Palaces

Mysteria

Palaces · Mysteria

30 places · page 1 of 2

🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city

Knossos (Palace of Minos)

Minoan · Minoan

Knossos (Palace of Minos) in Crete, Heraklion, Greece is a Minoan ancient city attributed to Minoan culture.

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Kulubá

Late–Terminal Classic · Maya (Eastern Yucatan Chenes–Puuc)

Newly revealed palace city (600–1050 CE) SE of Tizimín — 55-m-long Group C palace.

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

El Chanal Archaeological Zone — Colima

Postclassic–Epiclassic (800–1400 CE) · Western Mexico (Toltec influence?)

El Chanal Archaeological Zone — Colima in Colima, Mexico is a Postclassic–Epiclassic (800–1400 CE) ancient-city attributed to Western Mexico (Toltec influence?).

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Zacuala Palace — Teotihuacan

Classic (300–600 CE) · Teotihuacan

Zacuala Palace — Teotihuacan in Mexico State, Mexico is a Classic (300–600 CE) ancient-city attributed to Teotihuacan. Priestly palace south-west of Moon Pyramid with colonnaded patios and murals.

🇪🇸 Spain · Temple complex

Casas del Turuñuelo — Guareña

Iron Age Tartessian (c.500–400 BCE) · Tartessian Orientalizing (Guadiana valley)

Casas del Turuñuelo (Tartessian 5th century BCE, c.500–400 BCE) near Guareña in the Guadiana valley is a monumental 2,500-sq-m mudbrick palace-sanctuary under a 8-m artificial mound, revealed 2015–22…

🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city

Baba Jan Tepe

Iron Age I–II (1200–700 BCE; Phase II c.1000 BCE, Phase I c.800 BCE) · Central Zagros Iron Age (Luristan) → Median zone

Nurabad Iron Age pillared hall — 12-column prototype of Persian apadana.

🇪🇸 Spain · Temple complex

Cancho Roano — Zalamea de la Serena

Iron Age Orientalizing (Tartessian, c.600–400 BCE) · Tartessian–Phoenician Orientalizing (southwest Iberian)

Cancho Roano (Tartessian–Orientalizing c.600–400 BCE) on the La Serena plain is a unique mudbrick palace-sanctuary, three successive complexes (A–C) built over each other, the final 30 × 20 m…

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Yautepec

Late Postclassic (Aztec/Morelos) · Aztec (Tlahuica–Xochimilca provincial)

Aztec provincial capital (1350–1521 CE) in Morelos — palace, pyramid and 150 ha town at Yautepec valley floor.

🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city

Varakhsha

Sogdian–Hephthalite 4th–8th c CE (Bukhara Khudats) · Sogdian Bukhara (Zeravshan oasis) → Early Islamic

Varakhsha — palace-city of Bukhara Khudats (4th–8th c CE) 40 km west Bukhara, excavated 1937–58 Shishkin and Tolstov.

🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid

Cancuén Palace-Pyramid City

Maya Classic (Late Classic palace) · Maya (Highland-Pasión portage traders)

Maya water-palace city Cancuén (400–800 CE): 230×150 m largest Maya palace (170 rooms) with attached shrine-pyramids on Pasión River, sacked c.800 CE with elite massacre in cistern.

🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid

La Corona (Sak Nikte') Pyramids

Maya Late Classic · Maya Sak Nikte' under Calakmul Kanul

Former looters' Site Q identified as Sak Nikte' (La Corona) 658–835 CE: 14 m Main Plaza pyramid and returned Hieroglyphic Stairway panels of Calakmul dynastic wars.

🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid

Aguateca Pyramid Sanctuary

Maya Late Classic terminal · Maya Petexbatun

Chasm-ringed Petexbatun fortress Aguateca (c.770–810 CE): Palace Barranca palace-pyramid complex, burned and abandoned leaving Pompeii-like elite workshops intact.

🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city

Mari — Palace East Wing Archive Room

Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban

Mari — Palace East Wing Archive Room in Deir ez-Zor, Tell Hariri, Mari, Syria is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Bro…

🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city

Ugarit — Royal Palace West Archive (Ras Shamra)

Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban

Ugarit — Royal Palace West Archive (Ras Shamra) in Latakia, Ras Shamra, Ugarit, Syria is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attribute…

🇪🇨 Ecuador · Ancient city

Tomebamba (Pumapungo)

Late Horizon Inca Imperial 1490–1533 CE · Inca (Tomebamba Cañari–Inca)

Huayna Cápac's northern capital second to Cuzco: Pumapungo 40 ha palace, kallanka and 300 m aqueduct under modern Cuenca.

🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city

Ebla — Palace G North Store Room

Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban

Ebla — Palace G North Store Room in Idlib, Tell Mardikh, Ebla, Syria is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Bronze Age u…

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Yayahuala — Tula Grande Residential Zone

Epiclassic–Early Postclassic Tollan 900–1150 CE · Toltec (Tollan)

Tula elite barrio palace 50×40 m with temazcal and maguey ovens linked by causeway to Burned Palace.

🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city

Huchuy Qosqo

Early Late Horizon 1420–1438 CE (pre-Pachacuti) · Inca (pre-imperial)

Wiraqocha's 3600 m royal estate above Sacred Valley with 40 m Kallanka, terraces and reservoir 23 m.

🇮🇶 Iraq · Archaeological wonder

Ctesiphon (Taq Kasra)

Parthian to Early Islamic (c.120 BCE–800 CE; Sassanian vault 540 CE under Khosrow I) · Parthian / Sassanian (Persian) / Byzantine influence

Sassanian imperial capital complex (224–651 CE) on Tigris, Ctesiphon comprised Seleucia-Tisfun-Mahouza conurbation.

🇹🇿 Tanzania · Fortress

Pujini Palace — Mkama Ndume Citadel

Swahili (15th c. CE) · Swahili (Mohamed bin Abdulaziz?)

Pujini Palace — Mkama Ndume Citadel in Pemba Island, Tanzania is a Swahili (15th c. CE) fortress attributed to Swahili (Mohamed bin Abdulaziz?).

🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Temple complex

Dalverzin Tepe — Kushan Palace Hall Extension

Kushan (50–300 CE) · Kushan (Surkhandarya)

Dalverzin Tepe — Kushan Palace Hall Extension in Surkhandarya Province, Uzbekistan is a Kushan (50–300 CE) temple-complex attributed to Kushan (Surkhandarya).

🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex

Atetelco Palace — Teotihuacan

Classic (450–600 CE) · Teotihuacan

Atetelco Palace — Teotihuacan in Mexico State, Mexico is a Classic (450–600 CE) temple-complex attributed to Teotihuacan. Palatial compound with Jaguar Palace and Courtyard of the Jaguars murals.

🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex

Dahan-e Gholaman Palace Q — Northern Building

Achaemenid (500 BCE) · Achaemenid

Dahan-e Gholaman Palace Q — Northern Building in Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran is a Achaemenid (500 BCE) temple-complex attributed to Achaemenid.

🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site

Alexandria Submerged — Pharos Debris Field and Royal Quarters

Ptolemaic (297–246 BCE Pharos 137 m; Royal Quarters Ptolemy I 323 BCE Antirhodos islet 300 × 70 m) + 1303/365 earthquake subsidence 8th c. · Ptolemaic Alexandria (Lochias, Antirhodos) with Pharos lighthouse debris 500 blocks

Alexandria submerged Empereur 1994 Qaitbay Pharos and Goddio 1996 Antirhodos palace island.