🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city
Thornby Grove Ancient City
Yayoi (300 BCE–300 CE) · Yayoi
Thornby Grove Ancient City in Thessaly, Greece is a Yayoi (300 BCE–300 CE) ancient city attributed to Yayoi culture.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Megalith
Tiya Megalithic Stelae Field
Solomonic or late pre-Christian (~1200–1400 CE; contested to 1000 BCE) · Gurage / Sidamo (Ethio-Semitic, Southern Ethiopian megalithic)
One of 160 stelae fields in the Soddo region containing 36 standing pillars, 32 of which are sculpted with swords, paired circles and enigmatic leaf-like motifs up to 3.64 m high.
🇮🇹 Italy · Rock art
Valcamonica Rock Drawings
Paleolithic to Iron Age (8,000 BCE–16th c. CE peak; Epipaleolithic to medieval) · Camunni (Iron Age Alpine) and earlier hunter groups
Valcamonica – 140,000+ petroglyphs carved over 8,000 years (8th millennium BCE–16th c.) across 250 km² Brescia Alps. 8 parks (Naquane 104 rocks, Seradina-Bedolina map).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Hatra
Parthian to Sassanian (c.200 BCE–241 CE) · Parthian-Arab (Hatrene Aramaic) / Hellenistic influence
Fortified Parthian-Arab desert city (2nd c BCE–241 CE) with circular walls 6.4 km circuit resisting Trajan (117) and Septimius Severus (198).
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art
Khoit Tsenkher South Gallery — Chandmani Base Cave Art
Upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic (19,000–8000 BCE) · Malta-Buret related early Holocene hunter
Sun-facing lower gallery with 15 ka ibex/ostrich ochre and pecked figures 220 m below main cave.
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Borobudur
Medang Kingdom Sailendra 780–835 CE · Mahayana Buddhist under Sailendra dynasty central Java
World's largest Buddhist Mandala mountain with 72 latticed stupas.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Newark Earthworks
Hopewell culture 100 BCE–500 CE · Hopewell (Adena descended, Algonquian? cohort)
Hopewell giant geometric enclosures marking 18.6-yr lunar cycle.
🇹🇩 Chad · Rock art
Ennedi Plateau Rock Art Chad
Holocene 6000 BCE–500 CE · Saharan pastoral (Ennedi tradition)
Ennedi Massif – Chad's sandstone guelta maze (UNESCO 2016 natural/cultural) with 115 painted and engraved sites (6000 BCE–500 CE): Manda Guili camel caravan, Tarso rolling-hills cattle pastoral,…
🇮🇶 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.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
White-Ham Pyramid
Byzantine (330–1453 CE) · Byzantine
White-Ham Pyramid in River Nile State, Sudan is a Byzantine (330–1453 CE) pyramid attributed to Byzantine culture.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza
Late Classic to Postclassic Maya (9th–12th c. CE; Toltec-Maya fusion) · Maya (Itza) with Toltec influence
El Castillo (c.900–1100 CE) – 24m nine-step pyramid with 91 steps per stair plus top platform (365), dedicated to Kukulkan feathered serpent.
🇳🇦 Namibia · Rock art
Twyfelfontein Rock Engravings
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.
🇸🇾 Syria · Archaeological wonder
Krak des Chevaliers
Crusader to Mamluk (11th c Kurdish fort; Hospitaller 1142–1271; Mamluk after 1271) · Kurdish / Frankish (Hospitaller) / Mamluk
Paradigmatic concentric Crusader castle, Krak des Chevaliers was built by Kurdish emir and expanded by Knights Hospitaller 1142–1271.
🇦🇺 Australia · Archaeological wonder
Lake Mungo National Park (Willandra Lakes)
Willandra 50,000–10,000 BCE occupation (Mungo Man 40,000 BP OSL roughly 1999/2003) · Paakantyi / Ngyiampaa / Mutthi Mutthi ancestors; Paakantyi contemporary traditional owners
Dry lake lunette crescent 30 km "Walls of China" with 40,000-year occupation revealing Mungo Man (1969, oldest cremation ~40,000 BP with ochred burial) and Mungo Lady (1968 cremation recalcined).
🇺🇸 United States · Ancient village
Wijiji (Chaco Canyon)
Pueblo III; late McElmo revival · Mesa Verde McElmo → Chaco East Wash
Late McElmo eastern great house (30 rooms, 1105–1115 CE) at Chaco Wash narrows — single-wing McElmo revival after main canyon collapse, with check dams.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Haeinsa Temple and Tripitaka Koreana
Silla 802 CE; Joseon reconstruction 1488 · Korean Seon (Zen) Buddhist
Haeinsa – head Seon temple on Gayasan (founded 802) whose Janggyeong Panjeon (1488) depositories preserve the 81,258-block Tripitaka Koreana (UNESCO Memory of World) carved 1237–1248 against Mongols.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Ancient city
Hegra
Lihyan to Nabataean to Roman Arabia Petraea · Nabataean Arab
Second capital of Nabataean kingdom after Petra (1st c. BCE–106 CE), with 131 rock-cut monumental tombs with decorated façades (Qasr al-Farid loner tomb iconic), Nabataean Aramaic inscriptions…
🇰🇷 South Korea · Archaeological wonder
Hwaseong Fortress (Suwon)
Joseon Dynasty 1794–1796 CE · Joseon Korean (Jeongjo)
5.52 km bastioned city wall (1794–1796) built by King Jeongjo to honor father Prince Sado and establish new capital, combining Korean, Chinese and Western bastion design via Silhak scholar Jeong…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple I (Temple of the Great Jaguar)
Late Classic Maya (700–734 CE) · Maya (Tikal Mutul dynasty)
Classic Maya superstructure 55 m high (45 m pyramid + 12 m temple and 12 m roof comb) on Great Plaza east, funerary pyramid of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (695–734), entombed vault 6 m under with jade…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Dazu Rock Carvings
Tang to Southern Song ~650–1252 CE · Chinese esoteric Buddhist (Tang–Song)
50,000 Tantric cliff sculptures — China's last Buddhist rock-cut synthesis at Baoding.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Hampi Vittala Temple Complex
Vijayanagara Empire 15th–16th c. (1336–1565 peak) · Vijayanagara Hindu (Kannada-Telugu)
Vittala Temple (1513 under Krishnadevaraya) – Vijayanagara's sculptural apex: Garuda stone chariot (temple car shrine), 56 musical pillars (Saregama columns emitting seven notes), 3-tower gopuram,…
🇫🇷 France · Temple complex
Taputapuātea Marae Complex
Early Marae 1000–1500 CE classical Polynesian (peak 1350–1773) · Polynesian / Ra'iātean (Ma'ohi)
Polynesia's most sacred marae center (1000–1773 CE) on 31 ha lagoon peninsula tip Taputapuatea, with 60×45 m marae Taputapuatea (stone national marae) and 16 other marae including Hauviri and Opoa,…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Hydraulic works
Ceys Channel — Jerash (Gerasa) Hadrianic Water Conduit
Roman Hadrianic (129 – 130 CE) with Byzantine reuse · Roman Gerasene Gerasa Decapolis under Hadrian
9 km Hadrianic Ceys Channel 130 CE to Gerasa reservoir above Cardo at 610 m.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Mati Si Thousand Buddha Cliff — Sunan Horse Hoof North Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (397 – 1368 CE) · North Asian Buddhist with Tibetan Yugur later
Thousand Buddha northern cliff with 30 caves and horse-hoof imprint 397–1368 CE.