🇮🇳 India · Ancient village
Hunsgi — Acheulean Factory
Acheulean (700k–200k BP) · Acheulean
Hunsgi — Acheulean Factory in Karnataka, Hunsgi valley, India is a Acheulean (700k–200k BP) ancient village attributed to Acheulean culture.
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Archaeological wonder
Noin-Ula Kurgans
Xiongnu Empire (~200 BCE – 100 CE) · Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu nomadic empire)
Forested ridge north of Ulaanbaatar concealing over 200 deep shaft-tombs (6–18 m deep) of the Xiongnu steppe empire that confronted Han China.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Archaeological wonder
Yesemek Quarry and Sculpture Workshop
Hittite Empire to Neo-Hittite (c.1375–800 BCE; main workshop 900–800 BCE) · Hittite / Neo-Hittite (Sam'al/Aramean patronage)
Largest Iron Age stone sculpture workshop in the Near East, Yesemek operated as Hittite (1375–1335 BCE) then Neo-Hittite quarry (900–800 BCE) with unfinished basalt sphinxes, lions, mountain gods and…
🇳🇴 Norway · Rock art
Alta Rock Art
Late Stone Age to Early Iron Age (~7000 BCE – 0 CE) · Finnmark hunter-gatherer/fisher to early Sami ancestors
Northern Europe's largest petroglyph field preserves some 6,000 carved figures along the Alta Fjord raised shorelines, tracking post-glacial rebound chronology.
🇵🇪 Peru · Archaeological wonder
Ancient City of Pediment Chapel
Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) · Classical
Ancient City of Pediment Chapel in Ancash, Peru is a Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) archaeological wonder attributed to Classical culture.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Marib Dam
Sabaean Kingdom, Early South Arabian (~1750 BCE – 570 CE) · Sabaean (South Arabian, Kingdom of Saba)
Earthfill diversion dam spanning the Wadi Adhanah and flanked by the limestone North and South Sluices with Sabaean monumental inscriptions.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Siega Verde Rock Art
Gravettian to Magdalenian ~20–11 ka BP · Upper Paleolithic Iberian
2 km open-air schist engravings paired with Côa Valley, 443 Paleolithic pecked figures.
🇱🇾 Libya · Rock art
Tadrart Acacus Rock Art
Early Holocene to Garamantian (~12,000 BCE – 100 CE) · Saharan hunter-gatherer to Pastoral Neolithic (Kel Essuf, Round Head, Pastoral)
150-km sandstone plateau on the Algerian border preserves thousands of paintings and engravings in styles paralleling nearby Tassili n'Ajjer: giant Kel Essuf headless figures, Round Head masked…
🇷🇺 Russia · Archaeological wonder
Arzhan Royal Kurgan
Early Scythian (~900–700 BCE) · Aldy-Bel / Arzhan (early Scythian–Siberian)
Enormous 120-m stone platform kurgan in the Uyuk depression, where archaeologists led by Gryaznov and later Chugunov uncovered a radial larch log mortuary house with central royal double burial and…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Banpo Archaeological Site
Yangshao Early–Middle 5000–3000 BCE · Yangshao (Banpo phase) / Yellow River millet farmers
Yangshao culture matriarchal agricultural village (4800–4300 BCE) on Chan River terrace east of Xi'an, 50,000 m² with preserved moat (deepest 6 m), 45 semi-subterranean pit-houses, 6 pottery kilns,…
🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Ditch-Newton Archaeological Complex
Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) · Ubaid
Ditch-Newton Archaeological Complex in Madhya Pradesh, India is a Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) archaeological wonder attributed to Ubaid culture.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Erlitou – Xia Capital
Early Bronze Age (~1900–1500 BCE; Xia to early Shang) · Erlitou ( Xia, early Bronze Age Chinese)
300-ha rammed-earth palace enclosure on the Luo River where 11,000 m² Palace No.1 and a bronze foundry document the transition from Longshan Neolithic to bronze kingship.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock art
Yazılıkaya Hittite Sanctuary
Late Bronze Age, Hittite Empire (~1300–1180 BCE; refurbished under Tudhaliya IV) · Hittite (Hatti–Hurrian)
Two natural limestone chambers behind Hattusa where 90 reliefs carved into living rock depict the Hurrian–Hittite pantheon procession: Chamber A shows 12 underworld gods, sword-god Nergal and the…
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Cussac Cave
Gravettian ~28–25 ka BP · Gravettian
Sealed 1.6 km Gravettian engraved gallery with 4 m bison and bear nests intact since 25 ka.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
El Castillo Cave
Mousterian to Magdalenian ~150–11 ka BP · Neanderthal then Aurignacian to Magdalenian
Monte Castillo reference sequence cave with 40 ka red disks and 150 kyr stratigraphy.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Helan Mountains Rock Art
Neolithic to Xixia (~4000 BCE – 1200 CE) · North Chinese pastoral–agricultural; Xiongnu, Xianbei, Tangut
20-km sandstone rift on the Helan fault scarp preserving over 10,000 petroglyphs from 6 major phases: masked faces 4 ka, northern hunter reindeer, Zhou chariots, Xiongnu horse archers and Tangut…
🇲🇲 Myanmar · Temple complex
Shwedagon Pagoda Yangon
Mon foundation legend 6th c. BCE; major form 14th–18th c. CE · Mon-Burmese Theravada Buddhist
Shwedagon Zedi Daw – 112m gilded stupa encrusted with 60 tonnes of gold leaf and 5,448 diamonds (76-carat crown), enshrining hairs of Gautama and relics of three prior Buddhas.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly III — Karatau Ridge Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Turkic (1400 BCE – 900 CE) · Andronovo to Saka-Scythian to Turkic, Chu valley pastoralists
Karatau outlier with 120+ sun-head and deer panels on basalt knolls SW of main gorge.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly-Tas II Ili River Bend North Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Oirat · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun, Oirat
North river-bend schist slabs at the Kurta confluence on the Ili, 1.2 km north of the main Tamgaly-Tas Buddha, comprising 90 panels on flood-scoured boulders and low cliff.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Cuicul Extramural Quarter (Djemila Outskirts)
Roman (1st–6th c. CE) · Roman (Numidia)
Southern suburb of Cuicul beyond Severan Arch with fullery and funerary basilica.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Les Combarelles Cave
Mid–Late Magdalenian ~14–12 ka BP · Magdalenian
Dense 600-figure engraved gallery opposite Font-de-Gaume, core Magdalenian engraving reference.
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Ancient city
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm
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…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Earthwork
Silbury Hill
Late Neolithic 2400–2300 BCE · Late Neolithic Britons (Grooved Ware)
Europe's tallest prehistoric mound – 39-m artificial hill with unknown purpose.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Panaramitee Engraved Rock Art
Pleistocene to Holocene (c.45,000 BCE–present; classic Panaramitee tradition) · Aboriginal Australian (Adnyamathanha, etc)
Panaramitee – pan-continental pecking tradition (Panaramitee style) of classic circle, dot, crescent, track and line motifs on desert varnished rocks; type site Panaramitee Station South Australia.