🇱🇾 Libya · Necropolis
Theuchira (Tocra) North Necropolis
Greek to Late Antique (7th c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Greek (Cyrenean) / Roman
Quarry-necropolis north of Tocra with 120 chamber tombs.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bingling (Binglingsi) Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Ming ~420–1644 CE · Northwestern Chinese Buddhist (Western Qin to Tibetan)
Yellow River cliff grotto accessible only by boat, bearing China's earliest dated 420 CE inscription.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Elephanta Caves
Late Gupta to Early Chalukya 5th–8th century CE · Hindu (Shaiva) and Buddhist under Kalachuri/Chalukya patronage
Rock-cut Shaiva cave complex on Elephanta Island with colossal Trimurti sculpture, 5th–8th c. CE.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Ephesus and Temple of Artemis
Archaeic Greek to Roman Imperial 10th c. BCE–3rd c. CE, Artemision 550 BCE · Greek Ionian then Roman
Roman Asian capital with Artemis Wonder remnant and Library of Celsus.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Numlulis (Henchir el-Maabda)
Roman (1st c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman-Christian
Cliffside municipium with mausolea and nymphaeum over waterhole.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Pomoná
Maya Late Classic 600–900 CE · Maya (Pomoná Pacbul?)
Hill-terraced Maya port with Palenque war record, 600–900 CE.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saimaluu-Tash West Lake Shelf Petroglyphs
Saka to Qarakhanid · Saka, Wusun, Qarakhanid
Lake-margin boulder bar at the tarn below Saimaluu-Tash West cirque, a 400-m shoreline shelf with 180 panels on glacially-rafted quartzite.
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Ise Grand Shrine (Ise Jingu)
Yayoi legend 4 BCE; historically Asuka period c.692 CE, rebuilt every 20 years · Yamato / Shinto (Japanese imperial)
Shinto's holiest shrine complex (founding legend 4 BCE, attested 692 CE) in primeval cryptomeria forest, dedicated to Amaterasu Ōmikami (Naikū) and Toyouke (Gekū).
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments
Pallava dynasty 630–700 CE · Hindu (Shaiva) under Pallava
Pallava seaside rock-cut trials: Shore Temple surviving tsunami and 27-m bas relief.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Pergamon Acropolis
Hellenistic to Roman 283 BCE–3rd c. CE · Greek (Attalid) and Roman
Attalid citadel with world's steepest theater and Altar of Zeus frieze.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Yungang Western Cliffs — Datong Grottoes West End Caves
Northern Wei to Liao (453 – 525 CE peak) · Buddhist Tanyao imperial under Emperor Wencheng
Western 5 caves 40–45 with Tanyao Buddhas 15 m of Northern Wei Pingcheng capital.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Capsa (Gafsa) – Fossatum Oasis City
Capsian Mesolithic / Numidian / Roman / Byzantine · Capsian then Numidian / Roman
Artesian oasis pools of Roman Capsa, type-site of Capsian Mesolithic.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple
Unified Silla 751 CE (King Gyeongdeok reign) · Silla Korean Buddhist (Hwaeom)
Silla artificial cave-shrine (751 CE) on Tohamsan summit, commissioned by Kim Dae-seong, housing 3.48 m granite Vairocana surrounded by 40 meticulously sculpted bodhisattvas and guardians in 3.6 m…
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Thimisica (Henchir Mehonine)
Roman (1st c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman
Road town between Mejez el-Bab and Beja with porticoed forum and fort.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Tiryns
Mycenaean 1600–1100 BCE, acme 1300–1200 BCE · Mycenaean
Cyclopean citadel with earliest vaulted galleries in Europe and megaron palace.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
El Palmar
Maya Classic 250–900 CE · Maya (El Palmar dynasty)
Ridge-top Maya capital revealing Copán–Calakmul dynastic marriage, 250–900 CE.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Sanxingdui Archaeological Site
Shu Culture 1200–1000 BCE (Sanxingdui period III) · Shu (Sichuan Basin, non-Han?)
Shu Kingdom sacrificial pits (1200–1000 BCE) revealed 1929 and sensationally 1986 with two pits of bronzes unlike Anyang Shang: 2.6 m bronze standing figure, mask with 132 cm protruding eyes, and…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient village
Yoshinogari Site
Yayoi period 400 BCE–300 CE (peak 1st–3rd c CE) · Yayoi (Kyushu farmer, Korean peninsula immigrants)
Largest Yayoi (400 BCE–300 CE) moated village and chiefdom at Yoshinogari hills, 40 ha inner enclosure within 117 ha, with outer moat 2.5 km, watchtowers, raised-floor granary precinct, and king's…
🇷🇺 Russia · Rock art
Kalbak-Tash Chuya Confluence — Katun Mouth Petroglyphs
Neolithic to Turkic to Historic (3000 BCE – 1900 CE) · Afanasievo to Karakol to Turkic to Russian surveyors
Confluence outcrops with elk and runic at sacred Two Rivers junction.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Ancient city
Phu Khao Thong
Late Iron Age port (c.400 BCE–200 CE, bead industry 200 BCE) · Indian Ocean bead-trading port companion to Khao Sam Kaeo
Western Kra Isthmus bead port (400 BCE–200 CE) — Tamil-Brahmi sherds and rouletted ware at Ranong.
🇮🇹 Italy · Temple complex
Selinunte Archaeological Park
Archaeic-Classical 651–409 BCE · Greek (Megaran colonists)
Largest Greek archaeological park with colossal unfinished Temple G.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Hagia Sophia
Late Antiquity / Byzantine 532–537 CE, Ottoman additions 1453– · Byzantine Greek to Ottoman Islamic
Justinian's 537 CE dome on pendentives – seminal Byzantine basilica-monsoon turned mosque.
🇫🇲 Federated States of Micronesia · Ancient city
Lelu Ruins (Leluh)
Lelu Phase 1250–1852 CE (peak 1400–1600) · Kosraean (Leluh dynasty)
Kosraean megalithic city (1250–1852 CE) on Lelu islet off Kosrae with 27 ha double-walled enclosure, 20+ compounds bounded by 4–6 m high prismatic basalt sea walls and tidal canals mirroring Nan…
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur
Chola 1003–1010 CE · Hindu (Shaiva, Tamil Chola)
Chola granite imperial vimana 66 m still tallest pre-modern; capstone ramp mystery.