🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Cape Gelidonya Shipwreck
Late Bronze Age (c. 1200 BCE) · Cypriot / Levantine itinerant tinker-trader
1200 BCE tin-trader that pioneered underwater archaeology – first scientific wreck excavation 1960.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Archaeological wonder
Old Hattusa Reservoir A — Hattusa (60-44)
Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age
Old Hattusa Reservoir A — Hattusa (60-44) at Hattusa, Turkey is a Iron Age (regional) archaeological wonder of the Iron Age tradition, built c. 3000 BCE for reservoir and associated settlement.
🇨🇦 Canada · Ancient village
L'Anse aux Meadows
Viking Age 1000–1006 CE (Norse Vinland exploration) · Norse Greenlanders (Icelandic Norse under Leifr Eiríksson / Thorfinn Karlsefni saga context)
Only confirmed Norse village in North America and earliest European settlement (~1000–1006 CE): eight turf-and-timber sod houses (halls 25×5 m, iron smithy, carpentry shed, charcoal kilns) on Épaves…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Luxor Temple
New Kingdom to Greco-Roman (c.1400 BCE–300 CE; main 1390–1225 BCE) · Egyptian New Kingdom / Roman / Islamic layer
New Kingdom temple built by Amenhotep III (1388–1350 BCE), Tutankhamun, Horemheb and Ramesses II on Nile east bank.
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Temple complex
Banteay Srei
Angkor Early 967 CE · Hindu Shaiva (Brahmin Yajnavaraha)
Pink sandstone Hindu temple (967 CE) dedicated to Shiva Tribhuvanamaheshvara, built by Brahmin guru Yajnavaraha — only Angkor temple not founded by king — miniature (base 500×500 m laterite…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Megalith
Nabta Playa Astronomical Site
Early Holocene Neolithic (~7500–3500 BCE) · Nubian Neolithic pastoralist (El Nabta culture)
Beside a fossil playa that filled during the African Humid Period, nomads erected a 5-m mini-Stonehenge of quartzite slabs and radial lines pointing to summer solstice sunrise and to Sirius/Arcturus.
🇺🇸 United States · Archaeological wonder
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Pueblo II–III 1115–1287 CE (Chacoan 1120–1140; Mesa Verde 1200–1287) · Ancestral Puebloan (Chacoan then Mesa Verdean)
Misnamed 12th-century Great House built by Chacoan Ancestral Puebloans (Aztec West, 400 rooms, 3 storeys) and later occupied by Mesa Verdeans: E-shaped pueblo with Great Kiva (14.6 m diameter,…
🇰🇪 Kenya · Ancient village
Hyrax Hill
Pastoral Neolithic to Sirikwa Iron Age (1500 BCE–1900 CE) · Pastoral Neolithic (Elmenteitan) → Sirikwa Iron Age pastoralists
Leakey's Nakuru type-site Hyrax Hill with Sirikwa holes and Neolithic pit-houses.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Archaeological wonder
Amphitheatre of El Jem (Thysdrus)
Roman Imperial (c.230–238 CE under Gordian I/II) · Roman (Africano)
Largest amphitheatre in Africa and third-largest in Roman world: olive-oil city Thysdrus (later Gordian revolt 238 CE) built c.238 CE, 149×124 m outer axes, 65×39 m arena, 35,000 capacity seating…
🇬🇷 Greece · Archaeological wonder
Theopetra Cave
Palaeolithic–Neolithic (130,000–3000 BCE) · Palaeolithic to Neolithic — Thessalian cave sequence
Limestone cave near Meteora, Thessaly, with the longest continuous stratigraphic sequence in Greece, spanning 130,000 years from Middle Palaeolithic to Neolithic.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Zawiyet el-Maiyitin Pyramid
Old Kingdom Early Dynastic to 3rd–4th Dynasty (2686–2600 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian (Old Kingdom)
Zawiyet el-Maiyitin (Pyramid of Zawiyat el-Maiytin) is a small 3rd–4th Dynasty provincial step pyramid 15 m square base, 17 m high originally, 3 steps, on eastern desert slope opposite Minya, built…
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Pech Merle Cave
Gravettian to Solutrean ~29–20 ka BP · Gravettian hunter-gatherer
Quercy cave with Spotted Horses and 307 hand stencils, 25 ka Gravettian masterpiece.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Mawangdui Han Tombs
Western Han Early 202–141 BCE · Han dynasty (Changsha Kingdom)
Family cemetery of Marquess of Dai (Li Cang, Prime Minister of Changsha Kingdom, Western Han, 202 BCE–9 CE) with three rectangular shaft tombs (168–145 BCE).
🇴🇲 Oman · Archaeological wonder
Pediment-Spur Archaeological Complex
Andean Formative (1800–200 BCE) · Andean Formative
Pediment-Spur Archaeological Complex in Dhofar, Oman is a Andean Formative (1800–200 BCE) archaeological wonder attributed to Andean Formative culture.
🇸🇾 Syria · Archaeological wonder
Ingoldisthorpe-Low Archaeological Complex
Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE) · Middle Bronze Age
Ingoldisthorpe-Low Archaeological Complex in Homs Governorate, Syria is a Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE) archaeological wonder attributed to Middle Bronze Age culture.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Lascaux Cave
Upper Paleolithic (Solutrean/Magdalenian, ~17,000–15,000 BCE) · Cro-Magnon hunter-gatherer (Magdalenian)
Sealed Upper Paleolithic cave on the Vézère renowned as the 'Sistine Chapel of Prehistory' for about 600 parietal paintings and nearly 1,500 engravings executed with astonishing naturalism.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae
Classical 429–400 BCE · Ancient Greek Arcadian (Phigalian)
Iktinos' mountain Apollo temple mixing all three orders with earliest Corinthian capital.
🇺🇸 United States · Ancient village
SunWatch Indian Village
Fort Ancient 1000–1750 CE, Mississippian-influenced Late Prehistoric · Fort Ancient (Central Algonquian, Fort Ancient tradition)
Reconstructed Fort Ancient circular village (3 acres) on Great Miami River terrace at Dayton: central plaza 42 m diameter ringed by post-mold houses, stockade with bastions, and reconstructed cedar…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Abu Ghurab Sun Temple of Niuserre
Old Kingdom 5th Dynasty (2455–2425 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian (Old Kingdom solar cult)
Abu Ghurab Sun Temple of Niuserre (5th Dynasty, 2455–2425 BCE) is the best preserved of six sun temples (Userkaf and Niuserre survive).
🇵🇪 Peru · Hydraulic works
Cantalloc Puquios Aqueducts
Paracas to Early Nazca ~300 BCE–600 CE · Nazca (and earlier Paracas)
Nazca spiral puquio filtration galleries - 600 m underground still watering desert after 1,400 years.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Temple of Edfu
Ptolemaic (237–57 BCE) · Ptolemaic Egyptian (Hellenistic Pharaonic)
Best-preserved temple in Egypt: Ptolemaic Temple of Horus built 237–57 BCE (180 years) after plan of Old Kingdom then New Kingdom prototypes, buried by Nile silt and desert sand until re-excavated by…
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Altamira Cave
Solutrean–Magdalenian ~18–14 ka BP · Solutrean/Magdalenian Cantabrian
Great Ceiling of polychrome bison — the Paleolithic Sistine Chapel at Santillana del Mar.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Fortress
Castellum Dimmidi
Roman Severan (198–238 CE) · Roman
Castellum Dimmidi (Messaad) is Rome's southernmost Algerian outpost, 350 km south of Algiers into true Sahara, a Severan isolated vexillation fort 40×40 m with corner bastions built 198 CE by Legio…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Archaeological wonder
Karatepe-Aslantaş
Neo-Hittite / Iron Age (c.720–680 BCE) · Neo-Hittite (Adanawa Quwe) / Phoenician
Neo-Hittite fortified retreat of Azatiwada (late 8th c BCE) on Ceyhan River, Karatepe-Aslantaş preserves two gated circuits with 30+ basalt orthostats showing Late Hittite–Phoenician bilingual…