🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle (La Libertad)
Chimu (900-1470 CE) · Chimu
Chan Chan Citadel Uhle in La Libertad, Peru is a Chimu (900-1470 CE) ancient-city.
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Ouadane — Chinguetti-Linked Caravan Ksar
Medieval Almoravid foundation 1147 CE, gold-salt era · Berber Almoravid → Mali gold trade
Ouadane 1147 Almoravid ksar, caravan to Chinguetti 100 km.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Augila (Awjila / Aujila Oasis) – Herodotean Palmgrove
Garamantian / Roman · Libyan / Roman
Date-forest island famed since Herodotus for Ammonite pilgrim routes Siwa→Augila→Garama. Garamantian–Greco–Roman caravanserai with foggara traces and late-antique church; mudbrick town overlies souq.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Kuelap
Chachapoya (Middle Horizon to Inca) · Chachapoya
Immense walled city on Andean ridge (500–1570 CE) of Chachapoya 'Warriors of the Clouds' with limestone dry-stone walls 19 m high, 3 entries tapering to 1 person, circular houses with zigzag friezes.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Antinoöpolis (El Sheikh Ibada / Antinoë) – Hadrian's City
Roman · Roman / Egyptian / Greek
Instant Græco-Roman show-city founded by Hadrian Oct 130 CE for drowned Antinous. Hippodamian grid, tetrastyle gates, 3 km colonnaded cardo, circus and temple to Osiris-Antinous. Greek boule papyri.
🇧🇿 Belize · Ancient city
Lubaantun
Late Classic Maya · Maya
Lubaantun in Toledo District, Belize is a Late Classic Maya ancient city attributed to Maya culture. Settlement complex with stratified occupation, demonstrating urban planning and craft production.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Diana Veteranorum (Aïn Zana / Zana)
Roman / Byzantine · Roman
Trajanic veteran settlement of Legio III Augusta (100–117 CE) with perfect grid, forum, arch, macellum and aqueduct feeding nymphaeum. Named for Diana whose forests ringed town, oil-press economy.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Hattusa
Hittite Empire (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze) · Hittite
Capital of Hittite Empire (1600–1180 BCE) with double walls 8 km, Lion Gate, Sphinx Gate, Great Temple and rock sanctuary Yazılıkaya with 90+ reliefs of gods. Archives of 30,000 cuneiform tablets.
🇬🇷 Greece · Buried city
Akrotiri (Thera)
Middle to Late Minoan (LM IA) · Cycladic / Minoan
Minoan Cycladic town buried under pumice by Theran eruption c.1620–1530 BCE (S: 1600 BCE), preserving 3-storey buildings, drainage, vivid frescoes (Spring, Ship Procession) comparable to Pompeii.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Banasa (Sidi Ali Bou Djenoun) – Colony on the Sebou
Mauretanian / Roman · Mauretanian / Roman
Augustan veteran colonia on Sebou floodplain, river-port exporting olive oil to Rhine legions. Forum, capitol, baths and kiln quarter with Tabula Banasitana bronze (212 CE citizenship grant).
🇵🇸 Palestine · Ancient village
Jericho – Tell es-Sultan
Natufian to Bronze Age (12,000 BCE onward; tower c.8300 BCE) · Natufian → PPNA/PPNB → Canaanite
Tell with Natufian through Bronze Age layers including Pre-Pottery Neolithic A stone tower (c.8300 BCE) and wall – among earliest monumental architecture and fortification. Biblical Jericho.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Kish
Early Dynastic Sumer to Akkadian · Sumerian / Akkadian
Key Sumerian city-state (c.3100–2000 BCE) dominating Early Dynastic Sumer, palace A, ziggurat, mentioned in King List as first city to have kingship after Flood. Discovered library archives.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Thuburbo Parvum
Carthaginian to Byzantine (4th c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Punic / Roman
Sister city to Thuburbo Majus with olive press park (15 presses).
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Leontopolis (Tell el-Muqdam / Taremu)
Old Kingdom to Ptolemaic · Egyptian
Lion-god Mahes capital with huge enclosure 1000×800 m and red granite naos of Osorkon II; claimed rival Onias temple at Leontopolis. Dense Late Period lion cemetery with animal catacombs.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Comalcalco Archaeological Zone
Maya Classic 250–900 CE · Maya (Chontal)
Maya brick city 56 million bricks, Chontal 250–900 CE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl Archaeological Zone
Epiclassic 650–900 CE · Olmeca-Xicalanca
Epiclassic painted citadel Battle Mural 22 m, 700–800 CE.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Uzappa
Roman (1st–7th c. CE) · Roman / Byzantine
Colonia with circus and amphitheatre on imperial saltus.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Zilil (Dchar Jdid / Asilah)
Phoenician / Roman · Roman / Mauretanian
Augustan colonia Iulia Constantia Zilil controlling Loukkos–Tangier road and garum coast. Large forum, basilica, theatre embankment and 5th-c church.
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe · Ancient city
Great Zimbabwe
Iron Age (Zimbabwe Period: Great Zimbabwe 1100–1450 CE) · Ancestral Shona (Karanga)
Capital of Kingdom of Zimbabwe (11th–15th c) with dry-stone walls up to 11 m (Great Enclosure) without mortar, Hill Complex and Valley Enclosures controlling Indian Ocean gold trade.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Persepolis
Achaemenid · Persian Achaemenid
Ceremonial capital of Achaemenid Empire (515–330 BCE) with Apadana, Throne Hall, Treasury on terrace with relief of tribute bearers. Burned by Alexander 330 BCE, preserved by burial.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Antipyrgos (Tobruk / Tubruq)
Greek / Roman / Byzantine · Greek / Roman
Natural rock-harbour of Marmarica, fortress-emporion of Cyrene facing Egypt, later Justinianic fort guarding Via Maris. Classical mole at -1.5 m visible snorkelling; WWII overlays.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
La Quemada Archaeological Zone
Classic–Epiclassic 350–900 CE · Northern Mesoamerican frontier
Northern hill fortress Salón de Columnas, 350–900 CE, Chicomóztoc candidate.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Megalith
Axum Obelisks & Archaeological Site
Aksumite · Aksumite / Ge'ez
Capital of Aksumite Kingdom (100 BCE–940 CE) with monolithic granite stelae quarried 4 km, carved to imitate multi-storey buildings with false doors/windows, elite tombs, palaces.