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CategoriesFortresses
Walls, citadels and hill forts.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Early Bronze to Judahite (c. 3000 – 600 BCE) · Canaanite / Philistine / Judahite / Assyrian
Philistine Goliath capital – Elah canal port 2 km north silted at –1 m – Philistine Bichrome harbour mud.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Classic to Epiclassic (c.300–900 CE); Classic 300–600 CE, Epiclassic fortified 600–900 CE · Central Veracruz–Puebla highland (Cantona sphere) → Epiclassic Tepeyahualco–Totonac fringe
Cantona-linked lava-field fortress town (c.300–900 CE) with obsidian workshops on Malinche flank (García Cook).
🇩🇪 Germany · Fortress
Early Medieval Slavic 900–1180 (Circipanian Obotrite lake island) · Slavic Circipanian (Obotrite confederacy Tollense lake island)
Behren-Lübchin — Slavic lake island fortress (9th–12th c, Feldberg–Fresendorf phase, peak 10th–12th c Circipanian) on Großer See lake island 12 km southeast Teterow, Mecklenburg Tollense–Peene lake…
🇩🇰 Denmark · Fortress
High–Late Medieval Bornholm 1259–1658 (Lund Archbishop Danish struggle) · Medieval Bornholm (Lund Archbishop vs Danish crown, Hammershus feud 1259)
Hammershus — largest medieval fortress ruin in Scandinavia (c.1259 Archbishop Jacob Erlandsen, Lund–Danish struggle 13th c) on Hammeren granite promontory 74 m a.s.l.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Fortress
Migration Period → Viking Age 400–1100 Gotland fornborg · Gotlandic Iron Age Gutar → Viking Age
Torsburgen (Thors Burg) — largest Gotland hillfort (fornborg) Migration–Viking Age (c.400–1100) on Tors limestone plateau 71 m a.s.l., Kräklingbo, eastern Gotland.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Fortress
High–Late Medieval Hanseatic 1160–1400 (Visby Hanseatic florescence 12th–14th c) · Gotlandic Hanseatic (Gutar–German Hansa Visby, Valdemar IV)
Visby City Walls (Ringmuren) — Hanseatic medieval town wall (late 13th–14th c, with 12th c earth predecessor) encircling Visby Old Town 3.4 km circumference, 11 m high, 27 towers, 3 gates…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Amarna to post-Amarna New Kingdom to Napatan · Egyptian (Amarna) / Kushite
Akhenaten’s fortified Nubian temple town c.1350 BCE at Sesebi — walled 200×250 m with four temples and external Napatan mini-pyramids.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Fortress
Kushan–Afrighid 300–800 CE → Islamic 800–1300 CE · Khwarazmian (Kangju–Afrighid) → Islamic Khwarazm
Afrighid–Early Islamic desert fortress (c.300 BCE–1200 CE) on the Sultan Uvays piedmont near Ellikkala — compact square fort (90×80 m) with unique corrugated mudbrick façade (vertical ribs) and…
🇮🇱 Israel · Tell
Early Bronze through Iron Age and Byzantine (c.3500 BCE–600 CE); LB–Iron I–II Judahite fortress 8th–6th c. BCE · EBA–LB Canaanite → Judahite fortress (Hezekiah–Zedekiah) → Babylonian destruction → Persian–Byzantine
Judahite Shfela fortress (18 ha) with Sennacherib 701 BCE and 588 BCE Babylonian destructions — Lachish letter Azekah (Iron II).
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Early Bronze to Iron Age (c. 2500 – 1200 BCE) · Amorite / Mitanni / Egyptian / Hittite / Sea Peoples
Orontes ford harbour of Ramses vs Hittites – quay 30 m silted 200 m east of battle tell.
🇸🇩 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.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Fortress
Migration Period → Vendel 400–800 Gotland · Gotlandic Iron Age (Gutar, East Scandinavian)
Stavgard — Gotlandic ringfort (Migrations–Vendel Period 400–800 CE, with Iron Age reuse) on Stavgard farm ridge, Burs parish, southeastern Gotland, 35 km southeast Visby.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Classic to Epiclassic · Cantona culture (highland central Mexico)
High-altitude lava-block pyramid city at Cantona — 15 m acropolis pyramid at 2550 m c.600 CE with 24 ball courts and walled lava causeways.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty–New Kingdom · Ancient Egyptian (fortified settlement)
Greatest of Middle Kingdom Nubian forts, originally named Iken, built by Senusret III at narrow Second Cataract gorge on west bank, comprising a massive outer fortress enclosing harbour and an inner…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Old Kingdom precursors; Middle Kingdom–New Kingdom · Ancient Egyptian
Southernmost bastion of Egyptian 12th Dynasty canal road, first founded as Old Kingdom copper smelting settlement (2500 BCE) then rebuilt by Senusret I and massively expanded by Senusret III as…
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Greco-Bactrian 3rd c BCE → Kushan 1st–3rd c CE · Greco-Bactrian → Kushan Bactria
Dalverzin Tepe Surkhandarya — Greco-Bactrian → Kushan fortified city (3rd c BCE–3rd c CE) on Surkhandarya plain 30 km NE Denau, excavated 1960s–80s by G.A. Pugachenkova and Turgunov (Uzbek).
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Maya Postclassic Contact · Maya Kaqchikel
Kaqchikel capital Iximché (1470–1524 CE): hilltop twin-pyramid plazas Temple 2 10 m with ballcourt and 40 m ravine defences, first Spanish capital of Guatemala 1524.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Hellenistic 330–145 BCE → Yuezhi–Kushan 145 BCE–350 CE → Sasanians 350–500 CE · Greco-Bactrian → Kushan–Sogdian (Oxus trade)
Oxus port fortress (330 BCE–500 CE) at Kampir hill 30 km west Termez — Hellenistic gate, Kushan quay and Alexander port contender.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Hellenistic 4th–3rd c BCE → Kushan 1st–3rd c CE · Greco-Bactrian Oxus port — Alexander → Kushan
Kampyr Tepe Oxus — Greco-Bactrian Oxus port fortress (4th c BCE Alexander → Kushan 2nd c CE) on Amu Darya north bank 30 km west Termez, excavated 1960s–2000s by E.V. Rtveladze (Uzbek Academy).
🇱🇻 Latvia · Fortress
Livonian Crusade High Medieval 1214–16th c · Liv (Finnic) sacred hill → Livonian Order brick-gothic (German crusader)
Turaida (Treiden) — brick-gothic Livonian hillfort→castle (built 1214 by Bishop Albert of Riga, Livonian Brothers of Sword) in Gauja National Park, on Gauja River right bank opposite Krimulda, 4 km…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
New Kingdom to Ottoman (1500 BCE–1813 CE) · Egyptian, Napatan, Meroitic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic
Sole major Lower Nubian site surviving inundation, perched on cliff now island in Lake Nasser, continuously occupied from New Kingdom fortress through Napatan citadel, Meroitic town, Roman fort…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Middle Kingdom to X-Group (1860–500 BCE peak 1850 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian occupier
Mid-Nile island kite-fort Askut guarding Second Cataract channel.
🇱🇹 Lithuania · Fortress
Medieval–Renaissance Lithuania 1323–1655 (Gediminas → Vasa) · Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Gediminid–Jagiellonian–Vasa)
Vilnius Lower Castle (Valdovų rūmai) — stately Renaissance palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania (Gediminas c.1323 foundation, 15th–17th c Renaissance florescence Sigismund Old–Vasa) at foot of…
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Hasmonean to Roman (2nd c. BCE–73 CE; Herodian peak) · Hasmonean Jewish → Herodian (Idumaean-Jewish client of Rome) → Sicarii → Roman legion → Byzantine monks
Herod's 440 m mesa fortress over Dead Sea — hanging palaces, desert cisterns and preserved Roman siege ramp.
