🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art
Drakensberg uKhahlamba Rock Art
Later Stone Age ~4000 BP–1800 CE · San (Bushman) hunter-gatherer
35,000 San paintings in 600 Drakensberg shelters - shamanic eland dance archive.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Uruk Anu Ziggurat — Warka
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, Uruk period (4000–3000 BCE) · Sumerian (Ubaid–Uruk–Jemdet Nasr)
The Anu Ziggurat at Uruk-Warka is the oldest known true ziggurat (≈4000 BCE), a massive mudbrick terrace 21 m high in the Anu district. The famed White Temple (c.3500–3000 BCE) sat on summit.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Ur
Ur III (Neo-Sumerian) 2112–2094 BCE core; Old Babylonian veneer · Sumerian (Ur III)
Best preserved neo-Sumerian ziggurat: three-stage mudbrick massif 62.5 × 43 m base, 30 m high (reconstructed), built by Ur-Nammu (2112–2095 BCE) and Shulgi for moon god Nanna (Sîn), with three…
🇪🇸 Spain · Ancient city
Los Millares Chalcolithic Walled Town
Chalcolithic (3200–2200 BCE) · Los Millares (Iberian Chalcolithic)
Almería's Copper Age capital excavated by L. Siret 1891, with 13 hill forts, 80 tholos tombs with eye-idols and copper tools.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom (Ji'an)
Koguryo Kingdom 37 BCE–668 CE (Five Kingdoms period) – tombs 4th–7th c · Koguryo (proto-Korean in Manchuria)
Forty tombs of Koguryo Kingdom (37 BCE–668 CE) on Yalu, including General's Tomb (400 CE) – 31 m stepped pyramid of cut granite 12 layers recalling Mesoamerican form, and murals of lotus, hunting and…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Necropolis
Abusir Necropolis
Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty (mainly); Early Dynastic to Late Period · Ancient Egyptian (Memphite)
Abusir (Egyptian pr wsjr, 'House of Osiris'; Arabic Abu Sir) is the Fifth Dynasty royal necropolis on the Western Desert plateau edge between Giza and Saqqara, part of the Memphis and its Necropolis…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Pyramid of Nyuserre
Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty, late · Ancient Egyptian
Last and most intact royal pyramid at Abusir: Nyuserre's complex with L-shaped mortuary temple, bent co-opted causeway and cult pyramid, excavated by Borchardt 1902-04.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Tomb
Mastaba of Ptahshepses
Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty · Ancient Egyptian
Vast multi-phase mastaba of Ptahshepses, vizier and son-in-law of Nyuserre — the largest non-royal tomb of the Old Kingdom, famed for its pillared court and painted reliefs.
🇴🇲 Oman · Buried city
Iram of the Pillars – Ubar, Atlantis of the Sands (Hypothetical)
Iron Age to Late Antique (1000 BCE – 500 CE) · Arabian frankincense / South Arabian / Parthian
Qur'anic Iram dhat al-'Imad — 1992 SAR identified Shisr 8-tower limestone fortress collapsed into sinkhole c. 500 CE (contested as Ubar).
🇮🇷 Iran · Rock art
Behistun (Bisotun) Inscription of Darius I
Achaemenid Empire (Darius I) to Sassanian · Achaemenid Persian; Parthian Arsacid; Sassanian
522 BCE Darius trilingual on cliff 66 m high — cuneiform Rosetta for decipherment, Parthian–Sassanian roadside fringe.
🇩🇪 Germany · Archaeological wonder
Nebra Sky Disk Findspot – Mittelberg Hill
Early Bronze Age Únětice (1600–1550 BCE deposition) · Únětice (Unetice) Bronze Age chiefdom
1600 BCE hoard findspot of the Nebra Sky Disk—Bronze Age astronomic gold-leaf cosmogram.
🇷🇴 Romania · Ancient city
Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea
Archaic Greek to Early Medieval (657 BCE – 7th c. CE) · Milesian Greeks → Getae → Romans → Byzantines
Histria (Istrus) Greek Colony on the Black Sea in Dobruja, Constanța County, Istria commune, Sinoe Lake shore near Danube delta, Romania is a Archaic Greek to Early Medieval (657 BCE – 7th c.
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Dholavira Rock-Cut Reservoirs – Rann of Kutch
Early to Mature Harappan to Late Harappan · Harappan (Sindhu–Sarasvati)
16 Harappan rock-cut reservoirs (2600–1900 BCE) — 250,000 m³ desert catchment, Dholavira.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Geoglyph
Al-Thula Desert Kite Field (Jubbah Basin – Ha'il)
Neolithic humid phase (Holocene) · Jubbah lake-shore hunters
Jubbah paleolake-marginal kites: 16 funnels at Umm Sanman piedmont below UNESCO rock-art cliffs.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Ancient village
Ban Chiang Archaeological Site
Neolithic → Bronze Age → Iron Age 3000 BCE–200 CE · Ban Chiang culture (Isan Neolithic–Bronze, Ban Kao related)
Neolithic–Iron Age moated village (c.3000 BCE–200 CE) at Ban Chiang, Isan, northeast Thailand — 30 ha UNESCO World Heritage (ID 359) excavated 1967–73 by Chester Gorman, Pisit Charoenwongsa and later…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Pyramid of Senwosret III (Dahshur)
Middle Kingdom (12th Dynasty) · Ancient Egyptian
12th-Dynasty pyramid of Senwosret III at Dahshur North — 105 m base c.1878 BCE, 78 m high, famous for queens' jewellery and hidden entrance.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Erechtheion — Acropolis of Athens
Late Classical (Peloponnesian War) · Classical Athenian
421–405 BCE asymmetric Ionic with Caryatids, housing Athena Polias and Poseidon-Erechtheus on Mycenaean terrace.
🇮🇹 Italy · Rock art
Valcamonica Rock Engravings – Naquane National Park
Epipalaeolithic to modern with Iron Age peak · Camunni (Rhaetic-adjacent Alpine) and predecessors
140,000 figures on 2,000 Alpine slabs—world's densest European rock art valley (UNESCO 1979 No.1 Italy).
🇱🇦 Laos · Ancient temple
Vat Phou (Vat Phou and Associated Settlements)
Chenla (5th–8th CE) → Khmer Angkor Wat (11th–13th) → Lao Buddhist (13th+) · Chenla Khmer (Hindu Shaiva) → Angkor Wat Khmer → Lan Xang Laotian Buddhist
Khmer Hindu–Buddhist temple complex and ancient city (c.5th–13th century CE, Chenla to Angkor Wat period) at Phou Khao foot near Mekong in Champasak, Laos — UNESCO World Heritage 'Vat Phou and…
🇫🇷 France · Megalith
Cairn de Barnenez Chamber D Annex — Southern Extension
Early Neolithic (4500-3800 BCE) · Atlantic Neolithic
Cairn de Barnenez Chamber D Annex — Southern Extension in Brittany, Finistere, France is a Early Neolithic (4500-3800 BCE) megalithic attributed to Atlantic Neolithic.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Temple of Kalabsha (Talmis)
New Kingdom to Roman (1479 BCE–235 CE; freestanding temple essentially Augustan) · Egyptian / Nubian
Augustan New Kalabsha — Nubia's largest freestanding temple (76 m) to Mandulis saved from Nasser.
🇿🇦 South Africa · Ancient city
Mapungubwe Hill Summit Enclosure South Annex — Southern Extension
Medieval (1075-1220 CE) · Mapungubwe
Mapungubwe Hill Summit Enclosure South Annex — Southern Extension in Limpopo, Musina, South Africa is a Medieval (1075-1220 CE) ancient city attributed to Mapungubwe.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Megalith
Tiya Stele Field South Cluster — Eastern Outlier
Medieval (1200-1500 CE) · Tiya Culture
Tiya Stele Field South Cluster — Eastern Outlier in Southern Nations, Gurage, Ethiopia is a Medieval (1200-1500 CE) megalithic attributed to Tiya Culture.
🇵🇹 Portugal · Megalith
Anta Grande do Zambujeiro Periphery — Southern Extension
Late Neolithic (3500-2800 BCE) · Iberian Neolithic
Anta Grande do Zambujeiro Periphery — Southern Extension in Alentejo, Evora, Portugal is a Late Neolithic (3500-2800 BCE) megalithic attributed to Iberian Neolithic.