🇹🇷 Turkey · Fortress
Toprakkale (Rusahinili)
Urartian (735–714 BCE) · Urartian (Rusa I)
Urartian (735–714 BCE) fortress of Urartian (Rusa I) in Van Province, Van Plain (c.735 BCE).
🇵🇱 Poland · Buried city
Jomsborg – Legendary Viking Harbour Fortress of the Jomsvikings
Viking Age (960–1043 CE) · Norse Jomsviking / Slavic (hypothesized)
Jomsviking fortress harbour c. 960 — saga stone arch over Dziwna channel for 30 ships; 90 m Srebrna Góra earthwork proved natural dune (hypothetical).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Fortress
Meydancıkkale (Kirshu)
Iron Age to Hellenistic (c.800–100 BCE) · Neo-Assyrian → Neo-Babylonian → Achaemenid
Babylonian-Persian mountain fortress Kirshu on Taurus spur with palace terraces and 30 m tunnel.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Fortress
Berkut-Kala
Kushan (100 BCE–300 CE) → Afrighid Khwarazm (400–800 CE) → abandon desertification · Khwarazmian (Kushan–Afrighid) with Bactrian influence
Kushan–Afrighid desert fortress town (c.100 BCE–800 CE) in the Berkut-Kala oasis on the northern Amu Darya delta near Ellikkala — 8 ha square fortified palace with 2 km wall (Afrighid Khwarazmian)…
🇩🇪 Germany · Fortress
Gross Raden
Early Medieval Slavic 850–1000 (Warnower–Obotrite) · Slavic Warnower/Obotrite (Mecklenburg pagan lake temple)
Gross Raden (Groß Raden Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum) — Slavic island temple-fort (9th–10th c, Slavic rondel 9th c, peak 900–1000) on Rader See lake island 8 km north Sternberg, Mecklenburg lake…
🇪🇨 Ecuador · Fortress
Rumicucho
Late Horizon Inca (c.1480–1534 CE) – Yumbo anterior occupation · Inca – Yumbo (pre-Inca)
Rumicucho (Kichwa rumi stone + cucho corner/hill) is the northernmost Inca fortress-temple of Pichincha, 13 km north of Quito at Mitad del Mundo (Equator monument zone) at 2,420 m.
🇵🇪 Peru · Fortress
Acaray Fortress
Late Intermediate – Late Horizon (c.900–1470 CE) Huaura – Chancay – Inca · Huaura – Chancay (Coastal)
Acaray (often misattributed as 'Inca fortress') crowns a tabular hill 6 km inland in the lower Huaura Valley, Lima, at 250 m.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Gath (Tell es-Safi) – Philistine Capital Harbour Inland Port
Early Bronze to Judahite (c. 3000 – 600 BCE) · Canaanite / Philistine / Judahite / Assyrian
Philistine Goliath capital – Elah canal port 2 km north silted at –1 m – Philistine Bichrome harbour mud.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Sesebi Temple-Fortress (Akhenaten)
Amarna to post-Amarna New Kingdom to Napatan · Egyptian (Amarna) / Kushite
Akhenaten’s fortified Nubian temple town c.1350 BCE at Sesebi — walled 200×250 m with four temples and external Napatan mini-pyramids.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Fortress
Kyzyl-Kala (Qyzyl Qala)
Kushan–Afrighid 300–800 CE → Islamic 800–1300 CE · Khwarazmian (Kangju–Afrighid) → Islamic Khwarazm
Afrighid–Early Islamic desert fortress (c.300 BCE–1200 CE) on the Sultan Uvays piedmont near Ellikkala — compact square fort (90×80 m) with unique corrugated mudbrick façade (vertical ribs) and…
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Marcahuamachuco
Early Intermediate to Middle Horizon (400 – 800 CE) · Huamachuco / Wari-related
Marcahuamachuco in La Libertad, Peru is a Early Intermediate to Middle Horizon (400 – 800 CE) ancient city attributed to Huamachuco / Wari-related culture.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Fortress
Stavgard
Migration Period → Vendel 400–800 Gotland · Gotlandic Iron Age (Gutar, East Scandinavian)
Stavgard — Gotlandic ringfort (Migrations–Vendel Period 400–800 CE, with Iron Age reuse) on Stavgard farm ridge, Burs parish, southeastern Gotland, 35 km southeast Visby.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Cantona Pyramid — Acropolis South (Puebla)
Classic to Epiclassic · Cantona culture (highland central Mexico)
High-altitude lava-block pyramid city at Cantona — 15 m acropolis pyramid at 2550 m c.600 CE with 24 ball courts and walled lava causeways.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Buhen Fortress — Great Walled Town
Old Kingdom precursors; Middle Kingdom–New Kingdom · Ancient Egyptian
Southernmost bastion of Egyptian 12th Dynasty canal road, first founded as Old Kingdom copper smelting settlement (2500 BCE) then rebuilt by Senusret I and massively expanded by Senusret III as…
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Dalverzin Tepe Surkhandarya
Greco-Bactrian 3rd c BCE → Kushan 1st–3rd c CE · Greco-Bactrian → Kushan Bactria
Dalverzin Tepe Surkhandarya — Greco-Bactrian → Kushan fortified city (3rd c BCE–3rd c CE) on Surkhandarya plain 30 km NE Denau, excavated 1960s–80s by G.A. Pugachenkova and Turgunov (Uzbek).
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Iximché Twin Pyramids (Cuauhtemallan)
Maya Postclassic Contact · Maya Kaqchikel
Kaqchikel capital Iximché (1470–1524 CE): hilltop twin-pyramid plazas Temple 2 10 m with ballcourt and 40 m ravine defences, first Spanish capital of Guatemala 1524.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Masada — Desert Fortress of Herod
Hasmonean to Roman (2nd c. BCE–73 CE; Herodian peak) · Hasmonean Jewish → Herodian (Idumaean-Jewish client of Rome) → Sicarii → Roman legion → Byzantine monks
Herod's 440 m mesa fortress over Dead Sea — hanging palaces, desert cisterns and preserved Roman siege ramp.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Fortress
Kafir-Kala
Hephthalite–Sogdian 5th–8th c CE → Samanid 9th–10th c · Sogdian Samarkand (Zarafshan) → Samanid
Kafir-Kala — Sogdian dihqan (landlord) fortress-palace (5th–8th c CE) 12 km SE Samarkand, Dargham canal, excavated 1970s–2000s Berdimuradov (Samarkand Institute).
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Mixco Viejo (Jilotepeque Viejo) Twin Pyramids
Maya Postclassic (Late Highland) · Maya Poqomam (or Chajoma-Kaqchikel debated)
Mountain fortress Mixco Viejo (Poqomam capital 1200–1525 CE): razor-ridge twin-pyramid complexes Group A 12 m with ballcourts, walls and baffled gates 200 m above ravines.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Mirgissa Fortress Nubia Harbour
Middle Kingdom · 12th Dynasty Egyptian
Mirgissa Fortress Nubia Harbour at Nubia, Mirgissa, Sudan is a Middle Kingdom ancient city of the 12th Dynasty Egyptian tradition, built c. 1850 BCE for huge fortress 100×80 m with harbour slipway.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Lower Meroe Temple East — Meroe (53-21)
Bronze Age (regional) · Bronze Age
Lower Meroe Temple East — Meroe (53-21) at Meroe, Sudan is a Bronze Age (regional) ancient city of the Bronze Age tradition, built c. 800 BCE for temple and associated settlement.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Zincirli Höyük (Samʾal)
Late Bronze–Neo-Assyrian (c.1600–700 BCE; Kilamuwa dynasty 9th c.) · Hittite → Aramaean Samaliyya → Assyrian province
Perfect circular Aramaean capital Samʾal with inner citadel (double-entry) and outer town 40 ha.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Altava (Ouled Mimoun) – Mauretanian Frontier
Roman to Vandal–Mauretanian Kingdom (1st c – 7th c CE) · Roman / Mauretanian–Berber kingdom of Altava
Most westerly Roman castrum in Algeria, Altava became 6th c Mauretanian kingdom capital of chieftain Masuna rex gentium Mauraorum, with Latin church inscriptions documenting Romano...
🇮🇹 Italy · Megalith
Su Nuraxi di Barumini
Bronze Age · Nuragic civilisation (Bronzo Medio/Recente)
UNESCO archetype nuraghe in central Sardinia — trilobate basalt tower with four bastions, tholos chambers and 55-hut village, 1500-1000 BCE.