🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Temple of Poseidon at Sounion
Classical High 444–440 BCE · Athenian Greek
Pericles' white cliff-top Poseidon temple guarding Attica's maritime gateway.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Xochicalco – Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl
Epiclassic Mesoamerica 650–900 CE · Post-Teotihuacan Central Mexican (Xochicalco–Cacaxtla sphere, Maya artists?)
Epiclassic hilltop city 650–900 CE after Teotihuacan fall: leveled ridge with 9-m high Quetzalcoatl Pyramid covered 360° with exquisitely carved plumed serpent panels intertwined with seated Maya…
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Borobudur Temple Compounds
Mataram Sailendra c.780–830 CE · Central Javanese Buddhist (Sailendra/Mataram)
Mahayana Buddhist mandala-mountain (c.775–825 CE) of Sailendra/early Mataram, 34.5 m high terraced pyramid with 2,672 relief panels (longest Buddhist narrative reliefs 2.5 km) and 504 Buddha statues.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Philae Temple Complex
Late Period to Roman (380 BCE–452 CE demotic last text; Isis cult active to Justinian 550 CE closure) · Egyptian Late Period / Ptolemaic / Roman
Island temple ensemble dedicated chiefly to Isis, built from 30th Dynasty to Roman (380 BCE–117 CE): Isis main temple, Birth House (mammisi), Kiosk of Trajan (renowned photographer kiosk), Gate of…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat Mound of Tell al-Hiba (Lagash — Ibgal)
Early Dynastic to Ur III · Sumerian (Lagash dynasty)
Early Dynastic temple platform ziggurat Ibgal of Inanna at Lagash (Tell al-Hiba) — 40×30 m platform c.2500 BCE, precursor to classic Ur ziggurat.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria
Hellenistic Ptolemaic 297–280 BCE · Greek (Ptolemaic Alexandria)
100-m Ptolemaic lighthouse wonder whose lantern guided ancient Mediterranean.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Knidos Apollo Temple — Datça Peninsula Karne Island Sanctuary
Archaic Dorian to Hellenistic (600 BCE – 100 BCE) · Dorian Knidians with Triopian league
Apollo Karneios doric 6×11 on double-harbour terrace of Triopian Dorian expansion city.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Magnesia Stadium-Gymnasium — Artemis Leukophryene Athletic Annex
Hellenistic to Roman (220 BCE – 300 CE) · Ionian Magnesians under Hermogenes
190 m stadium and palaestra 500 m east of Leukophryene Artemis temple.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Monte Albán Ceremonial Platforms
Zapotec (Monte Albán I–V 500 BCE–850 CE) · Zapotec → Mixtec influence late
Zapotec capital on flattened ridge 2 km mountain leveled 500 BCE: Grand Plaza 300 × 200 m with North Platform (pyramid 7 m + temple) and South Platform 15 m pyramid; Building J arrow-shaped 6 m…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Stratonikeia Hekate Temple — Lagina Sanctuary of Hekate
Hellenistic to Roman (200 BCE – 250 CE) · Seleucid foundation to Rhodian to Roman Karian
Largest Hekate temple 8×11 with Gigantomachy frieze linked via 9 km Sacred Way to city.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Bhaja Caves
Shunga–Satavahana Early Buddhism · Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhist
One of India's earliest rock-cut Buddhist complexes (220 BCE–300 CE) on Sahyadri scarp above Indrayani River, with 22 caves.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Heraion of Perachora
Geometric to Classical ~750–300 BCE · Corinthian Greek
Corinth's cliff sanctuary of Hera on coastal lagoon with apsidal 750 BCE temple and cistern.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tiantishan Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms Northern Liang 412–439 · Northern Liang Buddhist (Xiongnu–Han)
Hexi Corridor prototype grottoes where Northern Liang Buddhism seeded Yungang's later scheme.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Udayagiri Caves, Vidisha
Gupta Classical Golden Age 320–550 CE · Brahminical Hindu (Vaishnava) with Jain retain
Gupta imperial rock-cut shrine cluster (4th–5th c. CE) on Vidisha sandstone ridge, 20 caves including Cave 5 — colossal 4 m monolithic Varaha (boar) avatar rescuing Bhudevi, symbolising Gupta king…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kizil Central Cave — Kuqa Muzat River Diamond Pattern Sanctuary
Eastern Han to Tang (200 – 800 CE) · Tocharian Buddhist Kucha with Gandhara influence
Central 30–80 of 339 Kizil caves with 3.2 m diamond-vault Buddha of Tocharian Kucha 3rd–8th c.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
El Mirador — South Group Second Site
Late Preclassic Mirador 300 BCE–150 CE · Maya (Preclassic Mirador Basin)
Southern satellite of Preclassic supersite: 18 m triadic pyramid and 1.8 m Ajaw stucco mask cache with causeway.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Khafajah
Late Uruk to Old Babylonian (c.3400–1700 BCE; peak Early Dynastic) · Uruk → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic (Akkadian/Sumerian Diyala) → Akkadian → Old Babylonian/Eshnunna
Diyala Sequence key town with 10-phase Sin Temple and Samsuiluna earthquake horizon.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Lambityeco
Classic Xoo 600–850 CE · Zapotec (Xoo phase, Late Classic)
Xoo-phase Zapotec salt palace with Cocijo friezes and tell de sal 140 m salt workshop for Monte Albán tribute.
🇲🇱 Mali · Temple complex
Great Mosque of Djenné
Medieval to Modern (13th c original; current 1907 reconstruction) · Sudano-Sahelian / Malian / French colonial restoration
World's largest mudbrick (banco) structure, Great Mosque of Djenné dominates island town: 56×56 m, 11 m high, three 34 m minarets with ostrich-egg pinnacles, toron wooden poles for annual…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Túcume Pyramids
Late Intermediate (Lambayeque 1000–1350 → Chimú 1350–1470 → Inca 1470–1532) · Lambayeque (Sicán) → Chimú → Inca
Valley of 26 adobe trunk-pyramids (1000–1532) on plain around eroded Cerro La Raya hill: Lambayeque/Sicán then Chimú then Inca 26 pyramids 12–25 m high (Huaca Larga 700 m long largest adobe pyramid…
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Borobudur
Medang Kingdom Sailendra 780–835 CE · Mahayana Buddhist under Sailendra dynasty central Java
World's largest Buddhist Mandala mountain with 72 latticed stupas.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Sicca Veneria (El Kef) – Numidian Cult Citadel
Numidian / Punic / Roman / Byzantine · Numidian / Roman
Cliff-top Venus cult city of Numidia–Rome, now kasbah-crowned El Kef.
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Ancient city
Penjikent (Ancient Panjakent)
Early Medieval Sogdian (5th–8th century CE) · Sogdian (easternmost Sogd)
Easternmost Sogdian Silk Road city — 13.5 ha frescoed shahristan with Rustam murals and Mount Mug letters.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Taşlı Tepe
PPNA · Taş Tepeler PPN
Tektek ridge domestic-ritual village showing everyday life behind Göbekli's monuments.