54 BCE).
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Numidian to Late Roman (6th c BCE–5th c CE; villas 2nd–4th c) · Numidian / Carthaginian / Roman
Unique Numidian–Roman town with two-storey subterranean villas and intact hunt mosaics preserved by burial.
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Kurgan
Late Bronze to Early Iron (Khirigsuur / Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Complex) · Mongolian Late Bronze pastoral
Steppe-forest ecotone kurgan and deer-stone complex (1,580 m, 46°29′28″N 104°07′07″E 46.4912N 104.1186E Bayan-Öndör) bridging Mongolian Khirigsuur (Late Bronze 1300-700 BCE) and deer stone-khirigsuur…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Old to Middle Kingdom (2350–1750 BCE; painted peak Twelfth Dynasty) · Ancient Egyptian
39 nomarch cliff tombs 2100–1750 BCE with Asiatic caravan 37 and wrestling 219 pairs proto-Doric.
🇪🇷 Eritrea · Ancient city
Pre-Aksumite Ethio-Sabaean to Late Aksumite (800 BCE–800 CE) · Ethio-Sabaean D'MT / pre-Aksumite → Aksumite
10 ha highland caravans town with Hawulti 5.5 m Sabaean obelisk, Aksumite stelai, palace of Kaskase and dam reservoir.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Geoglyph
Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic · Najd Late Neolithic
24 easternmost kites (6000–3500 BCE) on Qassim limestone scarp — sand-sea margin.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Chorasmian (Khorezm) 4 c. BCE–8 c. CE · Khorezmian (Chorasmian) with Kangju–Kushan phases
Khorezmian hilltop fortress complex (c.4 c. BCE–7 c. CE) on the Kyzylkum edge near Ayazkol lake — three forts: Ayaz Kala 1 (4 c. BCE–2 c.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Early Nasca to Wari · Nasca–Huarpa–Wari
Chaviña north ridge: 15 crest lines on 3,420 m hilltop with solstice-aligned avenue.
🇸🇾 Syria · Geoglyph
Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic · Late Neolithic / Ghassulian
48 Late Neolithic montane kites (6000–3500 BCE) on Jebel Druze volcanic slopes.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Archaeological wonder
PPNB to Chalcolithic · Badia Neolithic playa-foragers
North Qa' al-Qattafi: 8 playa hardpan kites semicircular on 10 km² pan edge.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Geoglyph
Late Neolithic · Central Najd Neolithic pastoralists
29 Najd mustatil platforms (4900–4200 BCE) — easternmost Saudi rectangular ritual field.
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Jomon Final 1000 BCE → Yayoi Incipient 930–600 BCE → Yayoi Early 600 BCE–100 CE · Jomon–Yayoi rice transition (Saga plain)
Japan's earliest rice contender (930–600 BCE) at Nabatake Karatsu — paddy bunds 2×1.5 m with incipient rice and ard-marks vs Itatsuke debate.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman to Byzantine (75-647 CE; peak 2nd-4th c CE) · Roman / Byzantine
Legionary Theveste with arch.
🇺🇸 United States · Rock art
Late Woodland – Fort Ancient (1000–1650 CE) · Fort Ancient (Late Woodland Mississippian)
Sandstone cliff-face bearing 37 Fort Ancient–culture petroglyphs (1000–1650 CE) incised on Mississippian Black Hand sandstone at edge of unglaciated Allegheny Plateau.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Archaeological wonder
Nigerian Iron Age (1500 BCE–500 CE) · Nok
Waterlogged pit yielding 25 in-situ Nok heads 900 BCE–500 CE and early 550 BCE iron knives.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Archaeological wonder
Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Hoabinhian 12000–7500 BCE · Hoabinhian (northwest Thailand hunter-gatherer, proto-Austroasiatic?)
Hoabinhian hunter-gatherer cave (c.12000–7500 BCE) in the Shan Hills karst near Pang Mapha, Mae Hong Son — type-site where Chester Gorman (1966) defined Hoabinhian.
🇷🇺 Russia · Tumulus
Tagar (Scythian-type Early Iron Age) · Tagar
18 Tagar satellite kurgans (700–300 BCE) on Salbyk terrace — hierarchy around Great Salbyk mega-mound.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Archaic Greek to Byzantine (630 BCE–7th c CE) · Greek / Hellenistic / Roman / Byzantine
Cyrene's port with double submerged harbour at -2.5 m, theatre and Governor's mosaics.
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Rock art
Neolithic to Pastoral (6000–1000 BCE) · Neolithic pastoralists / Libyco-Berber
Adrar plateau quartzite guelb rock engravings west of Atar with Neolithic interdune settlement.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city
Amri IA–IB (4000–3000) → Kot Diji (3000–2600) → Harappan · Amri culture / Nal-related → Early Harappan
Chalcolithic type-site for Amri culture (c.4000–3000 BCE) on the west bank of the Indus in Dadu/Jamshoro, Sindh — 4 ha mound with four periods: Amri IA–IB (thin red ware with geometric black…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Initial to Final Jomon 7000–400 BCE (Jomon 1–6) · Jomon (southern Hokkaido, Minamikayabe)
Long-lived Jomon settlement and ceremonial terrace (c.7000–1000 BCE) at Kakinoshima, Hakodate, Hokkaido — 7.6 ha terrace settlement inhabited 6000 years from Early to Final Jomon, with 400+ pit…
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Temple complex
Late Hepthalite 600–700 CE → Tokharistan 700–800 CE (Arab frontier) · Tokharistan Buddhist (Ajina school polychrome late Gandhara–Hephthalite)
Waksh giant Buddhist vihara (7–8 c. CE) near Qurghonteppa — 100×50 m monastery with 12 m Parinirvana Buddha and Turkic mural donors.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city
Kushan 1st–3rd c CE → Gupta → Hepthalite 5th c · Kushan Gandhara (Taxila valley)
Sirsukh — last great city of Taxila (late 1st c CE–mid 5th c CE) 2 km NE Sirkap, Taxila valley, founded under Kushan Kujula Kadphises/Kanishka after 80 CE.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Geoglyph
PPN to Late Neolithic · PPNB / Yarmoukian
32 PPNB–Late Neolithic limestone kites (8000–4500 BCE) on Wadi Arabilah scarp.
