🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city
Knossos (Palace of Minos)
Minoan · Minoan
Knossos (Palace of Minos) in Crete, Heraklion, Greece is a Minoan ancient city attributed to Minoan culture.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Tell
Tepeticpac (Tlaxcala hill town)
Prehistoric · Regional Chalcolithic-EBA
Tepeticpac (Tlaxcala hill town) — buried prehistoric tell/village at Tlaxcala State.
🇲🇹 Malta · Megalith
Ħaġar Qim
Chalcolithic (Temple Period) · Maltese Temple culture (Ġgantija/Tarxien phases)
Hilltop megalithic temple overlooking Filfla islet, globigerina/coralline limestone, monumental façade with 57-tonne largest stone in Maltese temples.
🇪🇷 Eritrea · Ancient city
Adulis Bay – Axumite Port
Axumite (1st c BCE – 7th c CE; Adulis port 1st c CE Periplus) · Axumite / South Arabian / Greco-Roman trade
Axumite Mediterranean port in Zula Bay where Paribeni and Sundström found Axumite church (5th c), Roman wine amphorae and glass, linking Axum to Roman trade; Periplus harbour descr...
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Great Serpent Mound
Disputed: either Adena 320 BCE–200 CE or Fort Ancient 1070–1200 CE (latest C14 favors Fort Ancient 1120 CE) · Adena culture or Fort Ancient culture
Quarter-mile (411 m) effigy mound in shape of serpent with oval head swallowing an egg, 3 ft high, coiled tail atop meteor-crater plateau above Ohio Brush Creek, largest surviving effigy mound in…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Merrivale Stone Rows
Late Neolithic – Middle Bronze Age · Dartmoor Bronze Age
Concentrated Late Neolithic–Bronze Age ritual settlement on Dartmoor: double stone rows (up to 264 m), stone circle, standing stone (3.2 m), cists, hut circles and Bronze Age field systems on open…
🇵🇪 Peru · Megalith
Sacsayhuamán
Inca Imperial, 15th century; possibly Killke antecedents · Inca
Cyclopean fortress-temple complex 2 km northwest of Cusco with three zigzagging dry-stone ramparts of limestone blocks up to 120 tonnes and 9 m high, fitted without mortar with sub-millimeter…
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Chan Chan
Chimú · Chimú (Chanchan)
Largest adobe city in world: capital of Chimú Kingdom (850–1470) covering 20 km² with 10 walled citadels (ciudadelas) with friezes of pelicans and lattice, reservoirs, adobe walls.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Coptos (Qift / Koptos) – Desert Gate of Gold & Incense
Predynastic to Roman · Egyptian / Roman
Caravan terminus of Wadi Hammamat road to Red Sea moving gold, bekhen-stone and incense. Temple of Min–Isis (Elkab-scale).
🇮🇪 Ireland · Megalith
Knowth
Neolithic · Boyne Valley Neolithic
Largest passage tomb complex in Brú na Bóinne: Great Mound with two passages (east-west) and 18 satellite tombs.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Tell
Unj Goza Mound
Gajiganna to Kanem (1800 BCE–800 CE) · Gajiganna / Kanem-Bornu
Lake Chad basin tell 12 m high with Gajiganna sequence 1800 BCE–800 CE.
🇩🇿 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...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Fortified city
Kagara (Niger State) – Hill Fort Terraces
Niger–Benue hillfort tradition (c. 1300–1900 CE; peak 16th–18th c) · Gbagyi / Hausa (Kamberi hill peoples) / Fulani pressures
Inselberg hill fort above Kagara plain with laterite terraces 2 m high, boulder walls (2.1 km) and narrow cleft gates, iron smelting terraces and shrines of Gunnu hill peoples flee...
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Assuras (Zanfour) – Theatre Hill Settlement
Numidian to Roman (2nd c BCE – 5th c CE) · Numidian / Roman (Africa Proconsularis)
Hill town commanding the High Tell, Assuras' theatre (68 m) crowns a limestone spur above Oued Zanfour, with forum, arch and Byzantine chapel. Libyco-Punic stelae and Roman epitaph...
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city
Mohenjo-daro
Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) · Indus Valley / Harappan
Largest city of Indus Valley Civilization (2500–1900 BCE) with grid plan, Great Bath (12x7 m citadel tank), granary, brick drains and standardized weights; script undeciphered. Abandoned c.1900 BCE.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Thigibba Bure (Djebba) – Hilltop Sanctuary
Numidian to Byzantine (3rd c BCE – 7th c CE) · Numidian / Punic / Roman
Ridge refuge 540 m above Bagrada plain, Thigibba Bure preserves Punic walls, Roman sanctuary terrace, mausoleum, baths and Christian basilica with mosaics, amid fig orchards famed...
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient village
Tiddis (Constantine) – Cliff Village
Punic–Numidian to Roman (3rd c BCE – 7th c CE) · Numidian / Punic / Roman
Dramatic cliff village on limestone spur 500 m above plain, Tiddis preserves Numidian houses, Mithraeum in cave, sanctuary of Saturn, and Roman arch framing Cirta view. Berthier ex...
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Gao-Saney – Trans-Saharan Entrepôt & Tomb of Askia's Pilgrims
Trans-Saharan (c. 600–1300 CE; peak 9th–12th c as Kawkaw) · Songhai–Berber (Gao empire; Almoravid links)
Old Gao's eastern port suburb Gao-Saney with merchant quarter and cemetery of 11th c Arabic stelae (spirals, Kufic) documenting Islamisation and gold trade to Sijilmasa; stelae mar...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Wukari (Jukun) – Benue Valley Palace Area
Jukun Kwararafa (c. 1300–1900 CE; peak 16th–18th c) · Jukun (Kwararafa confederacy)
Capital of the Jukun–Kwararafa Benue empire, Wukari's palace enclosure (400×350 m) houses the Aku Uka sacred kingship shrine and town walls that controlled Benue–Cameroon corridor...
🇬🇭 Ghana · Ancient city
Bono Manso – Brong Capital & Rock Domes
Bono state (c. 1200–1723 CE; sacked by Asante) · Akan (Bono / Brong)
First Akan walled capital, Bono Manso's laterite wall (1.9 km) encloses iron workshops and overlooks granite rock domes with shrine caves, sacked 1723 by Asante, memory in Techiman...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Tell
Tell el-Yahudiya North (Leontopolis Annex)
Hyksos to Ptolemaic (1720 BCE – 73 CE) · Hyksos / Egyptian / Ptolemaic Jewish (Onias)
Northern spur of the classic double-tell of Yahudiya, with Hyksos rampart extension and Onias-period Jewish cemetery north of the temple platform where Petrie found inverted pots a...
🇲🇱 Mali · Tell
Djenne-Djeno West Mound (Inland Niger Delta)
Djenné-Djeno phase (250 BCE – 1400 CE; West Mound 300–900 CE) · Djenné-Djeno (Inland Niger Delta urbanism)
Western extension of Djenné-Djeno city cluster (2 km from central tell) with 450×400 m mound, floodplain ditch, iron workshops and terracotta of Inland Niger urbanism 800 years pre...
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Koumbi Saleh South Ridge (Ghana Empire Capital Annex)
Ghana Empire (c. 700–1240 CE; South Ridge 10th–12th c) · Soninke (Wagadou Ghana Empire) / Berber Almoravid
Southern craft suburb of fabled Ghana capital, with iron bloomery row and bead workshops 35 km south of central mounds, showing Ghana's industrial hinterland; separate from UNESCO...
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Ancient city
Tegdaoust (Aoudaghost) West Ksar
Aoudaghost (c. 500–1400 CE; Berber–Ghanaian citadel) · Berber (Sanhaja) / Soninke Ghanaian conquest 1055
Berber ksar on Aoukar dune edge, Aoudaghost West preserves citadel, mosque and cavern granaries that stored caravan millet, described by al-Bakri and Ibn Hawqal; Ghana 1055 seizure...