🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Tocra (Taucheira)
Archaic Greek to Islamic (630 BCE–7th c CE) · Greek / Ptolemaic / Roman / Byzantine
Archaic Greek harbour with 2.5-km 610 BCE bastioned wall and earliest black-figure ceramics stratigraphy.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Mixco Viejo Alt
Early to Late Postclassic (1100 – 1524 CE) · Pocomam Maya
Mixco Viejo Alt in Chimaltenango, Guatemala is a Early to Late Postclassic (1100 – 1524 CE) ancient city attributed to Pocomam Maya culture.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Wiracochapampa
Middle Horizon (600 – 800 CE) · Wari (Huari)
Wiracochapampa in La Libertad, Peru is a Middle Horizon (600 – 800 CE) ancient city attributed to Wari (Huari) culture.
🇪🇸 Spain · Ancient city
Castro de Santa Trega — A Guarda
Iron Age (c.600 BCE–100 CE) · Castro culture (Gallaeci Bracari, Celtic)
Castro de Santa Trega (Iron Age c.600–0 BCE, revived 100 BCE–100 CE) crowns the 341-m Santa Tegra mountain at the Miño–Atlantic confluence overlooking Portugal, a 7-hectare terraced castro-city of…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Mitla
Postclassic 900–1521 CE (Mitla peak 1200–1520, Post-Monte Albán valley floor relocation) · Zapotec + Mixtec (Mixe-Zapotec, later Aztec tributary; Zapotec Lyobaa)
Postclassic Zapotec-Mixtec mortuary city and living palace center (900–1521 CE) abutting Monte Albán collapse population shift to valley floor: unparalleled geometric fret mosaic (grecas) facades…
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Ancient city
Begram Bagram Kushan City
Greco-Bactrian 2nd c BCE → Kushan 1st–3rd c CE → Sassanid sack 245 CE · Greco-Bactrian → Kushan (Kapisa capital) — Gandhara-Silk Road
Begram Bagram Kushan City — ancient Kapisa (Kapisha), summer capital of Kushan Empire (1st–3rd c CE) at Panjshir–Ghorband confluence 50 km NE Kabul, excavated 1923–40 by J. Hackin and R.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Zilum (Chad Basin Proto-city)
Iron Age Sahel / Nok contemporary (550–350 BCE) · Gajiganna culture
12-ha 550 BCE Gajiganna proto-city with 5-m ditch and early Sahelian iron furnace.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Astypalaia Harbour – Submerged Quays of the Dodecanese Port
Archaic to Medieval (800 BCE – 1522 CE) · Dorian Greek / Hellenistic / Roman / Venetian
Dodecanese butterfly island — 80 m mole and quays at −3 m beneath Querini castle hill and at Kaminakia Bay 36.5171N.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Nakum
Preclassic–Terminal Classic · Maya (Holmul valley)
Strategic acropolis city (600 BCE–950 CE) 18 km north of Yaxhá on Holmul River terrace, with Temple V 40-m pyramid, North Acropolis triadic group, Central Plaza and South Acropolis...
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Wiracochapampa – Northern Wari Fortress
Middle Horizon Wari Empire (600–750 CE, occupied 600–700) · Wari (Huari) imperial colony
Northernmost major Wari provincial center (600–700 CE, abortive) on Cajabamba road 10 km N of Huamachuco at 3100 m: orthogonal Wari cellular town plan 400×500 m with D-shaped temple, plaza, barracks…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Earthwork
Ancient Kano City Walls
Hausa Kingdom of Kano to Sokoto (1095–1807 CE; peak 14th–18th c.) · Hausa (Kano)
Ancient Kano City Walls (Badala) are West Africa's most impressive earthwork: 14 km main wall, 10 m high with 40 m base and moat, plus outer and inner walls totalling 40 km, founded 1095 CE by…
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Incahuasi de Lunahuaná (Cañete)
Late Horizon Inca Imperial (1480–1536 CE) · Inca (Topa Inca Yupanqui – Wanka campaign)
Planned Inca city founded by Topa Inca Yupanqui c.1480 to replicate Cusco as headquarters for conquering Guarco (Huarcu) kingdom of Cañete valley: full Qorikancha-like Temple of the Sun with…
🇵🇹 Portugal · Ancient city
Citânia de Briteiros — Guimarães
Iron Age to Roman (c.800 BCE–300 CE) · Castro culture (Bracari, Celtic Lusitanian transition)
Citânia de Briteiros (Iron Age c.800 BCE–300 CE, peak 200 BCE–100 CE) sprawls 24 ha over Monte São Romão 385 m above the Ave valley, northern Portugal's largest proto-urban castro with three ramparts…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Becán
Late Classic to Terminal/Postclassic 550–1200 CE (Río Bec apogee 730–830) · Maya (Río Bec–Chenés, between Calakmul and Chenés region)
Major Río Bec–Chenés fortified Maya capital surrounded by unique 2 km-long, 16 m-wide, 5 m-deep continuous ditch-moat (English ‘Be’ecs ditch’) enclosing 25 ha core – only fully ditched major Maya…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Southern Saqqara Sanctuary East — Saqqara, Serapeum (59-06)
Chalcolithic (regional) · Chalcolithic
Southern Saqqara Sanctuary East — Saqqara, Serapeum (59-06) at Saqqara, Serapeum, Egypt is a Chalcolithic (regional) ancient city of the Chalcolithic tradition, built c.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Culhuacan
Epiclassic–Postclassic (Coyotlatelco–Aztec) · Toltec–Colhua / Basin Postclassic
Toltec-Colhua capital (600–1400 CE) on Lake Xochimilco — 8 pyramids beneath Cerro de la Estrella, Mexica legitimacy ancestor.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Deir el-Ballas
Second Intermediate to New Kingdom (17th–18th Dynasty, 1580–1320 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian (Theban)
Deir el-Ballas is a New Kingdom palace–rampart town opposite Coptos on west bank 2 km desert edge, built early 17th Dynasty (c. 1580 BCE) as military palace for Sekhemre–Wadjitaw?
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Fortress
Karon (Darvaz Karon)
Kushan–Sasanian 1st–7th c → Samanid–Timurid 10th–15th c · Kushan–Sasanian → Samanid → Timurid Pamiri (Darvaz)
Karon — Pamir mountain city-fortress (1st–15th c CE) 2000 m on Darvaz plateau, Panj gorge, excavated 2010s Bobomulloev (Tajik Academy).
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Yalape Chachapoya Fortress
Late Intermediate – Late Horizon (900–1536 CE) · Chachapoya (Levanto) → Inca (mitma gate)
Hilltop Chachapoya fortress-village (900–1470 CE, Inca-enhanced 1470–1530) 26 km SW of Chachapoyas city: D-shaped 4 ha walled enclosure 3–5 m high following limestone ridge, enclosing 40+ circular…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Elaiussa Sebaste
Hellenistic to Byzantine (c.200 BCE–700 CE) · Cappadocian royal → Roman client kingdom
Augustan island-promontory city at Ayaş with hillside theatre, harbour islet and Achilles agora mosaics.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Kulubá Archaeological Zone
Late Classic–Early Postclassic (600–1200 CE) · Maya (Eastern Yucatán – Cupul province)
Late Classic–Postclassic eastern Yucatán dense town (600–1200 CE) 35 km SE of Tizimín, 6 sq km with 3 core groups (Group A palace 70×50 m, Group B temple pyramid 8 m, Group C ballcourt) of…
🇧🇯 Benin · Ancient city
Birnin Lafiya
Medieval (12th–18th c) · Songhai / Hausa / Niger bend trade
65-ha double-rampart Niger entrepôt 12th–18th c linking Bura-Gao ceramic chain with Hausa–Songhay frontier.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Sultantepe
Middle Bronze to Neo-Assyrian · Hurrian → Mitanni → Assyrian
Neo-Assyrian library mound Huzirina with 600 tablets outside the gate – scholarly twin to Nineveh.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Besnagar Vidisha Ancient City
Mauryan → Sunga–Satavahana 3rd c BCE–5th c CE · Sunga–Satavahana Vidisha — Early Historic Central India
Besnagar Vidisha Ancient City — capital of Dasharna janapada and Sunga Sungabhadra (3rd c BCE–5th c CE) on Betwa-Bes confluence 3 km north of Vidisha, excavated 1913–15 by Marshall–Lake and 1963–64…