🇨🇳 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.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Kangjiashimenzi Rock Art - Tianshan Corridor
Bronze Age c.1500–1000 BCE · Eurasian Steppe (Andronovo-Cherkaskul?)
Kangjiashimenzi – Bronze Age (c.1500–1000 BCE) 120m-long reddish sandstone cliff with 300+ dancing ithyphallic figures linked to shamanic fertility ritual.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Mogao Caves (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas)
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan 366–1368 CE (peak Tang 618–907) · Multi-ethnic Buddhist (Han, Tibetan, Uyghur, Sogdian)
492 temple caves on 1.7 km Mingsha cliff with 2,000 painted sculptures and 45,000 m² murals spanning 366–1368 CE (Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan).
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Rock art
Chilas Rock Inscriptions — Upper Indus
Maurya? Kharosthi to Islamic (300 BCE–1700 CE, peak Sogdian 5th–9th c. Silk Road) · Dardic Chilasi plus Indian, Persian, Sogdian, Chinese, Tibetan travelers (Silk Road)
30,000 inscriptions in 12 scripts 300 BCE–1700 CE on Indus granodiorite, Silk Road epigraphy archive threatened by Diamer dam.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Turpan Karez Extension (Flaming Mountains North Piedmont)
Imperial Chinese (Ming-Qing) on Han antecedent · Turpan Uyghur / Han frontier
Eastern extension (30 m asl, 42°57′04″N 89°11′22″E Turpan municipal 42.9512,89.1895; Flaming Mountains 100 km E-W 42.98,89.20 500-850 m) of Turpan-Hami Silk Road karez water system UNESCO 1442 Silk…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Binglingsi Upper Grottoes — Liujia Gorge Yellow River Cliffs
Sixteen Kingdoms to Ming · Western Qin, Northern Wei, Western Xia, Tibetan, Ming
Liujia Gorge 27-m Tang Maitreya and 420 CE Western Qin mandala caves above Yellow River reservoir, 183 caves.
🇬🇪 Georgia · Ancient city
Armaztsikhe and Bagineti — Armazi, Capital of Iberia
Hellenistic Iberia to Early Medieval (4th c. BCE–8th c. CE; peak 1st–4th c. CE) · Kartvelian Iberian (Eastern Georgian) → Hellenistic influence → Roman client → Sasanian interlude → early Christian
Iberian kingdom capitals — Bagineti acropolis and Aramaic bilingual city across Kura gorge.
🇦🇲 Armenia · Ancient city
Dvin — Ancient Capital of Armenia
Late Antiquity to Medieval (4th–13th century; peak 7th–10th) · Arsacid Armenia → Sasanian marzpan → Arab Dabil emirate → Bagratuni → Seljuk
100 ha medieval Silk Road capital — trilobed palace, glazed-market vault and ceramic aqueduct.
🇨🇳 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.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kizil Caves — Western Valley Extension (Western Kizil)
Early Medieval Central Asian (Tocharian B) · Tocharian Buddhist (Kucha Kingdom) with Gandhara influence
Kucha Tocharian western 42-cave valley 400–700 CE diamond ceilings and lapis blue, German-removal archive.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Maijishan Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang ~384–907 CE · Chinese Buddhist Northern Dynasties
Stacked-cliff wheat-plant-shaped grotto city with 7,200 sculptures on bolted plank galleries.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Mogao Northern Caves — Dunhuang Oasis North Cliff Monastic Cells
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (366 – 1368 CE) northern cells 960–1300 · Buddhist monastic Dunhuang oasis international
North cliff austere monastic cells 1000–1300 CE opposite southern painted scripture halls.