🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Jogeshwari Caves
Early Medieval (Gupta–Kalchuri) · Shaivite Brahminical after Buddhist vihara phase
Mumbai megalithic 6th-c Hindu cave 47×32 m with 6 pillars, largest Jogeshwari early Shiva adaptation.
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CategoriesTemple complexes
Sacred precincts, sanctuaries and the architecture of ritual.
🇮🇷 Iran · Pyramid
Early to Middle Bronze Age (Giyan III–IV) · Elamite / Highland Zagros (Giyan culture)
Zagros highland terrace shrine at Tepe Giyan c.2800–1700 BCE — 40 m proto-ziggurat mound linking Elamite terraces to later Median fire temples.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Early Medieval (Gupta–Kalchuri) · Shaivite Brahminical after Buddhist vihara phase
Mumbai megalithic 6th-c Hindu cave 47×32 m with 6 pillars, largest Jogeshwari early Shiva adaptation.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Hephthalite–Turk Shahi 7th–8th c CE late Buddhist · Hephthalite Buddhist — Central Asian late Gandhara (Fondukistan style)
Fondukistan Conical Hill Monastery — 8th c CE (c.700 CE Hackin terminus post quem 689 CE via coins) Buddhist monastery on conical hilltop at Ghorband Valley pass 50 km NW Kabul, excavated 1933–40 by…
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Sassanian Early (Shapur I–II, 241–379 CE) · Sassanian Persian with Roman–Palmyrene craftsmen (prisoners)
Shapur I 260 CE grid city by Roman POWs after Valerian capture — Anahita water temple, mosaics, Chogan gorge 6 reliefs.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Old Babylonian to Neo-Babylonian · Babylonian
Neo-Babylonian ziggurat of Marduk at Babylon — Etemenanki 'House of Heaven-Earth' — 91 m seven-stage prototype of Tower of Babel, rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II.
🇭🇳 Honduras · Ancient city
Classic 426–822 CE (dynastic Copán, peak 695–820) · Maya (southeast Petén sphere, Copán kingdom, non-Maya frontier)
Premier Classic southeastern Maya capital and sculpture capital: Acropolis with 4,500 glyph Hierarchical Stairway (longest Classic Maya text – 72 steps, 2,200 glyphs recording 14 kings), Rosalila…
🇩🇰 Denmark · Ancient city
Roman Iron Age → Vendel–Viking 200–1100 (Bornholm central place) · Bornholm Iron Age (Burgundians? Bornholm island central place, guldgubbar sanctuary)
Sorte Muld (Black Soil) — Iron Age central-place and sanctuary (Late Roman 200–400 → Viking Age 400–1100, peak Vendel 600–800) on Bornholm plateau 2 km south Svaneke, eastern Bornholm's richest site.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Middle Horizon 600–1000 CE (Huarpa antecedent 200 BCE–600 CE) · Wari (Huari, Middle Horizon Andean empire, Quechua predecessor, Ayacucho basin)
Capital of Wari Empire (600–1000 CE) – Andean first empire predating Inca by 400 years, 2,000 ha patchwork city with 7 m-high, 2 m-thick walled enclosures (Moraduchayuq, Vegachayuq Moqo),…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Chalcolithic 1200–600 BCE → Sunga 200 BCE → Gupta 4–6 c. CE · Chalcolithic → Sunga → Gupta (Vakataka-Hunas)
Gupta temple city Airikina on Bina river (600 BCE–600 CE) — home to 2.66 m Varaha boar (510 CE) and earliest Sati inscription.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Northern Dynasties to Tang (Northern Qi 550–577 peak) · North China Buddhist imperial patronage (Qi and Tang)
Quyang white-marble mountain 12 caves 550–750 CE South Cave Vairocana, quarry-monastery.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Middle Elamite (1500–1350 BCE; short floruit ~100 years) · Middle Elamite (Kidinuid→Igihalkid)
Middle Elamite tomb-temple city of Tepti-Ahar with vaulted royal tombs and 600-tablet archive.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Roman to Early Islamic (Flavian to 7th c; peak 2nd–5th c) · Roman / Berber / Byzantine
Mid-steppe Roman-Byzantine city with triple Capitol temples, olive-press quarter and five Byzantine basilicas.
🇪🇨 Ecuador · Pyramid
Archaic to Formative (Valdivia parallel) · Mayo-Chinchipe culture (Andean-Amazon)
Upper Amazon-Andean platform Santa Ana-La Florida (5300–2500 BCE) near Limón: 80×80 m stone spiral pyramid-mound with hearth plaza — earliest cacao (3300 BCE) and turquoise trade site.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Maurya 3 c. BCE → Sunga 187–78 BCE → Gupta 4–6 c. CE · Maurya → Sunga → Indo-Greek → Gupta (Malwa)
Ancient Vidisha (Besnagar) capital with Heliodorus Garuda column (113 BCE) — first Indo-Greek Krishna inscription 6.5 m monolith.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Middle to New Kingdom (2055–1435 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian
Theban cliff triple terraces: Mentuhotep 2055 BCE and Hatshepsut Djeser-Djeseru with Punt reliefs.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Middle Kingdom to New Kingdom, c.2500-1500 BCE (Kerma–Egyptian) · Kerma (Kushite)
Dokki Gel sacred city 1 km south of Kerma (Ancient Dukki Gel): massive ceremonial city of Classic Kerma kingdom (2500-1500 BCE) with four successive cruciform palatial enclosures, each 100×100 m,…
🇵🇪 Peru · Archaeological wonder
Early Horizon / Formative 1200–500 BCE (Old Temple 1200–900, New Temple 750–500 BCE) · Chavín (Early Horizon Andean formative tradition, culmination of Kotosh-Urabarriu)
Andean Formative mother temple (1200–500 BCE) at 3,180 m near Cordillera Blanca with U-shaped Old Temple (1000×100 m) and New Temple Plaza, Lanzón monolith (4.53 m granite anthropomorphic feline with…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Vidarbha Megalithic 1100–300 BCE → Maurya 300–187 → Sunga–Satavahana 187 BCE–250 CE → Vakataka 250–500 CE · Vidarbha Megalithic → Mauryan → Satavahana → Vakataka (Vidarbha Early Historic)
Vidarbha fortress-city Padmavati on Wainganga (1100 BCE–300 CE) — 4 km rampart with two Satavahana stupas (38 m) and megalithic-to-Mauryan continuity.
🇸🇩 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.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Maurya 300–187 BCE → Satavahana 187 BCE–230 CE → Vakataka 250–400 CE · Satavahana (Periplus Tagara)
Periplus Tagara emporium (300 BCE–400 CE) on Terna — 50+ Roman amphorae and Ter ivory lady with Roman hair, 40 ha rampart.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Preclassic to Early Classic (Mundo Perdido phase) · Maya (Preclassic Tikal)
Tikal’s earliest pyramid — Mundo Perdido 5D-87 — 30 m Preclassic E-Group astronomical pyramid 67 m base c.100 BCE, ancestor to Tikal’s dynastic pyramids.
🇮🇷 Iran · Pyramid
Old Babylonian to Kassite (Middle Bronze) · Kassite / Highland Zagros
Zagros highland ziggurat at Choga Gavaneh c.1800 BCE — 60 m square mudbrick platform 15 m high with Kassite pottery linking Babylonia to Sialk highland line.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Archaic to Byzantine (1100 BCE – 600 CE) · Aeolian/Ionian Greek and Roman (Pergamene)
Hermogenes' pseudodipteral Artemis temple 150 BCE — Vitruvian beautiful after Ephesus.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Late Classical to Hellenistic · Ionian Greek (Pytheos architect) under Alexander and later Antigonid
82-m north stoa of Pytheos' model Ionic temple of Athena Polias at Priene.
