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The catalogue
13,227 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇵🇸 Palestine · Ancient city
Iron Age capital to Crusader · Israelite → Assyrian → Herodian
Hilltop capital of Kingdom of Israel after 880 BCE (Omri bought hill from Shemer for 2 talents silver — 1 Kings 16:24) with Israelite palatial ivories (Samaria Ivories, Louvre) and Ostraca warehoused…
🇯🇵 Japan · Megalith
Final Jomon 1200–800 BCE · Jomon Final Hokkaido
Late Jomon collective burial banked circles (1200–800 BCE) on terrace above Ushiku River at Chitose — 9 embanked circular enclosures diameter 12–75 m built of external ditch and internal bank housing…
🇺🇸 United States · Archaeological wonder
Pueblo II–III 1115–1287 CE (Chacoan 1120–1140; Mesa Verde 1200–1287) · Ancestral Puebloan (Chacoan then Mesa Verdean)
Misnamed 12th-century Great House built by Chacoan Ancestral Puebloans (Aztec West, 400 rooms, 3 storeys) and later occupied by Mesa Verdeans: E-shaped pueblo with Great Kiva (14.6 m diameter,…
🇦🇷 Argentina · Rock art
Early Holocene to late Patagonia (~9300 BCE – 700 CE) · Patagonian hunter-gatherer (Tehuelche ancestors)
Canyon sandstone cave whose walls retain over 800 negative hand stencils made by spraying pigment through bone pipes around hands, interspersed with guanaco hunts, bola weapons and geometric discs.
🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock shelter
Middle to Later Stone Age (227–44 ka to Iron Age) · Early Homo sapiens → San foragers
Border Cave is the 50×35 m west-facing shelter 600 m on Lebombo crest 365 m from Eswatini border with 227–44 ka continuous stratigraphy spanning ESA to Iron Age and early Homo sapiens fossils BC 1…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Fortress
Iron Age to Classical (700 BCE–300 CE) · Iron Age fortified culture
Medinet Habu — Migdol Gate Ancillary Bastion (Thebes) in Luxor, Medinet Habu, Egypt is a Iron Age to Classical (700 BCE–300 CE) fortress attributed to Iron…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Yoruba Oyo Empire (14th–1835 CE; capital 16th–1835) · Yoruba (Oyo)
Old Oyo (Oyo-Ile, Katunga) is the 16th–19th c. capital of Oyo Empire, 10 km triple earthen walls enclosing 6,000 ha savanna plain with 17 palace compounds (Kobi), council houses and reservoirs.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Troy VIIa — Citadel East Gate (Hisarlik) in Çanakkale, Hisarlik, Troy, Turkey is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Bro…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
PPNA–PPNB (Taş Tepeler) · Taş Tepeler PPN foragers (Göbekli–Karahan sphere)
Taş Tepeler ridge PPNA enclave (9300–8500 BCE) with T-pillar in round enclosure and terrazzo hamlet — 9th Stone Hill on Karahan ridge.
🇷🇺 Russia · Kurgan
Bronze to Iron Age (2500–300 BCE) · Scythian / Saka
Pazyryk — Kurgan 5 Ancillary Horse Burial (Altai) in Altai Republic, Pazyryk, Russia is a Bronze to Iron Age (2500–300 BCE) kurgan attributed to Scythian /…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Hellenistic Commagene (c.62 BCE under Antiochos I Theos) · Commagenian (Armenian/Greek/Persian syncretic) Hellenistic
Hierotheseion (tomb-sanctuary) of Antiochos I of Commagene (69–34 BCE), Nemrut Dağı tops 2,150 m peak with 50 m tumulus of crushed rock surrounded by three terraces bearing 8–10 m colossal seated…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Archaeological wonder
Iron Age Nok Culture (500 BCE–500 CE; iron from 550 BCE) · Nok Culture
Turunku in Kaduna's Nok Valley is a Nok Culture iron-smelting precinct and terracotta site, 500 BCE–500 CE, revealing sub-Saharan Africa's earliest iron (c.
🇵🇪 Peru · Hydraulic works
Inca Empire with antecedents Wari/Tiwanaku (~1000–1532 CE; Inca 1438–1532 CE) · Inca (with pre-Inca antecedents)
The backbone of Tawantinsuyu, Qhapaq Ñan runs 6,000 km along the Andean crest from Colombia to Chile, with east–west transversal roads totalling over 23,000 km.
🇮🇷 Iran · Cave
Upper Palaeolithic (c.35,000–30,000 BP) · Baradostian (Zagros Aurignacian)
UP Aurignacian cave (35–30 ka, Baradostian blades, shell beads) west of Khorramabad.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Earthwork
Late Neolithic to Bronze Age (~5500–2500 BCE; Wheels c.8500 BCE claimed recently) · Levantine Neolithic pastoralist
Scattered across the Azraq lava fields and limestone hammada, geometric Wheels 25–70 m in diameter consist of outer ring, radial spokes and central cairn, often attached to kite tails or isolated on…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Archaeological wonder
Early Neolithic (~3807 BCE) · British Early Neolithic
The oldest engineered timber trackway in northern Europe, a 1.8-km raised walkway of oak planks pegged to transverse ash rails, dendro-dated to construction in the winter–spring of 3807 BCE.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bronze to Iron Age (2000 BCE–300 CE) · Rock-cut tradition
Dunhuang — Mogao Cave 96 Ancillary Corridor in Gansu, Dunhuang, Mogao, China is a Bronze to Iron Age (2000 BCE–300 CE) rock_cut attributed to Rock-cut trad…
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Early Dynastic to Old Babylonian (Shakkanakku to Zimri-Lim) · Sumerian → Amorite Mariote
Middle Euphrates great city (c.2900–1759 BCE) controlling trade between Sumer and Amorite west, with the 2.5 ha Palace of Zimri-Lim (260 rooms, frescoes — Investiture of Zimri-Lim at Louvre) and the…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Early Dynastic to Greco-Roman (Djoser 2670 BCE; Apis catacombs New Kingdom to Ptolemaic, 1400–30 BCE) · Egyptian Pharaonic (Memphite)
Great necropolis of Memphis: Step Pyramid of Djoser (Imhotep, 2670 BCE) – world's oldest large stone structure – plus 17 pyramids including Teti, Unas (Pyramid Texts), underground galleries, and the…
🇨🇳 China · Pyramid
Western Han Wen-Jing 157–141 BCE · Western Han imperial
Mausoleum complex of Emperor Jing of Han (Liu Qi, r.157–141 BCE) and Empress Wang Zhi on Wei River terrace north of Xi'an, core of Western Han imperial necropolis (11 tombs).
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Yangshao Early–Middle 5000–3000 BCE · Yangshao (Banpo phase) / Yellow River millet farmers
Yangshao culture matriarchal agricultural village (4800–4300 BCE) on Chan River terrace east of Xi'an, 50,000 m² with preserved moat (deepest 6 m), 45 semi-subterranean pit-houses, 6 pottery kilns,…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Temple complex
Chalcolithic (4500–3300 BCE) · Chalcolithic
Thwaite Temple Complex in River Nile State, Sudan is a Chalcolithic (4500–3300 BCE) temple complex attributed to Chalcolithic culture.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty mid · Ancient Egyptian
Second pyramid of Amenemhat III (12th Dynasty) at Hawara, 58 m high 105 m base, brick core with limestone casing now stripped, near Fayum depression.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Cave
Epipalaeolithic to Early Chalcolithic (c.14,000–5500 BCE) · Anatolian Epipalaeolithic → Aceramic Neolithic → Chalcolithic
Lycian karst cave (14 ka) with Epipalaeolithic burials to Aceramic Neolithic herding above Fethiye.
