🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Ile-Ife
Yoruba Early/Middle Period (1st mill.–16th c; classical 12th–15th c) · Yoruba (Ifè)
Yoruba city producing hyper-naturalistic brass heads and potsherd pavements with unique locally-made High-Lime glass beads.
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953 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.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Yoruba Early/Middle Period (1st mill.–16th c; classical 12th–15th c) · Yoruba (Ifè)
Yoruba city producing hyper-naturalistic brass heads and potsherd pavements with unique locally-made High-Lime glass beads.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Rock art
Eneolithic to Early Bronze Age · Sredny Stog, Yamnaya
East plateau of Kamyana Mohyla with 18 grottoes, Eneolithic stag and foot-sole pecked slabs.
🇺🇸 United States · Geoglyph
Late Prehistoric (Patayan II–III) · Patayan / Hakataya (Yuman)
9+ Patayan intaglios (880 BP–1500 CE) on La Posa Plain north of Bouse — Colorado River style.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient village
Chalcolithic Ahar-Banas 3000–1500 BCE → Early Historic 500 BCE–300 CE · Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic → Northern Black Polished Ware Historic
Key Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic village-town (c.3000–1500 BCE) near Vallabhnagar northeast of Udaipur — under 2 ha mound with 7 seasons excavation 1993–2000 by V.N. Misra et al. (Deccan College).
🇨🇴 Colombia · Ancient city
Late Intermediate Tairona 700–1600 CE (Tairona peak 1000–1500) · Tairona (Tairona-Buritaca, ancestors of Kogi / Arhuaco / Wiwa indigenous groups)
Tairona capital city (700–1600 CE) of Sierra Nevada: 184 stone-terraced bases (circular 10 m rings), elevated paved staircases (1,200 steps climb), retaining walls, aqueduct and burial terraces…
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Archaeological wonder
Lower Paleolithic 800–500 ka (Acheulean-like) · Acheulean-like (An Khê culture, Homo erectus)
Early Paleolithic settlement (c.800,000–500,000 BP) at An Khê valley, Gia Lai — oldest Paleolithic site in Vietnam and Southeast Asia outside Java, discovered 2014 by Vietnamese–Russian Nishcheta…
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Archaeological wonder
Iron Age Funan precursor 500 BCE–200 CE → Funan–Chenla · Mekong Iron Age (Prohear) → Funan (proto-Khmer)
Iron Age mass burial and settlement terrace (c.500 BCE–200 CE) at Prohear in Prey Veng near Mekong, southern Cambodia — circular mound 0.8 ha excavated 2008–11 by Andreas Reinecke (German–Cambodian)…
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates · Archaeological wonder
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age (Hafit, 3200–2600 BCE) · Hafit (early eastern Arabian pastoral)
14 Hafit piedmont kites (3200–2600 BCE) interlocked with beehive tombs — Al Ain UNESCO landscape.
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Ancient village
Đồng Đậu culture 1500–1200 BCE (Phùng Nguyên → Đồng Đậu → Gò Mun → Dong Son) · Phùng Nguyên succession (Vietic Red River) → Dong Son ancestor
Red River Phùng Nguyên succession site (c.1800–1200 BCE, Đồng Đậu culture 1500–1200) northwest of Hanoi — type-site for Đồng Đậu culture (Bùi Vinh's Phùng Nguyên → Đồng Đậu → Gò Mun sequence)…
🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph
Late Intermediate Cabuza-San Miguel · Arica (Cabuza, Maytas-Chiribaya)
45+ Lluta Valley terrace geoglyphs (700-1300 CE) facing valley floor, bridging Azapa and Tarapaca traditions.
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Ancient village
Early Bronze Age Phung Nguyen 2000–1500 BCE · Phung Nguyen culture — Red River early bronze (type-site)
Phu Tho Phung Nguyen Hill — type-site of Phung Nguyen culture (2000–1500 BCE, Vietnam's earliest Bronze Age) on Hong River hill 10 km Viet Tri, 60 km NW Hanoi, excavated 1961 by Hoang Van Khoan (then…
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art
Palaeolithic to Early Bronze · Afanasievo, Chemurchek, Okunev
South overhang 180 m south of cave with Afanasievo exterior petroglyphs on talus.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate · Wari / Chuquibamba
18 geometric and zoomorphic cleared geoglyphs (800–1200 CE) on La Caldera pampa south of Toro Muerto.
🇷🇺 Russia · Kurgan
Early Iron Age (Chuya Pazyryk / Saka) · Pazyryk-derived Chuya steppe
Chuya intermontane basin floor (1,750 m, 49°55′N 88°30′E 49.92,88.50 tectonic depression, Chuya River) dense kurgan necropolis on dry steppe: 35 mounds 6-32 m diameter (1760 m at Tydtuyaryk…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient village
Chalcolithic Kayatha 2400–1700 BCE → Malwa 1700–1500 → Early Historic · Kayatha Chalcolithic → Ahar → Malwa → Sunga-Kushan-Gupta
Type-site of Malwa Kayatha Chalcolithic culture (2400–1700 BCE) on Choti Kali Sindh — earliest farming village in Malwa with five-period stratigraphy.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Zhaobaogou 5400–4500 BCE → Hongshan 4700–2900 → Lower Xiajiadian · Zhaobaogou (Liao Neolithic, post-Xinglongwa)
Type-site for Zhaobaogou culture (c.5400–4500 BCE, post-Xinglongwa) on the Aohan plain adjacent to Xinglongwa near Chifeng — 1.5 ha village with 18 pit houses and rich artistic pottery, excavated…
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Early Intermediate (Huarpa–Early Wari) · Huarpa / Rancha–Huarpa transition
18+ high-puna (3,200 m) trapezoids and zoomorphs (200 BCE–600 CE) linking Nazca to Wari highlands.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sassanian (Shapur I) on Achaemenid · Sassanian Persian with Roman POW labour
Northern Shushtar (65 m, 32°03′N 48°51′E 32.05,48.85) hydraulic extension of UNESCO 1315 Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System (1315): Band-e Gar (Gar Dam) and Dariun Great Weir interconnect canal…
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Rock art
Early Bronze Age · Catacomb (Katakombnaya)
North gully 350 m north of Kamyana Mohyla with Catacomb geometric masks and wagon panels.
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Ancient village
Iron Age Sa Huynh 1000 BCE–200 CE Iron Age coastal · Sa Huynh — Truong Son coastal Iron Age (Cham pre-culture)
Truong Son Sa Huynh Site — Sa Huynh culture type locality edge (1000 BCE–200 CE, Iron Age coastal Vietnam) on South China Sea dunes at Sa Huynh 50 km S Quang Ngai, foothill of Truong Son (Annamite…
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Temple complex
Pre-Aksumite Ethio-Sabaean (D'MT) Early South Arabian to Aksumite (800 BCE–500 CE) · Ethio-Sabaean (D'MT; South Arabian migrants + Tigrayan)
Africa's oldest standing building – 14 m high 700 BCE Sabaean Almaqah temple intact with dry-jointed ashlar sandstone.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Archaeological wonder
Middle Bronze Age · Pennine Bronze Age (Stanwick-related)
Upland blanket-peat trackway (295 m asl, 54°48′36″N 02°26′24″W 54.81,-2.44 Alston Moor) on Cross Fell mire, North Pennines 890 m dome, rare high Pennine example at 295 m (not wetland fen but…
🇨🇴 Colombia · Archaeological wonder
Regional Classic 1–900 CE (Early 1–300, Middle 300–800, Late 800–900) · Agustinian (San Agustín culture, undetermined linguistic affiliation, Colombian massif)
Largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in Latin America: 500+ monumental tombs, volcanic tuff statues (5.5 m ‘Double of San Agustín’ double-figure, Eagle devouring snakes),…
🇹🇭 Thailand · Cave
Upper Paleolithic 18,000 BP → Hoabinhian 10,000–5500 BP → Neolithic 5300 BP pottery · Hoabinhian Tenasserim Shan Hills — Spirit Cave foragers (Tham Lod Rockshelter)
Spirit Cave Mae Hong Son — Hoabinhian rock shelter (18,000–5500 BP, Tham Lod Rockshelter) in Shan Hills karst at Pang Mapha 110 km N Mae Hong Son, excavated 1966 by C. Gorman (Univ.