🇧🇿 Belize · Ancient city
La Milpa
Preclassic–Late Classic · Maya (Three Rivers)
Third-largest Belize Maya city (400 BCE–900 CE) — 25-m Great Pyramid with 85 plazas and 60-km sacbé network.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Jerash — North Theatre West Entrance (Gerasa)
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Jerash — North Theatre West Entrance (Gerasa) in Jerash Governorate, Jerash, Jordan is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed …
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Ephesus — Terrace House 2 Peristyle Court East
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Ephesus — Terrace House 2 Peristyle Court East in İzmir, Selçuk, Ephesus, Turkey is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to …
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Zincirli Höyük (Samʾal)
Late Bronze–Neo-Assyrian (c.1600–700 BCE; Kilamuwa dynasty 9th c.) · Hittite → Aramaean Samaliyya → Assyrian province
Perfect circular Aramaean capital Samʾal with inner citadel (double-entry) and outer town 40 ha.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Huayna Picchu — North Terrace Ancillary (Cusco, Peru)
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban; Inca
Huayna Picchu — North Terrace Ancillary (Cusco, Peru) in Cusco, Huayna Picchu, Peru is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed …
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Siga (Takembrit)
Numidian to Byzantine (6th c BCE–7th c CE; peak 3rd c BCE–2nd c CE) · Massaesylian Numidian / Punic / Roman
Numidian royal capital Siga (Takembrit) of Syphax at the Tafna mouth.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Altava (Ouled Mimoun) – Mauretanian Frontier
Roman to Vandal–Mauretanian Kingdom (1st c – 7th c CE) · Roman / Mauretanian–Berber kingdom of Altava
Most westerly Roman castrum in Algeria, Altava became 6th c Mauretanian kingdom capital of chieftain Masuna rex gentium Mauraorum, with Latin church inscriptions documenting Romano...
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Rajgir Ancient City
Vedic–Magadhan to Mauryan 1000–185 BCE; Buddhist pilgrimage continuous · Magadhan / Buddhist / Jain
First capital of Magadha (c.1000 BCE–c.400 BCE) nestled in ring of five hills, both Older (Bimbisara's Rajagriha) and New Rajgir enclosed by 40 km cyclopean rubble walls up to 8 m thick — India's…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Sanxingdui — Pit 3 Bronze Mask Deposit
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Sanxingdui — Pit 3 Bronze Mask Deposit in Sichuan, Guanghan, Sanxingdui, China is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Br…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Heraclea Pontica – Megarian Mole of Karadeniz Ereğli
Archaic Greek to Byzantine (560 BCE – 1453 CE) · Megarian Greek / Heraclean tyranny / Mithridatic
560 BCE Megarian tyrant harbour — 220 m ashlar mole now –1 to –4 m under Ereğli coal pier off Acheron cave.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Shuruppak
Jemdet Nasr to Early Dynastic / Ur III abandonment · Early Dynastic Sumerian
Early Dynastic city-state (c.3000–2300 BCE) famed as home of Utnapishtim/Ziusudra, survivor of the Flood in Gilgamesh and Sumerian Flood story ('Instructions of Shuruppak' wisdom text).
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Koumbi Saleh
Medieval Ghana Empire (c.400–1240 CE; flourished 800–1200) · Soninke (Ghana Empire) / Berber / Islamic traders
Postulated capital of Ghana (Wagadou) Empire (5th–13th c CE) controlling trans-Saharan gold-salt trade.
🇲🇩 Moldova · Ancient city
Petreni Cucuteni-Trypillia Mega-Settlement
Chalcolithic (4000–3600 BCE, Cucuteni A–B) · Cucuteni-Trypillia
Moldovan mega-settlement of Cucuteni A–B / Trypillia BII, 30–35 ha, c.4000–3600 BCE, with ca. 500 houses in oval ring and two mega-structures.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Tula Grande (Tollan)
Early Postclassic 850–1160 CE (Tollan apogee 950–1150) · Toltec (Tolteca-Chichimeca, Nahua-affiliated)
Capital of Toltec Empire (Tollan, 950–1160 CE) spanning 16 km² on Malinche Hill: Pyramid B (Temple of the Morning Star) crowned by four 4.6 m basalt Atlante warrior columns on coatepantli (serpent…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Assuras (Zanfour) – Theatre Hill Settlement
Numidian to Roman (2nd c BCE – 5th c CE) · Numidian / Roman (Africa Proconsularis)
Hill town commanding the High Tell, Assuras' theatre (68 m) crowns a limestone spur above Oued Zanfour, with forum, arch and Byzantine chapel. Libyco-Punic stelae and Roman epitaph...
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Koumbi Saleh South Ridge (Ghana Empire Capital Annex)
Ghana Empire (c. 700–1240 CE; South Ridge 10th–12th c) · Soninke (Wagadou Ghana Empire) / Berber Almoravid
Southern craft suburb of fabled Ghana capital, with iron bloomery row and bead workshops 35 km south of central mounds, showing Ghana's industrial hinterland; separate from UNESCO...
🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city
Knossos — Caravanserai South Pillar Crypt
Minoan Palatial (2700–1450 BCE) · Minoan
Knossos — Caravanserai South Pillar Crypt in Crete, Heraklion, Knossos, Greece is a Minoan Palatial (2700–1450 BCE) ancient city attributed to Minoan. Syst…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Cantona Norte Acropolis
Classic–Epiclassic 200–1000 CE · Cantona (Olmeca-Xicalanca hybrid)
Northern acropolis of largest pre-Hispanic highland city: 20 terraces, 12 ballcourts and 700 m paved causeways on malpaís.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Tell Qarqur — Orontes Valley Multiphase Tell
PPNB to Mamluk (8500 BCE–1300 CE) · PPNB → Pottery Neolithic → EBA Amorite → Iron Syro-Hittite → Roman → Crusader
8600-year Ghab tell — PPNB to Crusader 30 m sequence (Harrison).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Zaachila
Postclassic (Militaristic) 1100–1521 CE · Zapotec-Mixtec (Late Zapotec)
Final Zapotec capital with two Mixtec polychrome tombs and unfinished pyramid, 1100–1521.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Ancient city
Begram (Kapisa) — Kushan Summer Capital North Annex
Achaemenid to Kushan to Hephtalite (500 BCE–500 CE) · Kushan capital of Kapisa founded by Cyrus (?)
Begram (Kapisa) — Kushan Summer Capital North Annex in Parwan Province, Afghanistan is a Achaemenid to Kushan to Hephtalite (500 BCE–500 CE) ancient-city attributed to Kushan capital of Kapisa…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Dur-Kurigalzu (Aqar Quf)
Kassite (Middle Babylonian) c. 1375–1155 BCE · Kassite Babylonian
Kassite capital Dur-Kurigalzu built by Kurigalzu I (c. 1375 BCE): enormous ziggurat to Enlil, still 57 m high (originally ~69 m) with rope reinforcement layers (reed mats) visible, highest surviving…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Thaenae (Thyna) – Roman Byzacena Port
Punic / Roman / Byzantine (4th c BCE–7th c CE) · Punic / Roman
Roman–Punic oil port with amphitheatre and thermae on Gulf of Gabès.
🇵🇪 Peru · Temple complex
Choquequirao
Inca Imperial 1450–1530 Neo-Inca to 1572 · Inca (Pachacuti? Topa Yupanqui)
Inca cloud-city with white stone llamas paving terraces above Apurimac canyon.