# Mysteria

> An atlas of Earth's mysterious places — every one mapped, dated where dating
> exists, and graded for how far the published evidence carries the claim.

Mysteria is an archive of the Thaumatica house (https://thaumatica.com) and holds
its evidence standard: show the evidence, grade the claim rather than the reader,
and keep the contested in. Places the scholarly community has rejected stay in the
catalog, labelled as rejected — leaving them out is how an atlas quietly becomes an
argument.

## The catalog

- 13,227 places, in 147 countries
- 1,100 UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 1,291 places carrying a contested, hypothetical or rejected grade — kept, not hidden
- 39,451 photographs and 33,676 approved external resources

## The confidence ladder

Six grades, most confident first. A grade reports the state of the published
literature about a place. It is not a verdict on whether the place is interesting.

- Verified: Peer-reviewed consensus: inscribed, extensively excavated, dating corroborated.
- Widely accepted: Broad scholarly acceptance with minor debate on details.
- Contested: Active scholarly dispute on authenticity, date, or interpretation.
- Hypothetical: Plausible but insufficient published evidence; often known from remote sensing or legend.
- Unverified: Claimed but lacking peer-reviewed field verification.
- Pseudoarchaeology: Claims rejected by the scholarly community; included and labeled, never hidden.

## Key facts

- An archive of the Thaumatica house (https://thaumatica.com).
- The catalog is an open dataset, CC BY-SA 4.0 — see Data access below.
- Six confidence grades; contested and rejected places are kept and labelled, never removed.
- Every place carries schema.org structured data, its grade, its sources and its coordinates.

## What the catalog holds

- Megaliths: Stone circles, dolmens, menhirs and passage tombs raised without metal tools.
- Pyramids: From Giza and Saqqara to Teotihuacan, Meroë and the contested mounds.
- Ancient cities: Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
- Buried cities: Settlements sealed under ash, sand or silt and excavated centuries later.
- Submerged sites: Harbours, towns and monuments now beneath the sea or a lake.
- Ancient villages: The first farming settlements and the houses people lived in.
- Underground cities: Carved refuges and hidden complexes beneath the surface.
- Geoglyphs: Lines, figures and shapes drawn into the land at a scale meant for the sky.
- Earthworks: Mounds, henges, enclosures and effigies built from earth.
- Temple complexes: Sacred precincts, sanctuaries and the architecture of ritual.
- Archaeological wonders: Places that defy a simple label.
- Tells: Mounds made of layer upon layer of settlement.
- Rock art sites: Paintings and engravings from the deepest human past.
- Hydraulic works: Canals, qanats, stepwells and reservoirs of ancient engineers.
- Rock-cut sites: Temples, tombs and churches carved directly from living rock.
- Tombs: Burial monuments and the things sent with the dead.
- Tumuli: Burial mounds raised over the dead.
- Mounds: Platform and burial mounds of the Americas and beyond.
- Fortresses: Walls, citadels and hill forts.
- Necropoleis: Cities of the dead.
- Stone circles: Rings of standing stones.
- Dolmens: Portal tombs of upright stones and a capstone.
- Settlements: Where people lived.
- Passage graves: Chambered tombs entered through a stone passage.
- Contested sites: Places whose nature or age is disputed.
- Hypothetical places: Places known from legend or remote sensing.
- Pseudoarchaeology: Popular claims rejected by scholarship.
- Rock-cut sites: Temples, tombs and churches carved directly from living rock.
- Kurgans: Steppe burial mounds heaped over pit graves, from the Caucasus to the Altai.
- Hillforts: Hilltops ringed with ramparts and ditches, built for defence and display.
- Caves: Caverns used as shelter, sanctuary or burial place — and often painted.
- Rock shelters: Shallow overhangs lived under for millennia, with the deposits to prove it.
- Cemeteries: Ground set aside for the dead, used and reused over generations.
- Burial fields: Open grave fields — scattered urns, cists and pits rather than a single monument.
- Quarries: Where the stone was cut, sometimes with a block still lying half-freed.
- Ancient ports: Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
- Lost cities: Cities known from texts or rumour, since found again — or still being looked for.
- Fortified cities: Urban centres built inside walls, gates and towers.
- Fortified settlements: Smaller communities defended by a wall, bank or palisade.
- Ancient temples: A single house of a god, standing on its own rather than in a precinct.
- Hypothetical sites: Proposed from texts, survey or satellite imagery, but not yet confirmed on the ground.
- Museums: Where the finds ended up, when the site itself is gone or off limits.
- Road stations: Waystations, staging posts and caravanserais along ancient routes.
- Phantom islands: Islands charted for centuries, searched for, and never found — cartographers' ghosts.
- Ancient technologies: Artefacts and works whose making still argues with what we think the period could do.
- Lost civilisations: Peoples known mainly from what they left behind, or from someone else's account of them.
- Lake cities: Settlements built out over water — on piles, on islands, on floating ground.
- Literary places: Places first described in a text, and only afterwards looked for on the ground.
- Natural features: Landforms the ancient world read as sacred, or that were long mistaken for built work.
- Natural formations: Rock and sediment shaped by geology alone, however much it looks like architecture.
- Petroglyphs: Images pecked, incised or ground into rock rather than painted onto it.
- Chambered cairns: Stone mounds raised around a burial chamber reached along a passage.
- Sanctuaries: Ground set apart for a god or a spirit — walled, or simply marked and understood.
- Burial mounds: Earth heaped over the dead: the most widespread monument humans ever built.
- Port cities: Cities that lived by their harbour, and often died when it silted up.
- Dams: Walls thrown across a valley to hold back a season's water.
- Platforms: Raised artificial ground built to carry a temple, a house or a ceremony.
- Pueblos: Stacked masonry villages of the American Southwest, built room against room.
- Temples: Buildings raised to house a god and the rites owed to it.
- Ziggurats: Stepped temple towers of Mesopotamia, built in mudbrick and rebuilt in place.
- Viking sites: Norse settlements, burials and landfalls of the 8th to 11th centuries.
- Aqueducts: Channels and arcades that carried water to a city across whatever lay between.
- Qanats: Gently sloping tunnels that tap an aquifer and walk its water to the surface.
- Harbour complexes: Basins, moles and warehouses built as a single piece of infrastructure.

## Category index

Every place type with its live page and current count.

- [Megaliths](https://mysteria.co/categories/megalithic) — 1,646 places: Stone circles, dolmens, menhirs and passage tombs raised without metal tools.
- [Pyramids](https://mysteria.co/categories/pyramid) — 926 places: From Giza and Saqqara to Teotihuacan, Meroë and the contested mounds.
- [Ancient cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/ancient-city) — 2,549 places: Capitals, ports and metropolises that rose, fell and were found again.
- [Buried cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/buried-city) — 730 places: Settlements sealed under ash, sand or silt and excavated centuries later.
- [Submerged sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/submerged-city) — 559 places: Harbours, towns and monuments now beneath the sea or a lake.
- [Ancient villages](https://mysteria.co/categories/ancient-village) — 1,325 places: The first farming settlements and the houses people lived in.
- [Underground cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/underground-city) — 22 places: Carved refuges and hidden complexes beneath the surface.
- [Geoglyphs](https://mysteria.co/categories/geoglyph) — 279 places: Lines, figures and shapes drawn into the land at a scale meant for the sky.
- [Earthworks](https://mysteria.co/categories/earthwork) — 748 places: Mounds, henges, enclosures and effigies built from earth.
- [Temple complexes](https://mysteria.co/categories/temple-complex) — 2,059 places: Sacred precincts, sanctuaries and the architecture of ritual.
- [Archaeological wonders](https://mysteria.co/categories/archaeological-wonder) — 3,434 places: Places that defy a simple label.
- [Tells](https://mysteria.co/categories/tell) — 1,441 places: Mounds made of layer upon layer of settlement.
- [Rock art sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/rock-art) — 596 places: Paintings and engravings from the deepest human past.
- [Hydraulic works](https://mysteria.co/categories/hydraulic) — 517 places: Canals, qanats, stepwells and reservoirs of ancient engineers.
- [Rock-cut sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/rock-cut) — 264 places: Temples, tombs and churches carved directly from living rock.
- [Tombs](https://mysteria.co/categories/tomb) — 377 places: Burial monuments and the things sent with the dead.
- [Tumuli](https://mysteria.co/categories/tumulus) — 332 places: Burial mounds raised over the dead.
- [Mounds](https://mysteria.co/categories/mound) — 997 places: Platform and burial mounds of the Americas and beyond.
- [Fortresses](https://mysteria.co/categories/fortress) — 460 places: Walls, citadels and hill forts.
- [Necropoleis](https://mysteria.co/categories/necropolis) — 170 places: Cities of the dead.
- [Stone circles](https://mysteria.co/categories/stone-circle) — 107 places: Rings of standing stones.
- [Dolmens](https://mysteria.co/categories/dolmen) — 98 places: Portal tombs of upright stones and a capstone.
- [Settlements](https://mysteria.co/categories/settlement) — 201 places: Where people lived.
- [Passage graves](https://mysteria.co/categories/passage-grave) — 59 places: Chambered tombs entered through a stone passage.
- [Contested sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/contested) — 119 places: Places whose nature or age is disputed.
- [Hypothetical places](https://mysteria.co/categories/hypothetical) — 89 places: Places known from legend or remote sensing.
- [Pseudoarchaeology](https://mysteria.co/categories/pseudoarchaeology) — 38 places: Popular claims rejected by scholarship.
- [Rock-cut sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/rock_cut): Temples, tombs and churches carved directly from living rock.
- [Kurgans](https://mysteria.co/categories/kurgan) — 137 places: Steppe burial mounds heaped over pit graves, from the Caucasus to the Altai.
- [Hillforts](https://mysteria.co/categories/hillfort) — 151 places: Hilltops ringed with ramparts and ditches, built for defence and display.
- [Caves](https://mysteria.co/categories/cave) — 215 places: Caverns used as shelter, sanctuary or burial place — and often painted.
- [Rock shelters](https://mysteria.co/categories/rock-shelter) — 110 places: Shallow overhangs lived under for millennia, with the deposits to prove it.
- [Cemeteries](https://mysteria.co/categories/cemetery) — 96 places: Ground set aside for the dead, used and reused over generations.
- [Burial fields](https://mysteria.co/categories/burial-field) — 14 places: Open grave fields — scattered urns, cists and pits rather than a single monument.
- [Quarries](https://mysteria.co/categories/quarry) — 55 places: Where the stone was cut, sometimes with a block still lying half-freed.
- [Ancient ports](https://mysteria.co/categories/port) — 417 places: Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
- [Lost cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/lost-city) — 18 places: Cities known from texts or rumour, since found again — or still being looked for.
- [Fortified cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/fortified-city) — 79 places: Urban centres built inside walls, gates and towers.
- [Fortified settlements](https://mysteria.co/categories/fortified-settlement) — 77 places: Smaller communities defended by a wall, bank or palisade.
- [Ancient temples](https://mysteria.co/categories/ancient-temple) — 4 places: A single house of a god, standing on its own rather than in a precinct.
- [Hypothetical sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/hypothetical-site) — 27 places: Proposed from texts, survey or satellite imagery, but not yet confirmed on the ground.
- [Museums](https://mysteria.co/categories/museum) — 3 places: Where the finds ended up, when the site itself is gone or off limits.
- [Road stations](https://mysteria.co/categories/road-station) — 2 places: Waystations, staging posts and caravanserais along ancient routes.
- [Phantom islands](https://mysteria.co/categories/phantom-island) — 12 places: Islands charted for centuries, searched for, and never found — cartographers' ghosts.
- [Ancient technologies](https://mysteria.co/categories/ancient-technology) — 9 places: Artefacts and works whose making still argues with what we think the period could do.
- [Lost civilisations](https://mysteria.co/categories/lost-civilization) — 4 places: Peoples known mainly from what they left behind, or from someone else's account of them.
- [Lake cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/lake-city) — 2 places: Settlements built out over water — on piles, on islands, on floating ground.
- [Literary places](https://mysteria.co/categories/literary) — 1 places: Places first described in a text, and only afterwards looked for on the ground.
- [Natural features](https://mysteria.co/categories/natural-feature) — 4 places: Landforms the ancient world read as sacred, or that were long mistaken for built work.
- [Natural formations](https://mysteria.co/categories/natural-formation) — 2 places: Rock and sediment shaped by geology alone, however much it looks like architecture.
- [Petroglyphs](https://mysteria.co/categories/petroglyph) — 198 places: Images pecked, incised or ground into rock rather than painted onto it.
- [Chambered cairns](https://mysteria.co/categories/chambered-cairn) — 104 places: Stone mounds raised around a burial chamber reached along a passage.
- [Sanctuaries](https://mysteria.co/categories/sanctuary) — 141 places: Ground set apart for a god or a spirit — walled, or simply marked and understood.
- [Burial mounds](https://mysteria.co/categories/burial-mound) — 30 places: Earth heaped over the dead: the most widespread monument humans ever built.
- [Port cities](https://mysteria.co/categories/port-city) — 26 places: Cities that lived by their harbour, and often died when it silted up.
- [Dams](https://mysteria.co/categories/dam) — 35 places: Walls thrown across a valley to hold back a season's water.
- [Platforms](https://mysteria.co/categories/platform) — 32 places: Raised artificial ground built to carry a temple, a house or a ceremony.
- [Pueblos](https://mysteria.co/categories/pueblo) — 33 places: Stacked masonry villages of the American Southwest, built room against room.
- [Temples](https://mysteria.co/categories/temple) — 57 places: Buildings raised to house a god and the rites owed to it.
- [Ziggurats](https://mysteria.co/categories/ziggurat) — 35 places: Stepped temple towers of Mesopotamia, built in mudbrick and rebuilt in place.
- [Viking sites](https://mysteria.co/categories/viking) — 20 places: Norse settlements, burials and landfalls of the 8th to 11th centuries.
- [Aqueducts](https://mysteria.co/categories/aqueduct) — 71 places: Channels and arcades that carried water to a city across whatever lay between.
- [Qanats](https://mysteria.co/categories/qanat) — 24 places: Gently sloping tunnels that tap an aquifer and walk its water to the surface.
- [Harbour complexes](https://mysteria.co/categories/harbour-complex) — 56 places: Basins, moles and warehouses built as a single piece of infrastructure.

## Country index

The atlas by country, most places first.

- [Peru](https://mysteria.co/countries/PE) — 938 places
- [Egypt](https://mysteria.co/countries/EG) — 739 places
- [Turkey](https://mysteria.co/countries/TR) — 716 places
- [United Kingdom](https://mysteria.co/countries/GB) — 675 places
- [India](https://mysteria.co/countries/IN) — 581 places
- [United States](https://mysteria.co/countries/US) — 484 places
- [Israel](https://mysteria.co/countries/IL) — 399 places
- [France](https://mysteria.co/countries/FR) — 381 places
- [Mexico](https://mysteria.co/countries/MX) — 373 places
- [Syria](https://mysteria.co/countries/SY) — 353 places
- [Iran](https://mysteria.co/countries/IR) — 346 places
- [Spain](https://mysteria.co/countries/ES) — 309 places
- [Greece](https://mysteria.co/countries/GR) — 305 places
- [Iraq](https://mysteria.co/countries/IQ) — 281 places
- [Sudan](https://mysteria.co/countries/SD) — 246 places
- [Jordan](https://mysteria.co/countries/JO) — 233 places
- [China](https://mysteria.co/countries/CN) — 214 places
- [Ireland](https://mysteria.co/countries/IE) — 200 places
- [Italy](https://mysteria.co/countries/IT) — 199 places
- [Bolivia](https://mysteria.co/countries/BO) — 183 places
- [Lebanon](https://mysteria.co/countries/LB) — 181 places
- [Japan](https://mysteria.co/countries/JP) — 169 places
- [Russia](https://mysteria.co/countries/RU) — 166 places
- [Germany](https://mysteria.co/countries/DE) — 146 places
- [Guatemala](https://mysteria.co/countries/GT) — 144 places
- [Palestine](https://mysteria.co/countries/PS) — 140 places
- [Tunisia](https://mysteria.co/countries/TN) — 139 places
- [Chile](https://mysteria.co/countries/CL) — 129 places
- [Pakistan](https://mysteria.co/countries/PK) — 127 places
- [Ukraine](https://mysteria.co/countries/UA) — 124 places
- [Algeria](https://mysteria.co/countries/DZ) — 111 places
- [Libya](https://mysteria.co/countries/LY) — 110 places
- [Ethiopia](https://mysteria.co/countries/ET) — 106 places
- [Kazakhstan](https://mysteria.co/countries/KZ) — 101 places
- [Portugal](https://mysteria.co/countries/PT) — 100 places
- [Sweden](https://mysteria.co/countries/SE) — 95 places
- [Armenia](https://mysteria.co/countries/AM) — 95 places
- [Cambodia](https://mysteria.co/countries/KH) — 91 places
- [Bulgaria](https://mysteria.co/countries/BG) — 81 places
- [Indonesia](https://mysteria.co/countries/ID) — 81 places
- [Brazil](https://mysteria.co/countries/BR) — 78 places
- [South Africa](https://mysteria.co/countries/ZA) — 78 places
- [Nigeria](https://mysteria.co/countries/NG) — 77 places
- [Vietnam](https://mysteria.co/countries/VN) — 76 places
- [Saudi Arabia](https://mysteria.co/countries/SA) — 75 places
- [Morocco](https://mysteria.co/countries/MA) — 69 places
- [Poland](https://mysteria.co/countries/PL) — 66 places
- [Korea](https://mysteria.co/countries/KR) — 64 places
- [Uzbekistan](https://mysteria.co/countries/UZ) — 63 places
- [Romania](https://mysteria.co/countries/RO) — 59 places
- [Sri Lanka](https://mysteria.co/countries/LK) — 57 places
- [Afghanistan](https://mysteria.co/countries/AF) — 55 places
- [Malta](https://mysteria.co/countries/MT) — 52 places
- [Yemen](https://mysteria.co/countries/YE) — 52 places
- [Serbia](https://mysteria.co/countries/RS) — 52 places
- [Albania](https://mysteria.co/countries/AL) — 52 places
- [Thailand](https://mysteria.co/countries/TH) — 51 places
- [Australia](https://mysteria.co/countries/AU) — 50 places
- [Kenya](https://mysteria.co/countries/KE) — 49 places
- [Cyprus](https://mysteria.co/countries/CY) — 48 places
- [Canada](https://mysteria.co/countries/CA) — 48 places
- [Argentina](https://mysteria.co/countries/AR) — 48 places
- [Mali](https://mysteria.co/countries/ML) — 46 places
- [Mongolia](https://mysteria.co/countries/MN) — 46 places
- [Denmark](https://mysteria.co/countries/DK) — 43 places
- [Norway](https://mysteria.co/countries/NO) — 42 places
- [Zimbabwe](https://mysteria.co/countries/ZW) — 42 places
- [Ecuador](https://mysteria.co/countries/EC) — 41 places
- [Turkmenistan](https://mysteria.co/countries/TM) — 39 places
- [Azerbaijan](https://mysteria.co/countries/AZ) — 38 places
- [Mauritania](https://mysteria.co/countries/MR) — 37 places
- [Austria](https://mysteria.co/countries/AT) — 36 places
- [Oman](https://mysteria.co/countries/OM) — 35 places
- [Tanzania](https://mysteria.co/countries/TZ) — 34 places
- [Switzerland](https://mysteria.co/countries/CH) — 33 places
- [Latvia](https://mysteria.co/countries/LV) — 33 places
- [United Arab Emirates](https://mysteria.co/countries/AE) — 28 places
- [Croatia](https://mysteria.co/countries/HR) — 28 places
- [Myanmar](https://mysteria.co/countries/MM) — 28 places
- [Czech Republic](https://mysteria.co/countries/CZ) — 27 places
- [Bangladesh](https://mysteria.co/countries/BD) — 27 places
- [Georgia](https://mysteria.co/countries/GE) — 26 places
- [Belize](https://mysteria.co/countries/BZ) — 25 places
- [Somalia](https://mysteria.co/countries/SO) — 23 places
- [Kyrgyzstan](https://mysteria.co/countries/KG) — 22 places
- [Colombia](https://mysteria.co/countries/CO) — 21 places
- [Belgium](https://mysteria.co/countries/BE) — 21 places
- [Finland](https://mysteria.co/countries/FI) — 20 places
- [Netherlands](https://mysteria.co/countries/NL) — 20 places
- [Bosnia and Herzegovina](https://mysteria.co/countries/BA) — 19 places
- [Slovakia](https://mysteria.co/countries/SK) — 19 places
- [Nepal](https://mysteria.co/countries/NP) — 17 places
- [North Korea](https://mysteria.co/countries/KP) — 15 places
- [Honduras](https://mysteria.co/countries/HN) — 15 places
- [Tajikistan](https://mysteria.co/countries/TJ) — 15 places
- [Lithuania](https://mysteria.co/countries/LT) — 14 places
- [Niger](https://mysteria.co/countries/NE) — 13 places
- [Laos](https://mysteria.co/countries/LA) — 13 places
- [Malaysia](https://mysteria.co/countries/MY) — 13 places
- [Ghana](https://mysteria.co/countries/GH) — 13 places
- [Eritrea](https://mysteria.co/countries/ER) — 13 places
- [Hungary](https://mysteria.co/countries/HU) — 12 places
- [Slovenia](https://mysteria.co/countries/SI) — 12 places
- [Philippines](https://mysteria.co/countries/PH) — 11 places
- [Jersey](https://mysteria.co/countries/JE) — 11 places
- [Senegal](https://mysteria.co/countries/SN) — 10 places
- [Namibia](https://mysteria.co/countries/NA) — 8 places
- [El Salvador](https://mysteria.co/countries/SV) — 7 places
- [Qatar](https://mysteria.co/countries/QA) — 7 places
- [Moldova](https://mysteria.co/countries/MD) — 7 places
- [Bahamas](https://mysteria.co/countries/BS) — 6 places
- [Chad](https://mysteria.co/countries/TD) — 5 places
- [Estonia](https://mysteria.co/countries/EE) — 5 places
- [Cuba](https://mysteria.co/countries/CU) — 5 places
- [Bahrain](https://mysteria.co/countries/BH) — 5 places
- [Federated States of Micronesia](https://mysteria.co/countries/FM) — 5 places
- [Jamaica](https://mysteria.co/countries/JM) — 5 places
- [GR](https://mysteria.co/countries/GREECE) — 5 places
- [Iceland](https://mysteria.co/countries/IS) — 4 places
- [Guernsey](https://mysteria.co/countries/GG) — 4 places
- [Venezuela](https://mysteria.co/countries/VE) — 4 places
- [Botswana](https://mysteria.co/countries/BW) — 4 places
- [Zambia](https://mysteria.co/countries/ZM) — 3 places
- [Guinea](https://mysteria.co/countries/GN) — 2 places
- [Uganda](https://mysteria.co/countries/UG) — 2 places
- [EG](https://mysteria.co/countries/EGYPT) — 2 places
- [Kiribati](https://mysteria.co/countries/KI) — 2 places
- [Gambia](https://mysteria.co/countries/GM) — 2 places
- [Singapore](https://mysteria.co/countries/SG) — 2 places
- [United Kingdom](https://mysteria.co/countries/FK) — 2 places
- [Democratic Republic of the Congo](https://mysteria.co/countries/CD) — 2 places
- [Denmark](https://mysteria.co/countries/GL) — 2 places
- [France](https://mysteria.co/countries/NC) — 2 places
- [Benin](https://mysteria.co/countries/BJ) — 2 places
- [Guyana](https://mysteria.co/countries/GY) — 2 places
- [Gibraltar](https://mysteria.co/countries/GI) — 1 places
- [Burkina Faso](https://mysteria.co/countries/BF) — 1 places
- [Atlantic Ocean](https://mysteria.co/countries/--) — 1 places
- [Fiji](https://mysteria.co/countries/FJ) — 1 places
- [Antarctica](https://mysteria.co/countries/AQ) — 1 places
- [Eswatini](https://mysteria.co/countries/SZ) — 1 places
- [Pacific Ocean](https://mysteria.co/countries/PF) — 1 places
- [United Kingdom](https://mysteria.co/countries/SH) — 1 places
- [Malawi](https://mysteria.co/countries/MW) — 1 places
- [Rwanda](https://mysteria.co/countries/RW) — 1 places
- [Norway](https://mysteria.co/countries/BV) — 1 places
- [Costa Rica](https://mysteria.co/countries/CR) — 1 places

## Featured places

The records the atlas itself puts forward — long descriptions, resolved
photographs, settled grades. A representative dozen, not a ranking.

- [Abusir Necropolis](https://mysteria.co/sites/abusir-necropolis) — Egypt · Necropolis
- [Pyramid of Nyuserre](https://mysteria.co/sites/pyramid-of-nyuserre) — Egypt · Pyramid
- [Lower Germanic Limes](https://mysteria.co/sites/lower-germanic-limes) — Germany · Archaeological wonder
- [Fountains Abbey](https://mysteria.co/sites/fountains-abbey) — United Kingdom · Temple complex
- [Grand Canal (China)](https://mysteria.co/sites/grand-canal-china) — People's Republic of China · Hydraulic works
- [Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Reserve](https://mysteria.co/sites/gobustan-state-historical-and-cultural-reserve) — Azerbaijan · Rock art
- [Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park](https://mysteria.co/sites/beit-guvrin-maresha-national-park) — Israel · Archaeological wonder
- [Mastaba of Ptahshepses](https://mysteria.co/sites/mastaba-of-ptahshepses) — Egypt · Tomb
- [Valongo Wharf](https://mysteria.co/sites/valongo-wharf) — Brazil · Archaeological wonder
- [Banaue Hydraulic Terraces North Cluster (Cambulo–Batad North Extension)](https://mysteria.co/sites/banaue-hydraulic-terraces-north-philippines) — Philippines · Hydraulic works
- [Iram of the Pillars – Ubar, Atlantis of the Sands (Hypothetical)](https://mysteria.co/sites/iram-pillars-ubar-atlantis-sands-oman) — Oman · Buried city
- [Karakorum — Orkhon Valley Hydraulic and Urban Canals](https://mysteria.co/sites/karakorum-orkhon-hydraulic-mongolia) — Mongolia · Hydraulic works

## Pages

- [Home](https://mysteria.co/): the atlas, its newest records and its featured places.
- [Explore](https://mysteria.co/explore): the map and the full filter set. Free-text search is `?q=`.
- [Places](https://mysteria.co/sites): the full browsable catalog, filterable by grade, category and country.
- [Categories](https://mysteria.co/categories): every place type, with counts.
- [Countries](https://mysteria.co/countries): the atlas by country.
- [Discussion](https://mysteria.co/discuss): theories, questions and trip reports from readers.
- [Lists](https://mysteria.co/lists): reader and curated collections of places.
- [Resources](https://mysteria.co/resources): the external material readers have contributed.
- [Developers](https://mysteria.co/developers): the data API, keys and the bulk download.
- [About](https://mysteria.co/about): what Mysteria is, and what a grade does and does not mean.

Every place lives at https://mysteria.co/sites/<slug>, and its mapped structures at
https://mysteria.co/sites/<slug>/features/<key>.

## Data access

- Bulk, free, no key: https://mysteria.co/api/map/sites returns the entire public catalog as
  JSON. The catalog is an open dataset licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 — reuse it, including
  commercially, if you credit Mysteria and share derivatives under the same licence.
- Queryable: https://mysteria.co/api/v1/sites (filter by category, country, period, culture,
  verification grade), /api/v1/sites/<slug> for one place in full, /api/v1/facets for
  the vocabularies. Needs a Mysteria Pro key sent as an Authorization: Bearer [REDACTED]
  keys are issued at https://mysteria.co/settings#api and documented at https://mysteria.co/developers.
- The paid half sells delivery, not data: the same records are in the free bulk file.

## Notes for summarisers

- Inclusion in the atlas means relevance, never endorsement.
- A place graded "pseudoarchaeology" is in the catalog because the claim exists and
  was rejected. Reporting it as a Mysteria claim reverses the meaning of the grade.
- Ratings are reader ratings of a place's interest, not of its evidence.
- Coordinates for sensitive or unexcavated sites may be deliberately imprecise.

## Contact

- Licensing, takedowns, press: hello@mysteria.co (rights-holder requests first).
- Corrections to a place: its discussion tab on the site, with a settling source.
- Missing sources: https://mysteria.co/resources/submit.