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The catalogue
2,183 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.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Iron Age (3000–600 BCE) Mittani to Neo-Hittite · Hititte then Neo-Hittite (Carchemish kingdom Kup-Teshub)
Carchemish — East Outer Town Extension in Gaziantep Province, Turkey is a Bronze Age to Iron Age (3000–600 BCE) Mittani to Neo-Hittite ancient-city attributed to Hititte then Neo-Hittite (Carchemish…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Early Bronze to Neo-Babylonian (c.3000–539 BCE; peak OB 1800–1600, NB 626–539) · Sumerian → Amorite (Babylon) → Kassite → Neo-Babylonian
Sippar — twin tell-city on Euphrates (Abu Habbah = Sippar-Yahrurum, Tell ed-Der = Sippar-Amnanum) and cult centre of Shamash sun-god with great Ebabbar temple,...
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian (c. late 4th–2nd cent BCE, Achaemenid precursor debated) · Greco-Bactrian (Alexander successor kingdom)
Greco-Bactrian frontier phrourion — 13-tower stone fortress locking Bactria–Sogdiana pass on Susiztag ridge.
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) · Ubaid
Ancient City of Cist Northfield in Iwate Prefecture, Japan is a Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) ancient city attributed to Ubaid culture.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Early Historic (600 BCE–200 CE) · Videha
Balirajgarh — Madhubani Fort in Bihar, Madhubani, India is a Early Historic (600 BCE–200 CE) ancient city attributed to Videha culture.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman (1st–6th c. CE) · Roman (Numidia)
Southern suburb of Cuicul beyond Severan Arch with fullery and funerary basilica.
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Ancient city
Afanasievo to Sarazm Chalcolithic–Bronze Age · Sarazm culture (Central Asian proto-Bactrian)
Earliest proto-urban centre in Central Asia (4000–2000 BCE) in Zarafshan Valley, Tajikistan's first UNESCO site (2010), 100 ha town with irrigation canals, palace, fortified citadel and aeolian…
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Jōmon (14000–300 BCE) · Jōmon
Ancient City of Hunstanton Plateau in Ancash, Peru is a Jōmon (14000–300 BCE) ancient city attributed to Jōmon culture.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Classic Xoo 650–900 CE · Zapotec (Xoo/Mahuitz phase)
Monte Albán northern barrio: 45 m ballcourt largest in Oaxaca and House of the Altars on 250 m plaza.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Mauretanian to Islamic (5th c. BCE–8th c. CE; Roman peak 1st–4th c. CE) · Mauretanian / Roman
Rirha (ancient Gilda) on the Sebou River is a Mauretanian city turned Roman colonia, 5th c. BCE–8th c. CE, excavated by Callegarin 2005–.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Late Formative–Epiclassic 450 BCE–900 CE (Tula antecedent) · Toltec-Chichimec / Teotihuacano
Transition pyramid with Archaic cave paintings and early Toltec atlante precursors between Teotihuacan and Tula.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Neolithic to Islamic (6000 BCE–1400 CE) · Canaanite / Hellenistic / Roman Decapolis / Islamic
Pella of the Decapolis — Tabaqat Fahl in Jordan Valley, Jordan is a Neolithic to Islamic (6000 BCE–1400 CE) ancient-city attributed to Canaanite / Hellenistic / Roman Decapolis / Islamic.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Early Bronze Age to Hellenistic (c.3000–300 BCE) · Syrian EBA → Aramaean → Neo-Hittite fringe
Ghāb Orontes fortress tell 12 ha (EB glacis, Iron Age Aramaean town Tunip/Qarqar) in Ghāb swamp.
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Bio. Iron Age to Medieval (c.250 BCE–1400 CE; peak 400–1200 CE) · Djenné-Djeno culture / Inland Niger Delta Iron Age / Soninke-Bozo
Oldest sub-Saharan city (250 BCE–1400 CE) on Inland Niger Delta: 33 ha tell 8 m high with 69 mounds cluster spanning 4 km, without stone architecture but rich bio-archaeological sequence: slag, rice,…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Hellenistic to Early Islamic (c.332 BCE–749 CE, peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Graeco-Roman / Nabataean / Byzantine / Umayyad
One of the best-preserved Greco-Roman cities in the Near East, Gerasa was a Decapolis city with colonnaded cardo, two tetrapylons, Hadrian's Arch (129 CE), Oval Plaza, Temple of Artemis and Temple of…
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Early Jazira I–V (3100–2100 BCE) · Early Jazira Hurrian precursor → Akkadian
EJ II Nabada planned insula 2420 BCE — tablet sealings & kiln quarter (Lebeau).
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Punic / Roman / Byzantine (4th c BCE–7th c CE) · Punic / Roman
Roman–Punic oil port with amphitheatre and thermae on Gulf of Gabès.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) · Sorath Harappan
Bagasra — Amreli in Gujarat, Amreli, India is a Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) ancient city attributed to Sorath Harappan culture.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Classic Maya Late Classic 300–900 CE · Maya (Lakamtuun polity)
Island Maya city on karst lakes: 30 islands linked by causeways with temple islets and raised fields.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Initial Period Casma-Sechín 1800–900 BCE · Casma/Sechín (Moxeke–Pampa de las Llamas polity)
Second platform of earliest planned city in Peru: 30 m Moxeke pyramid with warrior friezes over 200 compounds grid.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Temple complex
Khmer Angkor (10th–13th century CE, Jayavarman VII peak late 12th) · Khmer (Mahayana Buddhist under Jayavarman VII)
Largest Khmer temple in Thailand — Prasat Phimai facing Angkor on Ancient Highway (10th–13th cent).
🇸🇾 Syria · Temple complex
Late Bronze – Iron Age II (Syro-Hittite) · Hittite – Syro-Hittite (Aramaean)
Syro-Hittite temple (1300–740 BCE) with 1-m footprints and sphinxes — Solomon's Temple parallel, destroyed 2018.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
EB IV to Persian (3000 BCE–330 BCE; peak LBA 1500–1200 BCE) · EB Amorite → Middle Bronze Amorite → Hittite Egyptian contested → Neo-Assyrian → Persian
Qadesh outer town 1274 BCE — Hittite–Egyptian battle plain south tell.
🇸🇾 Syria · Archaeological wonder
3rd millennium BCE to present (Yamhad Bronze Age peak; current fortress 12th–13th c CE) · Amorite (Yamhad) / Hittite / Neo-Hittite / Hellenistic / Ayyubid / Mamluk / Ottoman
One of the oldest continuously fortified mounds in the world, Aleppo citadel occupies a 45 m-high tell (Yamhad kingdom capital c.1800 BCE).
