🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Bu Njem (Gholaia)
Severan Roman (201–259 CE) · Roman
201 CE polygonal limes fort 138 m with 146 wax tablets and ostraca archive documenting Legio III vicus.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Chicanná Structure II Pyramid — Bec Valley
Late Classic Maya, c.600-830 CE (Río Bec–Chenés, Late Classic) · Maya (Río Bec–Chenés)
Chicanná (House of Serpent Mouth, Bec Valley, Campeche) Structure II: 4-crown Río Bec pyramid (12 m high) with steep false stair, twin pseudo-temples and central monster-mouth portal (Chenés witz…
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Madauros (Mdaourouch)
Numidian to Byzantine (5th c BCE-11th c CE; peak 2nd-4th c CE) · Numidian / Roman / Byzantine
Plateau colony Madauros.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Bottle Creek Indian Mounds
Mississippian Pensacola phase (1250–1550 CE) · Mississippian (Pensacola culture)
Pensacola-Mississippian island capital (1250–1550 CE) on low swamp island (0.4 sq km) in Mobile-Tensaw Delta: 18 platform and burial mounds (largest Mound A 11 m high 90×60 m) enclosing 5 plazas on…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Buto (Tell el-Fara'ein)
Predynastic (Buto-Maadi) to Dynastic to Greco-Roman · Lower Egyptian (Buto-Maadi) → Unified Egyptian
Dual city Pe and Dep — cult centre of cobra goddess Wadjet (tutelar of Lower Egypt) and predynastic–archaic capital that gives 'Buto-Maadi' culture (c.4000–3400 BCE, Palestine-like beveled rims,…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Erligang (Zhengzhou Shang City)
Early Shang Erligang 1600–1400 BCE (Xia→Shang transition) · Early Shang (Erligang culture, Zhengzhou phase)
Erligang (Zhengzhou Shang City) — Early Shang walled capital (c.1600–1400 BCE, Erligang culture) under modern Zhengzhou old city, excavated 1950s–80s An Jinhuai and Zou Heng (Henan Institute).
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Gran Vilaya – Chachapoya Citadel Network
Late Intermediate Period – Late Horizon (800–1536 CE, Chachapoya → Inca 1470) · Chachapoya (Luya) → Inca (mitma occupation)
Vast Chachapoya hilltop conurbation (800–1470 CE, Inca conquest 1470) 7 km north of Kuelap, comprising 30+ registered citadels on 15 km2 ridge: massive circular stone houses 10 m diameter with…
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Kampir Tepe
Hellenistic 330–145 BCE → Yuezhi–Kushan 145 BCE–350 CE → Sasanians 350–500 CE · Greco-Bactrian → Kushan–Sogdian (Oxus trade)
Oxus port fortress (330 BCE–500 CE) at Kampir hill 30 km west Termez — Hellenistic gate, Kushan quay and Alexander port contender.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Río Bec
Late Classic (Río Bec style florescence) · Maya (Río Bec)
Type site for Río Bec architectural phenomenon (c.550–900 CE) — most dispersed large Classic Maya city 50 km², 6 km² core with 6+ plaza groups (A–F, Central Group Structure V-N 13...
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Zabalam (Tell Ibzeikh) – Sumerian Temple Harbour on Iturungal
Early Dynastic to Isin-Larsa (c. 2900 – 2000 BCE) · Sumerian / Lagash-Umma / Ur III / Isin-Larsa
Inanna's canal port on Lagash–Umma waterway – Iturungal harbour revetment 40 m at –2 m.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Holmul
Preclassic–Late Classic · Maya (Snake/Tikal sphere)
Borderland trading city (800 BCE–900 CE) on Holmul River near Belize, famed for Building A 8-m-wide Witz monster stucco frieze (590 BCE La Sufricaya mural earliest Maya mural) on s...
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Theveste (Tebessa)
Roman to Byzantine (75-647 CE; peak 2nd-4th c CE) · Roman / Byzantine
Legionary Theveste with arch.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Avaris – Tell el-Dab'a (Hyksos Capital)
Middle Kingdom to New Kingdom (c. 2000–1150 BCE; Hyksos peak 1670–1550) · Egyptian / Hyksos Canaanite / Minoan palace artisans
Hyksos capital with Minoan frescoes and donkey burials — 3 m under Delta fields, excavated since 1966.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Lysimachia — Submerged Harbour at Hebros Delta (Thrace)
Hellenistic to Early Roman (309 BCE – 100 BCE) · Diadoch Macedonian / Thracian
Hebros delta harbour of Lysimachus's capital Lysimachia — 100 m quay at –1.8 m in Lake Kaminia salt lagoon, Thrace.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Lysimachia — Submerged Harbour at Hebros Delta (Thrace) — v2
Hellenistic to Early Roman (309 BCE – 100 BCE) · Diadoch Macedonian / Thracian
Hebros delta harbour of Lysimachus's capital Lysimachia — 100 m quay at –1.8 m in Lake Kaminia salt lagoon, Thrace.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Palenque
Late Classic 226 BCE–800 CE (apogee 615–800 CE Early–Late Classic) · Maya (B'aakal / Palenque dynasty; Western Maya lowlands)
Maya Classic capital of B'aakal on Chiapas foothills with low jungle: Temple of Inscriptions (22 m pyramid with 69-step Hieroglyphic Stair recording dynastic history and Pakal's vault; Pakal the…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Qumaarkaj
Late Postclassic (1200 – 1524 CE) · K'iche' Maya
Qumaarkaj in Quiché, Guatemala is a Late Postclassic (1200 – 1524 CE) ancient city attributed to K'iche' Maya culture. Gumarcaj/Utatlán: 4 causeways, 23 palaces, Temple of Tohil human sacrifice.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Sumatar Harabesi (Soğmatar)
Roman–Syriac (1st–5th century CE) with Bronze/Iron Age antecedents · Harranian Sabian / Edessan Aramaean → Roman / Byzantine
Tektek hilltop Sin-cult oasis with seven baetyl sanctuaries and Syriac rock inscriptions.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Surkh Kotal
Kushan 100–250 CE (Kanishka–Huvishka zenith) · Kushan–Bactrian (Yuezhi) with Greco–Bactrian substrate
Kushan dynastic fire temple (100–200 CE) on Surkh Kotal pass — 50 m terraced sanctuary with Kanishka statues and Bactrian inscription.
🇱🇾 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.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient village
Nausharo
Kot Diji I (3000–2700) → Transitional II (2700–2500) → Harappan III (2500–2100 BCE) · Kot Diji / Early Harappan → Mature Harappan (Bolan culture)
Early Harappan → Mature Harappan village (c.3000–2100 BCE) 6 km south of Mehrgarh on the Bolan terrace, Balochistan — 5 ha mound excavated 1985–96 by J-F. Jarrige (French Archaeological Mission).
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Galindo Moche–Wari Center
Middle Horizon transition (Moche V – Wari 500–850 CE) · Moche V → Wari (Huari) intrusion
Eclipsed late Moche administrative city (500–850 CE) 12 km inland from Huacas de Moche (Huaca del Sol/Luna), occupying terraced hill with 3 civic–ceremonial mounds 10–15 m high (Plataforma Principal,…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Kausambi (Ancient Kosambi)
Mahajanapada 600 BCE → Mauryan → Gupta 4th c CE · Vatsa Janapada → Mauryan → Sunga–Gupta (Middle Ganga)
Kausambi (Kosambi) — capital of Vatsa Mahajanapada (c.600 BCE–300 CE) on Yamuna 56 km SW Prayagraj, excavated 1949–56 by G.R. Sharma (Allahabad University).