🇦🇿 Azerbaijan · Rock art
Gobustan Kichikdash South Petroglyphs
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age · Gobustan hunters, Kura-Araxes, Classical (Roman contact)
South slope of Kichikdash with 1100 boat and aurochs hunt cupule petroglyphs.
Search places, or jump to a section
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age · Gobustan hunters, Kura-Araxes, Classical (Roman contact)
South slope of Kichikdash with 1100 boat and aurochs hunt cupule petroglyphs.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Phoenician to Ottoman (1100 BCE–16th c; peak 2nd–4th c) · Phoenician / Punic / Roman / Early Christian / Islamic
Phoenician-tradition colonia under Sousse medina with 5.5 km catacombs, Virgil mosaic and Byzantine kasbah.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom, 12th–13th Dynasty, ~1800 BCE · Ancient Egyptian
Northern Mazghuna mudbrick pyramid, Dahshur south (c.1800 BCE), 52.5 m base, unfinished Sobekneferu candidate.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Early Classic to Epiclassic 600–1200 CE (apogee 800–1150, Veracruz Central tradition) · Classic Veracruz / Totonac (Gulf Coast, central Veracruz cultural tradition)
Classic Veracruz capital (600–1200 CE) famed for Pyramid of the Niches (365 niches – one per solar day – 18 m high with 365 + 7 step symbolism, seven-storey enclave temple), 17 ballcourts (most of…
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Sabaean Kingdom, Early South Arabian (~1750 BCE – 570 CE) · Sabaean (South Arabian, Kingdom of Saba)
Earthfill diversion dam spanning the Wadi Adhanah and flanked by the limestone North and South Sluices with Sabaean monumental inscriptions.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Achaemenid 6th c BCE to Timurid 18th c CE (Seljuk peak 11th–13th c) · Parthian / Seljuk / Timurid (Persian-Central Asian)
Four superimposed cities of Merv oasis on Murghab alluvium: Erk Kala Achaemenid citadel, Gyaur Kala Hellenistic-Parthian double-walled (Antiochia Margiana), Sultan Kala Seljuk capital (world's…
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Mature Harappan 2650–2100 BCE (with Early/Late phases 3500–1800 BCE) · Indus Valley / Harappan
Harappan metropolis (2650–2100 BCE) on Khadir island in Great Rann of Kutch, the fifth largest Harappan site covering 100 ha with citadel, middle and lower towns and monumental water management.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Parthian Arsacid 3rd c BCE–3rd c CE (peak 1st c BCE–1st c CE) · Parthian / Arsacid
Parthian ceremonial and administrative capital (3rd c BCE–3rd c CE) of two tells: Old Nisa (Mithridatkert fortress 14 ha with 43 towers, wine rhytons and ivory rhytons inscribed Arsacid) and New Nisa…
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Archaeological wonder
Formative to Tiwanaku Period 300–1000 CE (flourishing 500–950) · Tiwanaku Empire
Capital of Tiwanaku Empire (300–1000 CE) on Altiplano near Lake Titicaca at 3,850 m, featuring Akapana pyramid, Kalasasaya enclosure, and Gateway of the Sun carved from single andesite blocks…
🇪🇸 Spain · Hydraulic works
Roman Augustan (late Republic to early Principate) · Roman Tarraconensis (Tarraco Colonia)
217-m Augustan double-tier arcade (20 BCE–20 CE) 27 m high — Tarraco's Francolí aqueduct masterpiece.
🇩🇪 Germany · Ancient city
Viking Age (c.770–1066 CE) · Danish Viking (later German Ottonian)
Hedeby (Heiðabýr, 8th–11th century CE), on the Haddebyer Noor inlet at the base of the Jutland Peninsula, was the largest Viking Age emporium in Scandinavia, a 27-hectare semicircular…
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Hydraulic works
Najdi Emirate to First Saudi State · Najdi oasis (Diriyah Amirship)
Wadi Hanifah: 6 Najdi 15th-18th c. wadi dams at Diriyah UNESCO site, Riyadh 24.73N 46.57E.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Ancient city
Sogdian 6–8 c. → Karluks 8–9 c. → Qarakhanid 10–12 c. · Sogdian → Turkic Khaganate → Qarakhanid (Chu Silk Road)
Sogdian Navekat city (6–12 c. CE) at Krasnaya Rechka 18 km west Suyab — 20 ha shahristan with 3 m Buddha vs Suyab's khagan palace.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
New Kingdom to Third Intermediate/Napatan (1200–750 BCE) · Egyptian colonial and Kushite (Napatan)
Napatan rock-cut cemetery 3 km south Jebel Barkal (1200–750 BCE), pyramids 4–6 m base, rock tombs.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman (Trajanic to Byzantine; peak Severan 2nd–3rd c) · Roman / Berber / Christian
Mountain Roman ridge town at 900 m with Arch of Caracalla, Severan baths and finest polychrome mosaics.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Megalith
Bronze Age · Nordic Bronze Age (Bohuslän rock art tradition)
UNESCO Bohuslän rock art — 600 panels / 2500 pecked figures (ships, sun, ploughs) on granite, 1700–500 BCE.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Formative to Classic 500 BCE–850 CE (Monte Albán I–V; apogee IIIa 250–500 CE, IIIb–IV 500–850) · Zapotec (Beni Zaa); later Mixtec reuse
Zapotec capital on artificially levelled 400 m hilltop (6 km²) commanding Oaxaca Valley confluence: Main Plaza (300×150 m), South and North Platforms, Pyramid of the Dancers (Temple I) with Danzantes…
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Temple complex
Timurid 1389–1405 over Yasawi 12th c. · Timurid / Sufi Sunni
Colossal Timurid shrine (1389–1405) over 12th-c. Sufi poet Khoja Ahmed Yasawi's grave, commissioned by Timur to draw Islam to steppe, largest brick dome in Central Asia (44 m high, 22 m span) and…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Classic to Terminal Classic 600–1000 CE (apogee 800–950, Puuc apogee 850–925) · Maya (Puuc tradition, Northern Maya lowlands)
Greatest Puuc architectural city of northern Yucatán (600–950 CE) with veneer mosaic stonework, Puuc columns, Chac masks and lattice façades: Pyramid of the Magician (Adivino, 35 m high, oval…
🇬🇲 Gambia · Megalith
Late Iron Age to Medieval (750–1000 CE peak) · Serer–Wolof proto-Jola / Senegambian megalithic
Wassu is the Gambian component of UNESCO Senegambian Stone Circles (1226, 2006) — 11 megalithic circles (4.5–6 m Ø) with 1–2 m laterite pillars (cylindrical, dressed with iron wedge) enclosing burial…
🇯🇵 Japan · Megalith
Late Jomon 2000–1500 BCE · Jomon Late
Twin Late Jomon double-stone circles (2000–1500 BCE) — Manza (46 m dia) and Nonakado (42 m dia) placed either side of prefectural road at Oyu, Kazuno, each concentric with sundial-like 2.1 m central…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms → Qing 420–1911 · Buddhist (Hexi Silk Road)
Yellow River gorge sanctuary of 183 caves and 694 statues cut into 60 m yellow sandstone cliff above reservoir since 420 CE (Western Qin) to Qing, famous for 27 m Maitreya Buddha (Tang) carved from…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Early Kushite (El-Kurru phase 860–310 BCE; Piye 747–716 BCE) · Kushite (early Napatan)
Earliest Kushite royal necropolis (860–310 BCE) with 22 pyramids for Napatan kings including Piye (Piankhi), founder of Egypt's 25th Dynasty, Taharqa, and early ancestors.
🇳🇦 Namibia · Rock art
Late Stone Age to early pastoral (6000 BCE – 1000 CE) · San hunter-gatherer (Ju/'hoansi ancestors)
Namibia's sole UNESCO World Heritage site besides Brandberg, Twyfelfontein holds over 2,500 engravings pecked into a 600-m sandstone outcrop of Etjo formation.