🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Yinshan West Wulashan Rock Art
Bronze Age to Early Medieval · Ordos, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic (Yinshan frontier)
West mesa of Wulashan with naturalistic tiger and chariot rut petroglyphs.
🇮🇸 Iceland · Archaeological wonder
Mid-Atlantic Ridge Atlantis Claim – Steiner Ridge Pseudo
Pseudoarchaeology 1882–1972 (Donnelly 12,000 BCE isthmus claim) · Donnelly–Steiner–Berlitz ridge
Mid-ocean ridge Atlantis causeway myth — 45N 28W mid-ridge claimed as intercontinental Atlantis isthmus vs 1 Ma basalt.
🇯🇵 Japan · Megalith
Oshoro
Jomon Mid–Late 2500–1800 BCE (Hokkaido) · Jomon Hokkaido (Oshima–Shakotan)
Hokkaido Jomon stone circle (2500–1800 BCE) at Oshoro Otaru — 30 m with 47 boulders and Fusen rock art above Oshoro Bay.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Tepe Narenj (Narenj Hill)
Hephthalite 5–6 c. → Turk Shahi 7–8 c. · Late Gandhara–Hephthalite Buddhist (Kabul school stucco)
Kabul 5–6 c. Buddhist monastery on Narenj Hill above Qol lake — stucco king-bodhisattva and 5 stupas, Turk Shahi Buddhism.
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Asukadera (Hōkō-ji)
Asuka 593–710 CE (Suiko–Jomei) · Asuka Buddhist (Baekje immigrant artisan school → Japanese)
Asukadera (Hōkō-ji) — first full Buddhist temple in Japan (596 CE) at Asuka, founded by Soga no Umako with immigrant Baekje artisans (Koreans) per Nihon Shoki.
🇲🇽 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…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient village
Atranjikhera
OCP 1200 → PGW 1100–600 → NBPW 600–300 BCE · Upper Gangetic OCP → PGW → NBPW (Gangetic Iron Age)
Atranjikhera — PGW–NBPW stratigraphic type-site (1200 BCE–300 BCE) on Kali Nadi near Etah, excavated 1962–69 by R.C. Gaur (AMU).
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Konye-Urgench (Kunya-Urgench)
Achaemenid 5th c BCE → Khwarezmshahs 11th–13th c CE → Golden Horde · Khwarezmian → Seljuk → Khwarezmshahs → Mongol
Konye-Urgench — capital of Khwarezm (Achaemenid–Golden Horde, 5th c BCE–17th c CE) 35 km south Uzbekistan border, excavated 1930s Tolstov and 1990s Berlin.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Archaeological wonder
Maitland North Mesa Kites (Northern Qasr Usaykhim Plain)
Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic · Badia Chalcolithic with Azraq Jawa interaction
Maitland north plain: 6 small family-size kites on Azraq gravel plain 6 km north of mesa.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Varakhsha
Sogdian–Hephthalite 4th–8th c CE (Bukhara Khudats) · Sogdian Bukhara (Zeravshan oasis) → Early Islamic
Varakhsha — palace-city of Bukhara Khudats (4th–8th c CE) 40 km west Bukhara, excavated 1937–58 Shishkin and Tolstov.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Archaeological wonder
Ulugbek Observatory
Timurid 1420–1449 · Timurid / Islamic Golden Age science
Timurid astronomical observatory (1420–1429) built by Muhammad Taragay Ulugbek, grandson of Timur, housing 40 m radius sextant embedded in 30 m hill-rock and 11 m underground to measure solar…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Odai Yamamoto I Site
Incipient Jomon (15000–10000 BCE) → Initial Jomon (10000–6000 BCE) · Incipient–Initial Jomon (Tsugaru)
Initial Jomon (Incipient) settlement (c.15000–13000 BCE) at Sotogahama, Tsugaru Peninsula — 0.7 ha terrace with earliest pottery in Japan (Odai Yamamoto I pottery, 16500 cal BP via AMS), ground…
🇬🇷 Greece · Archaeological wonder
Inner Delphi Settlement Central — Delphi (60-46)
Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age
Inner Delphi Settlement Central — Delphi (60-46) at Delphi, Greece is a Iron Age (regional) archaeological wonder of the Iron Age tradition, built c. 400 BCE for settlement and associated settlement.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Archaeological wonder
New Hattusa Fortress Outer — Hattusa (60-23)
Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age
New Hattusa Fortress Outer — Hattusa (60-23) at Hattusa, Turkey is a Iron Age (regional) archaeological wonder of the Iron Age tradition, built c. 1200 BCE for fortress and associated settlement.
🇹🇷 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.
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Archaeological wonder
Inner Angkor Sanctuary A — Angkor (60-17)
Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age
Inner Angkor Sanctuary A — Angkor (60-17) at Angkor, Cambodia is a Iron Age (regional) archaeological wonder of the Iron Age tradition, built c. 1200 BCE for sanctuary 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…
🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph
Alto Ramírez Cerro Tatara Geoglyphs (Tatara Hillside Panels)
Formative (400 BCE–650 CE) · Alto Ramírez
Steep 18° north-facing hillside on Cerro Tatara promontory at km 55, commanding 6 km Lluta floodplain view.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient city
Zilis (Asilah)
Mauretanian to Late Roman (4th c BCE–7th c CE; peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Mauri / Phoenician / Roman
Augustan Atlantic colonia Zilis (Asilah) with purple-dye garum ceti.
🇱🇧 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,…
🇴🇲 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.
🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Rakhigarhi Indus Mega-City
Pre-Harappan to Mature Harappan to Late (~6500–1900 BCE; urban peak 2600–1900 BCE) · Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan, Hakra–Ghaggar)
Spread across seven mounds over 550 ha, Rakhigarhi surpasses Mohenjo-daro as the largest Harappan settlement, straddling the dried Ghaggar (Saraswati) river.
🇩🇿 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…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Archaeological wonder
Naachtun
Maya Classic 150–950 CE · Maya (Naachtun/Masuul and K'an affiliation)
Strategic Classic Maya city between Tikal and Calakmul, 150–950 CE.