🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Abu Mena
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
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🇸🇾 Syria · Archaeological wonder
Citadel of Aleppo
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).
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Historic Centre of Bukhara
Samanid to Shaybanid 9th–16th c (settled from 1st c CE) · Samanid / Qarakhanid / Shaybanid Islamic (Persian)
2000-year-old Silk Road oasis city preserved as intact medieval Islamic townscape with 140+ monuments.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Babylon
Old Babylonian to Neo-Babylonian and Hellenistic (1894 BCE–141 BCE; monumental peak Nebuchadnezzar II 604–562 BCE) · Babylonian / Assyrian / Persian / Hellenistic
Capital of Babylonian empire (1894 BCE–539 BCE) on Euphrates, Babylon at its greatest under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE): Processional Way, Ishtar Gate (glazed brick dragons and…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Uruk (Warka)
Neolithic to Sassanian (c.5000 BCE–632 CE; Uruk period city 4000–3100 BCE) · Sumerian / Babylonian / Persian
Type site for Uruk period and first true city (c.4000–3100 BCE), Uruk at peak 2900 BCE housed 50,000–80,000 inside 9.5 km city wall built by Gilgamesh (per Epic).
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Chersonesos — Quarantine Bay Central Submerged Mole
Classical to Byzantine (5th c. BCE – 1400 CE) · Herakleian Greek / Bosporan / Byzantine
Central mole of Chersonesos Quarantine Bay — 65 m ashlar harbour mole at 2–5 m dividing naval/mercantile basins.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom (Ji'an)
Koguryo Kingdom 37 BCE–668 CE (Five Kingdoms period) – tombs 4th–7th c · Koguryo (proto-Korean in Manchuria)
Forty tombs of Koguryo Kingdom (37 BCE–668 CE) on Yalu, including General's Tomb (400 CE) – 31 m stepped pyramid of cut granite 12 layers recalling Mesoamerican form, and murals of lotus, hunting and…
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Dholavira Reservoirs — Harappan Urban Hydraulics
Harappan (Early to Late Harappan 3000–1800 BCE) · Harappan (Indus Valley Civilization Kotada Timba)
Harappan desert city 16 rock-cut reservoirs and dam-fed canals 3000–1800 BCE on Kutch island.
🇲🇱 Mali · Temple complex
Gao – Tomb of Askia
Medieval Songhai (9th–17th c; peak Imperial 1464–1591) · Songhai / Tuareg (Songhai Empire)
Songhai Empire capital's 17 m pyramidal earthen tomb of Askia Mohammad I (1495) east-bank Niger assembly ground.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Hadrumetum (Sousse)
Phoenician to Ottoman (1100 BCE–16th c; peak 2nd–4th c) · Phoenician / Punic / Roman / Early Christian / Islamic
Phoenician-tradition colonia under Sousse medina with 5.5 km catacombs, Virgil mosaic and Byzantine kasbah.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
El Tajín
Early Classic to Epiclassic 600–1200 CE (apogee 800–1150, Veracruz Central tradition) · Classic Veracruz / Totonac (Gulf Coast, central Veracruz cultural tradition)
Classic Veracruz capital (600–1200 CE) famed for Pyramid of the Niches (365 niches – one per solar day – 18 m high with 365 + 7 step symbolism, seven-storey enclave temple), 17 ballcourts (most of…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan
Late Postclassic Aztec (Mexica) · Mexica (Aztec) Triple Alliance
Dual shrine pyramid (Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, 1325–1519 CE) — heart of island city Tenochtitlan (population 200,000 in 1519, larger than most European capitals on Lake Texcoco), built in seven…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Xanthos-Letoon
Bronze Age to Byzantine (peak Classical Lycian 6th–4th c. BCE and Roman) · Lycian (Anatolian Indo-European) → Persian satrapy → Hellenistic → Roman
Lycian capital Xanthos and marsh sanctuary Letoon — trilingual stele solved Lycian.
🇱🇧 Lebanon · Ancient city
Byblos
Neolithic to Medieval (8800 BCE–present; urban from c.5000 BCE) · Neolithic / Canaanite / Phoenician / Egyptian / Roman / Crusader
Continuously inhabited since Neolithic, Byblos is one of the oldest cities in the world. Phoenician port that gave the Bible its name (byblos = papyrus), with layers from Neolithic, Chalcolithic,…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Arslantepe (Malatya)
Late Chalcolithic to Neo-Hittite (5000 BCE–700 BCE; palace phase 3400–3000 BCE; Neo-Hittite 1200–712 BCE) · Late Chalcolithic / Kura-Araxes / Hittite / Neo-Hittite
Tell city type site for emergence of state and palace economy (3400–3000 BCE): Late Chalcolithic palace (Room A 900) with wall paintings, storerooms with mass-produced bowls, sword hoard (earliest…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
State Historical Park Ancient Merv
Achaemenid 6th c BCE to Timurid 18th c CE (Seljuk peak 11th–13th c) · Parthian / Seljuk / Timurid (Persian-Central Asian)
Four superimposed cities of Merv oasis on Murghab alluvium: Erk Kala Achaemenid citadel, Gyaur Kala Hellenistic-Parthian double-walled (Antiochia Margiana), Sultan Kala Seljuk capital (world's…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City
Liangzhu Culture 3400–2250 BCE (county late Neolithic) · Liangzhu (proto-Chinese Yangtze)
Neolithic Liangzhu culture capital (3400–2250 BCE) on Yangtze, covering 14.3 ha walled city with 6.3 km rectilinear earthen walls, hydraulic system with three dams and 26 km artificial canals to…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Heijō Palace (Heijō-kyō)
Nara Period 710–784 CE (with brief return 745–784) · Yamato / Nara Japanese (Ritsuryo)
Imperial palace of Heijō-kyō capital (710–784 CE) modeling Tang Chang'an, 1.2×1.6 km enclosure with Daigokuden audience hall, Suzaku Gate and Eastern Palace Garden ponds.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Parthian Fortresses of Nisa
Parthian Arsacid 3rd c BCE–3rd c CE (peak 1st c BCE–1st c CE) · Parthian / Arsacid
Parthian ceremonial and administrative capital (3rd c BCE–3rd c CE) of two tells: Old Nisa (Mithridatkert fortress 14 ha with 43 towers, wine rhytons and ivory rhytons inscribed Arsacid) and New Nisa…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Yin Xu (Ruins of Yin at Anyang)
Late Shang Dynasty c.1300–1046 BCE (Anyang period) · Shang Chinese
Late Shang capital (1300–1046 BCE) on Huan River, premier Bronze Age urban site of East Asia covering 30 km² with palatial foundations, royal tombs (Fu Hao intact 76), 150,000 oracle bones with…
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Timbuktu (Sankore, Djingareyber & Sidi Yahya)
Medieval Sudanic (11th–17th c; peak 14th–16th c under Mali-Songhai) · Tuareg / Soninke / Malinke / Songhai / Berber / Moroccan (Arma)
Scholar caravan metropolis on Niger Bend with three 14th-c earthen Sudano-Sahelian mosques and 600,000-manuscript university Sankore.
🇩🇪 Germany · Ancient city
Hedeby (Haithabu) Viking Town — Schleswig
Viking Age (c.770–1066 CE) · Danish Viking (later German Ottonian)
Hedeby (Heiðabýr, 8th–11th century CE), on the Haddebyer Noor inlet at the base of the Jutland Peninsula, was the largest Viking Age emporium in Scandinavia, a 27-hectare semicircular…
🇭🇳 Honduras · Ancient city
Copán
Classic 426–822 CE (dynastic Copán, peak 695–820) · Maya (southeast Petén sphere, Copán kingdom, non-Maya frontier)
Premier Classic southeastern Maya capital and sculpture capital: Acropolis with 4,500 glyph Hierarchical Stairway (longest Classic Maya text – 72 steps, 2,200 glyphs recording 14 kings), Rosalila…
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Ancient city
Navekat (Krasnaya Rechka – Ak-Beshim West)
Sogdian 6–8 c. → Karluks 8–9 c. → Qarakhanid 10–12 c. · Sogdian → Turkic Khaganate → Qarakhanid (Chu Silk Road)
Sogdian Navekat city (6–12 c. CE) at Krasnaya Rechka 18 km west Suyab — 20 ha shahristan with 3 m Buddha vs Suyab's khagan palace.