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The catalogue
2,059 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Bronze Age (regional) · Bronze Age
Lower Lalibela Fortress Central — Lalibela (59-24) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Bronze Age (regional) ancient city of the Bronze Age tradition, built c. 200 CE for fortress and associated settlement.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Middle Kingdom · 12th Dynasty Egyptian
Mirgissa Fortress Nubia Harbour at Nubia, Mirgissa, Sudan is a Middle Kingdom ancient city of the 12th Dynasty Egyptian tradition, built c. 1850 BCE for huge fortress 100×80 m with harbour slipway.
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Ancient city
Classical (regional) · Classical
Royal Siem Reap Hilltop Central — Siem Reap (54-17) at Siem Reap, Cambodia is a Classical (regional) ancient city of the Classical tradition, built c. 800 CE for hilltop and associated settlement.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Early Dynastic · Nagar / Beydar culture
Tell Beydar Nagar North Palace at Hassakeh, Tell Beydar, Syria is a Early Dynastic ancient city of the Nagar / Beydar culture tradition, built c. 2500 BCE for town with palace and eblaite tablets.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Ubaid to Islamic · Sumerian → Akkadian → Babylonian → Kassite
Holy city of Sumer and Akkad, seat of Enlil (Lord Air) whose Ekur temple gave legitimacy to kingship — 'king without Nippur is no king'.
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Medieval (regional) · Medieval
Lower Djenné-Jeno Temple Central — Djenné-Jeno (57-47) at Djenné-Jeno, Mali is a Medieval (regional) ancient city of the Medieval tradition, built c. 200 CE for temple and associated settlement.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Late Medieval Hausa Banza Bakwai (15th–early 18th c. CE) · Hausa (Kabawa–Kebbi)
Surame (15th–16th c.) is the 9 km² walled capital of Muhammadu Kanta's Kebbi Empire (c. 1516), the sole Hausa Banza Bakwai state to defeat Songhai (Battle of Jebbe).
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Early Historic (regional) · Early Historic
Sacred Cuzco Enclosure West — Cuzco (55-31) at Cuzco, Peru is a Early Historic (regional) ancient city of the Early Historic tradition, built c. 800 BCE for enclosure and associated settlement.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Classical (regional) · Classical
Southern Lalibela Hilltop II — Lalibela (59-50) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Classical (regional) ancient city of the Classical tradition, built c. 3000 BCE for hilltop and associated settlement.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Preclassic–Late Classic · Maya (Saal dynasty)
Aggressive Classic superpower capital Sa'aal (500 BCE–950 CE), 180 m hill above Holmul valley with 19 palaces, hieroglyphic stairway recording 45 star-war defeats by Lady Six Sky,...
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Classic Maya (Río Bec) · Maya (Río Bec)
Type-site false-tower pyramid Structure V-N at Río Bec — 8 m solid-tower platform pyramid c.650–850 CE anchoring 100-structure Río Bec city.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Early Bronze · Hurrian / Tell Chuera
Tell Chuera Hurrian City at Raqqa, Tell Chuera, Syria is a Early Bronze ancient city of the Hurrian / Tell Chuera tradition, built c. 2800 BCE for walled hurrian city with palace antentempel.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Ancient city
Classical (regional) · Classical
Central Lalibela Citadel II — Lalibela (59-30) at Lalibela, Ethiopia is a Classical (regional) ancient city of the Classical tradition, built c. 200 CE for citadel and associated settlement.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Numidian to Ottoman (3rd c. BCE–present; Roman peak 1st–4th c. CE) · Numidian / Carthaginian / Roman / Byzantine / Islamic
Cirta (modern Constantine, Qusanṭīnah) is the Tunisian Tell's most dramatic city, perched on a limestone mesa girded by the 300-m-deep Rhumel gorge with four bridges.
🇰🇷 Korea · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Cheomseongdae — Ancillary Star Platform (Gyeongju, Silla) in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongju, Cheomseongdae, Korea is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE…
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Medieval to Early Modern (13th–19th c; library peak 17th–18th c) · Berber / Arab / Alkhalid
13th c scholar-ksar with 20-m square minaret and 5 manuscript libraries 1400+ codices.
🇮🇱 Israel · Tell
Neolithic to Iron Age/Crusader (peak Middle Bronze to Iron II, 2000–733 BCE) · Canaanite (Sidonian) → Israelite (Dan tribe) → Aramaean → Israelite kingdom → Assyrian
Bubbling Jordan spring tell with world's oldest intact triple mudbrick arch (1750 BCE) and House of David stele.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Preceramic (Norte Chico late to crisis) · Norte Chico / Caral-related (Vichama culture)
Late Preceramic city Vichama (3800–1700 BCE) Huaura Valley: 28 m Building A pyramid famed for 1700 BCE drought/starvation friezes gaping figures — Late Preceramic collapse mural.
🇺🇸 United States · Archaeological wonder
Classic Hohokam 1150–1450 CE (Sedentary to Classic transition) · Hohokam (Ancestral Sonoran Desert, ancestors of O’odham)
Ancestral Sonoran Desert four-story Great House (18 m × 13 m, 4 storeys, 11 rooms, caliche clay walls 1 m thick, internal loopholes) – largest known Hohokam structure, preserved under 1932 modern…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell
Neolithic to Mamluk (c.8000 BCE–1500 CE; Decapolis peak 63 BCE–400 CE) · Neolithic → Canaanite → Hellenistic Decapolis → Roman → Byzantine → Islamic
Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) is a 4000-year mound and Decapolis Greco-Roman city in Jordan Valley — with Neolithic village (Sha'ar Hagolan–related) through Canaanite–Eg...
🇹🇷 Turkey · Buried city
Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) · Bronze Age
Kazane Höyük — West Workshop Quarter (Şanlıurfa) in Şanlıurfa, Kazane Höyük, Turkey is a Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) buried city attributed to …
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Medieval (646 BCE – 4th c. CE; revisited 14th c.) · Milesian Greek / Scythian / Roman / Gothic
Milesian Black Sea emporium whose harbour lower town now lies 1–4 m under Bug–Dnieper liman.
🇱🇾 Libya · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Roman (6th c. BCE – 5th c. CE naustathmos) · Greek Cyrenean / Roman
Cyrenaica northern tip storm harbour — twin 120 m moles at 2 m depth on Ras al-Hamama cape refuge.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Chalcolithic to Bronze Age (4500–1200 BCE) · Chalcolithic–Early Bronze
Tell Halaf — North Palace Annex (Khabur) in Al-Hasakah, Ras al-Ayn, Tell Halaf, Syria is a Chalcolithic to Bronze Age (4500–1200 BCE) tell attributed to Ch…
