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CategoriesBuried cities
Settlements sealed under ash, sand or silt and excavated centuries later.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Neolithic (regional) · Neolithic
Upper Lalibela Necropolis Outer — Lalibela (59-42) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Neolithic (regional) ancient city of the Neolithic tradition, built c. 400 BCE for necropolis and associated settlement.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Late Chalcolithic (9700–3500 BCE) · PPN → Halaf → Ubaid → Late Chalcolithic
Zeytinli Bahçe Step Trench East is the eastern step-trench sounding of Zeytinli Bahçe on the Euphrates left bank 5 km north of Birecik — the Neolithic step-trench key from PPN (9700 BCE) to Late…
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Bronze Age (regional) · Bronze Age
Lower Lalibela Fortress Central — Lalibela (59-24) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Bronze Age (regional) ancient city of the Bronze Age tradition, built c. 200 CE for fortress and associated settlement.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Underground city
Neolithic (regional) · Neolithic
Sacred Lalibela Village South — Lalibela (59-49) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Neolithic (regional) underground city of the Neolithic tradition, built c. 400 BCE for village and associated settlement.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka · Buried city
Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) · Bronze Age
Anuradhapura — Abhayagiri Buried Chapel North (Sri Lanka) in North Central, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka is a Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) buried cit…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Buried city
Early PPNB · Upper Euphrates PPNB
PPNB ritual settlement (c.8400–8100 BCE) on the middle Euphrates, sister-site to Göbekli Tepe with limestone T-pillars, terrazzo floors, and anthropogenic limestone sculptures of humans and birds…
🇲🇹 Malta · Ancient city
Neolithic (regional) · Neolithic
Royal Hypogeum Ridge B — Hypogeum, Paola (59-07) at Hypogeum, Paola, Malta is a Neolithic (regional) ancient city of the Neolithic tradition, built c. 1200 BCE for ridge and associated settlement.
🇮🇱 Israel · Tell
Early Bronze Age II–III (c.3000–2350 BCE) with MB II and Iron I–II reuse · EBA III Canaanite urban (Proto-Canaanite) — Jordan Valley city-state network
16 ha EBA III walled palace-city (2700–2350 BCE) with Palace B2 (6000 m²) — largest EBA town in Israel (Miroschedji).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
EB I–III → MBA → LBA → Iron Age (3000–700 BCE) · Syro-Anatolian EBA (Euphrates tradition) → Amorite → Mitanni/Hittite
EB walled town (3000–2300 BCE) with 20 ha lower town — Carchemish-Aleppo plain urban gateway, Mitanni/Hittite contested.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Hassuna through Halaf and Ubaid (c.6000–5000 BCE); Hassuna, Samarra, Halaf early · Hassuna → Samarra–Hajji Muhammad → Halaf (Yarim Tepe facies)
Hassuna–Halaf type transition (c.6000–5000 BCE) with earliest updraft kilns and Halaf painted ware over Hassuna (Soviet Bader).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze (3800–2300 BCE) · Uruk → Jemdet Nasr → Ninevite V → Early Dynastic
Kurban Höyük Dam Salvage Zone is the 6-ha lower terrace on the Euphrates left bank, salvaged before Atatürk Dam raised the lake 15 m over the valley.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Ubaid to Islamic · Sumerian → Akkadian → Babylonian → Kassite
Holy city of Sumer and Akkad, seat of Enlil (Lord Air) whose Ekur temple gave legitimacy to kingship — 'king without Nippur is no king'.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Old Kingdom to Late Antiquity (4th Dyn – 4th c. CE) · Egyptian (Delta Libyan dynasties)
Bastet cat-goddess capital – island red-granite temple and 100,000 cat mummies on 14 m tell.
🇲🇹 Malta · Ancient city
Classical (regional) · Classical
Royal Hypogeum Ridge I — Hypogeum, Paola (59-21) at Hypogeum, Paola, Malta is a Classical (regional) ancient city of the Classical tradition, built c. 800 CE for ridge and associated settlement.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Neolithic to Byzantine (6300 BCE–1300 CE) · Neolithic Mersin XXXIII → Chalcolithic Ubaid → EBA Cilician → Iron → Byzantine
Yumuktepe Mersin Re-evaluation Trench is the southern sounding of Yumuktepe — the Neolithic type-site for Cilician chronology (Garstang Mersin XXXIII–I, 6300–1300 CE) within modern Mersin.
🇮🇳 India · Buried city
Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) · Bronze Age
Dholavira — Buried Reservoir North (Kutch, Gujarat) in Gujarat, Kutch, Dholavira Buried, India is a Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) buried city att…
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Buried city
Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) · Bronze Age
Kilwa Kisiwani — Buried Palace Husuni North (Tanzania) in Lindi, Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania is a Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) buried city attribut…
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Underground city
Classical (regional) · Classical
Little Lalibela Mound Inner — Lalibela (59-03) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Classical (regional) underground city of the Classical tradition, built c. 400 BCE for mound and associated settlement.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Bronze Age (regional) · Bronze Age
Old Lalibela Village Inner — Lalibela (59-25) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Bronze Age (regional) ancient city of the Bronze Age tradition, built c. 2500 BCE for village and associated settlement.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Classical (regional) · Classical
Southern Lalibela Hilltop II — Lalibela (59-50) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Classical (regional) ancient city of the Classical tradition, built c. 3000 BCE for hilltop and associated settlement.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell
EB through Mamluk; Iron II and Byzantine peaks · EB dolmen-builders → Iron Moab/Ammon → Nabataean → Roman/Byzantine Esbus → Mamluk
Biblical Heshbon on Dead Sea escarpment — Iron Moabite/Ammonite town to Hasmonaean, Roman Esbus, Byzantine mosaics and Mamluk farm, 15 m within 150×110 m mound.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Predynastic to Greco-Roman to Medieval · Egyptian (Libyan → Saite renaissance → Persian)
Cult centre of Neith and capital of 26th (Saite) Dynasty (664–525 BCE) — Egypt's Late Period renaissance metropolis that reconquered to Aswan and traded with Greeks at Naukratis.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Hassuna to Iron Age (6500 BCE–800 BCE) · Hassuna/Samarra → Halaf → Ninevite V → Mittani → Iron Age Aramean
Tell Mohammed Diyab Southern Extension is the 9.8-ha southern skirt of Tell Mohammed Diyab on the upper Khabur plain — a 30-m tell with one of the longest Neolithic-to-Iron sequences in inland Syria…
🇿🇦 South Africa · Buried city
Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) · Bronze Age
Thulamela — Buried Midden North (Kruger, South Africa) in Limpopo, Thulamela Buried, South Africa is a Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) buried city …
