🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kizil Caves (Bezeklik precursor)
Six Dynasties to Tang ~300–800 CE · Tocharian Kuchean Buddhist with Gandharan influence
Kucha's 236 lapis-blue Jataka caves - China's earliest Buddhist grottoes on the Silk Road.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) Rock Art
Pleistocene to Historic ~50 ka–present · Australian Aboriginal (Ngarluma, Yindjibarndi, Yaburara)
Million-engraving petroglyph province on Pilbara gabbro archipelago, 50 kyr continuous record.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Pachacamac Pyramids
Lima 200–600 → Wari → Ichma 1100–1470 → Inca 1470–1533 (pyramids Ichma period) · Lima → Wari → Ichma → Inca
Pan-Andean oracle sanctuary 200–1533 with 17 ramp pyramids (Huaca del Sol Inca? Not, Pachacamac pyramids): large stepped terraces with central ramp (Ichma style 1100–1470), Inca Temple of the Sun 30…
🇧🇷 Brazil · Rock art
Serra da Capivara Rock Art
Upper Paleolithic to early Holocene (~25,000 BCE – 2000 BCE disputed; art ~9000 BCE onward) · Paleoindian / early Nordeste tradition; Pedra Furada phase
Semiarid caatinga plateau with over 400 painted shelters bearing perhaps 30,000 figures, among the densest and most narrative rock-art landscapes in the Americas.
🇮🇷 Iran · Rock art
Dousheh Cave
Mesolithic to Bronze Age (c.8000–2000 BCE) · Zagros rock-art tradition (pre-pottery to Bronze)
Lorestan painted cave 40 m galleries (150+ black/red paintings, hunters/ibex, c.8–2 ka) in Kuhdasht.
🇮🇳 India · Rock art
Edakkal Caves
Neolithic to Iron Age (~6000 BCE – 1000 BCE; inscriptions to 1st century CE) · South Indian Neolithic to Iron Age; Sangam to Tamil-Brahmi
Natural cleft formed by a 4-m boulder bridging a rift in Ambukuthimala hill reveals Old Kannada petroglyphs: over 400 engravings of ibex-like 'Indus-style' jar, stickmen, Sun Plan wheels and a…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Heraion of Samos
Archaic to Roman ~900 BCE–300 CE · Samian Greek (Ionian)
Polycrates' 109 m giant Ionic Heraion - largest attempted Greek temple on Samos plain.
🇱🇧 Lebanon · Ancient city
Sidon
Neolithic to present (c.4000 BCE–present; Bronze Age city from 3000 BCE) · Canaanite / Phoenician / Persian / Hellenistic / Roman / Crusader / Ottoman
Third great Phoenician city-state, Sidon was famed for glassmaking, purple dye, and as mother-city of Tyre.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Tilmen Höyük (Tilmen Hoyuk)
EBA through Iron Age; MBA peak · Yamhad (Aleppo) vassal; Syro-Hittite → Assyrian
MBA palace city (Zalwar?) with basalt lion gate, cuneiform archive and planned lower town — Yamhad-period vassal capital in Islahiye corridor.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Ancient village
Ingoldisthorpe-Low Ancient Village
Neolithic (6000–3000 BCE) · Neolithic
Ingoldisthorpe-Low Ancient Village in Somerset, South West England, United Kingdom is a Neolithic (6000–3000 BCE) ancient village attributed to Neolithic culture.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Wadi Sora Cave of Swimmers
Early to Mid Holocene (6000–3000 BCE) · Saharan pastoral Neolithic (Gilf Kebir)
Wadi Sora (Wadi Sura) Cave of Swimmers (Cave II) in Gilf Kebir is Saharan pastoral rock art 6000–3000 BCE, famous for 1933 Almasy discovery of 'swimming' floating figures (actually swimming in wadi…
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Archaeological wonder
Olduvai Gorge — Cradle of Humankind
Early Pleistocene to Holocene (2.1 Ma–15 ka Beds I–V) · Paranthropus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus → Maasai
Olduvai Gorge is the 50 km Great Rift tributary gorge (48 m deep) exposing 2.1 Ma to 15 ka stratified sequence where Louis & Mary Leakey found Zinjanthropus (Paranthropus boisei 1.75 Ma), Homo…
🇷🇴 Romania · Tell
Pietrele Lower Levels — Gumelniţa–Codlea Tell
Boian to Gumelniţa A2 (5100–4100 BCE; lower 4600 BCE) · Boian → Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen
Danubian Gumelniţa basal 4600 BCE — graphite ware & copper lakeside village.
🇮🇳 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.
🇿🇦 South Africa · Cave
Rising Star Cave — Homo Naledi Chamber
Middle Pleistocene (335–236 ka Homo naledi deposition) · Homo naledi (small brain 460 cc)
Rising Star Cave system (20–30 m dolomite horizon, 3 km passages) yielded 1,550+ Homo naledi fossils (15 individuals) in Dinaledi Chamber (2013) and Lesedi Chamber (2015) by Berger.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Hydraulic works
Hydraulic System at Mine Hermitage
Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE) · Middle Bronze Age
Hydraulic System at Mine Hermitage in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea is a Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE) hydraulic attributed to Middle Bronze Age culture.
🇷🇴 Romania · Tell
Hârşova Insula Settlement — Danube Lower Settlement
Neolithic to Chalcolithic–Cernavodă (5500–3200 BCE; insula 5500–4300 BCE) · Hamangia → Boian → Gumelniţa → Cernavodă I–III
Danube insula Fisher village 5500 BCE — Hamangia-Gumelniţa 12 m tell lower.
🇨🇾 Cyprus · Submerged site
Salamis of Cyprus – Sunken Harbour at Ammochostos (Famagusta Bay)
Bronze Age to Late Roman (1180 BCE Enkomi-Salamis – 648 CE Arab sack) · Teucrid Greek / Cypriot / Persian / Hellenistic / Roman
Salamis Cypriot kingdom — 10 ha walled city whose 500 m mole at Pediaeus mouth now 1–2 m under Famagusta Bay.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Syene Granite Quarries
Old Kingdom to Roman (2700 BCE–500 CE; peak 1500–30 BCE) · Ancient Egyptian / Roman
Syene (Aswan) granite quarries are Old–Ptolemaic hardstone source producing 100-m-long unfinished obelisk of Hatshepsut (1,200 t) abandoned in bedrock crack, plus sarcophagi, colossi and pavements…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Hydraulic works
Valley of the Golden Mummies — Bahariya Oasis
Greco-Roman to Coptic (332 BCE–641 CE) · Greco-Roman Egyptian (Bahariya Oasite) / Coptic
Valley of the Golden Mummies is the 10 km Greco-Roman necropolis (332 BCE–641 CE) at Bahariya Oasis 380 km SW Cairo with 250 excavated tombs (10,000 est.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Earthwork
Desert Kites of Jordan and Syria
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Bronze Age (~7000–3000 BCE) · Neolithic–Chalcolithic hunter-pastoralist
Over 5,800 kite structures sprawl across the harraat basalt deserts of Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, each comprising two converging low walls up to 5 km long funneling gazelle herds into a stone…
🇮🇳 India · Earthwork
Earthworks of Wall Nagar
Chalcolithic (4500–3300 BCE) · Chalcolithic
Earthworks of Wall Nagar in Madhya Pradesh, India is a Chalcolithic (4500–3300 BCE) earthwork attributed to Chalcolithic culture.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Tepe Guran
Aceramic–Early Ceramic Neolithic (7100–5500 BCE) · Zagros Neolithic (Guran)
Aceramic–Early Ceramic Neolithic (7100–5500 BCE) Zagros Neolithic (Guran) tell at Lorestan Province, Hulailan Plain, Zagros – campsite-to-village neolithic sequence in zagros (dims Mound 8 m, Guran PHASES a–j).
🇴🇲 Oman · Hydraulic works
Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman
Iron Age (1000 BCE) to present · Omani, Iron Age to Islamic
Approximately 3,000 still-active aflaj (singular falaj) thread Oman, of which five exemplars — Daris, Al-Khatmeen, Al-Malki, Al-Jeela and Al-Muyassar — are inscribed.