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CategoriesMounds
Platform and burial mounds of the Americas and beyond.
🇧🇬 Bulgaria · Buried city
Late Chalcolithic / Copper Age · Varna culture (Karanovo VI/Gumelnița)
Chalcolithic cemetery (4600–4200 BCE) with world's oldest worked gold hoard — 3,000 gold objects, 6.5 kg, in Grave 43 (status male with gold penis sheath) and 294 other graves, demonstrating earliest…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Late Roman/Byzantine to Umayyad · Roman/Byzantine → Umayyad Arab
Black basalt desert castle (qasr) on the shores of seasonal Burqu Lake and Roman strata — possibly Byzantine Valentinian outpost incorporated into Umayyad qusur (~700 CE) — isolated in Harra basalt…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Ubaid (5000–4300 BCE) · Ubaid
Ubaid (5000–4300 BCE) Ubaid tell at Diyala Governorate, Hamrin – ubaid village with grain storages (dims 1.1 ha).
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Early Woodland Adena 1000–200 BCE · Adena
Second-largest conical mound in Ohio (65 ft/20 m high, 877 ft circumference) and tallest surviving Adena mound, preserved at Miamisburg Mound State Park.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Early Bronze III – Iron II (to Late Roman) · Amorite/Aramaean – Luwian
Idlib plain fortified tell (2500–550 BCE) with 30-season Japanese excavation sequence.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Initial Period 2200–1000 BCE, Sechín-Casma tradition · Casma-Sechín (Initial Period)
Secondary platform south of main Las Haldas pyramid on coastal terrace 20 m above Pacific tidal flat: 9 m high stepped platform 40×35 m with plastered stair facing sea, contemporary with Sechín Bajo…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Maya Early to Late Classic, c.250–900 CE (I: c.400 CE, rebuild 600–700) · Maya (Kanul / Snake dynasty)
East Acropolis pyramid Structure I (? not largest Structure II 55 m, but I is 40 m) at Calakmul (c.250–900 CE, Classic megapower, rival of Tikal).
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Early Bronze to Old Assyrian · Akkadian → Amorite Assyrian
Akkadian provincial capital turned Assyrian royal city Shubat-Enlil (Shamshi-Adad I c.1813–1791 BCE), with 90 ha walled city, Akkadian palace on Acropolis, and the Weiss 4.2ka climate event…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Initial Period, c.1700–1200 BCE · Manchay (Lima Initial Period, Casma–Rímac tradition)
Huaca La Florida — largest remaining Initial Period pyramid in the Rímac valley (c.1700–1200 BCE), 213 × 65 m base, 17 m high, U-shaped with central stair and circular sunken court.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Maya Preclassic to Late Classic, c.150 BCE–900 CE · Maya (Mirador Basin)
Pyramid La Perdida (Lost Pyramid, Structure XII) at Naachtun (c.150 BCE–900 CE, massive 130-ha city between Tikal and Mirador).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Jemdet Nasr to Old Babylonian / Neo-Babylonian, c.3100–580 BCE · Sumerian → Akkadian → Babylonian
Twin tells of Kish — Ingharra (Temple Mound) and Uhaimir (Palace Mound) with ziggurats. Tell Uhaimir ziggurat (Ekišiba, Temple of Zababa) 30 × 40 m base, 13 m extant mudbrick massif with plano-convex…
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
St Johns I–II 1000 BCE–1500 CE · St Johns (Mayaou Timucua)
Shell-midden island famous for 6 m buried wooden owl totem (600 CE) and snail-shell ridges.
🇮🇷 Iran · Pyramid
Proto-Elamite / Early Bronze Age, c.3000–2600 BCE (Sialk III-IV) · Proto-Elamite
High platform (proto-ziggurat) on South Tappeh at Tepe Sialk (c.3000–2600 BCE, Proto-Elamite / Early Bronze Age).
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Maya Late Classic, c.730–734 CE, reign Hasaw Chan K'awil · Maya (Classic Lowland)
Temple I — Gran Jaguar — pyramid over tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (Hasaw Chan K'awil, r.682–734 CE), north of Great Plaza, 47 m high.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Early Woodland Adena 1000–400 BCE · Adena
Large Adena conical mound (38 ft/11.5 m high, 140 ft/43 m diameter) preserved in Indian Mound Reserve, Enon. One of the best-preserved Adena mounds in Ohio, surrounded by former enclosures now plowed.
🇸🇾 Syria · Pyramid
Late Chalcolithic to Bronze Age, c.3500–2300 BCE · Uruk / Nagar (Hurrian)
Northern high mound at Tell Brak — Eye Temple platform (Late Chalcolithic, c.3500–3300 BCE) and later Nagar palace high mound (c.2500 BCE).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Chalcolithic-EBA (c.5000-2500 BCE) · Kura-Araxes / Early Transcaucasian (Karaz-Pulur)
Pulur Höyük (Erzincan) — buried chalcolithic-eba tell/village at Erzincan Province.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Middle Woodland Hopewell 200 BCE–500 CE · Hopewell (Havana Hopewell)
Iowa's premier Hopewell center: 7 surviving mounds (originally 12) including large conical Mound 2 (8 m high) and linear Mound 7 on blufftop above Iowa-Mississippi confluence.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Kerma Classic to Early Napatan, c.1700–600 BCE (reused) · Kushite (Kerma → Napatan)
Kerma-classic tumulus Tomb 4 at Hillat el-Arab (c.1700–1500 BCE, early Kushite Kerma horizon) — 20 m diameter tumulus with mudbrick vaulted chamber and subsidiary burials, horse and cattle bucrania…
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Early Woodland Adena · Adena
Adena conical mound (19.5 ft/6 m high, 95 ft/29 m diameter) preserved as Story Mound State Memorial, encircled by suburban Chillicothe but intact with original ditch.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Early Dynastic to Old Babylonian · Sumerian/Amorite Larsa dynasty
Sumerian city-state that dominated southern Mesopotamia under King Rim-Sin (1822–1763 BCE) controlling 10–15 cities before Hammurapi annexed it, making Babylon supreme.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
EBA-Iron Age (c.3000-700 BCE) · Amuq/Syro-Hittite (Amuq A-J to Iron Age Patina)
Coba Höyük (Sakçagözü) — buried eba-iron tell/village at Gaziantep Province.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Classic · Maya/Andean
Kaminaljuyu — 200 mounds under Guatemala City.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Napatan, 25th Dynasty, c.690–664 BCE · Kushite (Egyptianized Napatan)
Largest pyramid at Nuri (Nu.1) for Taharqa (c.664 BCE, 25th Dynasty), 52 m base, 40–50 m original height.
