🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
West Kennet Long Barrow
Early Neolithic · Cotswold-Severn Neolithic
100 m Early Neolithic chambered long barrow near Avebury with five sarsen chambers under chalk mound.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Calakmul — Structure I (East Acropolis Pyramid)
Maya Early to Late Classic, c.250–900 CE (I: c.400 CE, rebuild 600–700) · Maya (Kanul / Snake dynasty)
East Acropolis pyramid Structure I (? not largest Structure II 55 m, but I is 40 m) at Calakmul (c.250–900 CE, Classic megapower, rival of Tikal).
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Mogao Northern Caves — Dunhuang Oasis North Cliff Monastic Cells
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (366 – 1368 CE) northern cells 960–1300 · Buddhist monastic Dunhuang oasis international
North cliff austere monastic cells 1000–1300 CE opposite southern painted scripture halls.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Acropolis of Athens
Classical High 447–406 BCE over Bronze Age citadel · Athenian Classical Greek
Periclean citadel with Parthenon, Erechtheion Caryatids and Propylaia — summit of Classical Greece.
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe · Rock art
Matobo Hills Pomongwe Cave Rock Art
Stone Age 13,000 BCE–19th c. CE · San and Iron Age farmers
Matobo Hills Pomongwe (Pondongwe) Cave – granite kopje landscape with 3,000+ rock art sites; Pomongwe frieze of kudu, giraffe and white bovid panels; Bambata Cave MSA 125 ka deposits.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Windmill Hill Causewayed Enclosure
Early Neolithic · Windmill Hill / Hembury Ware
Type-site causewayed enclosure 2 km from Avebury — three interrupted ditch circuits enclosing 8.5 ha.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain)
Ubaid to Ur III (5400–2112 BCE; ziggurat Ur III 2112–2000 BCE) · Sumerian (Eridu, Ubaid → Uruk → Ur III)
Tell at supposed first Sumerian city Eridu, sacred to water god Enki/Ea (Abzu). Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples (Ubaid 5400–3800 BCE) culminating in Ur III ziggurat (~250 × 300 m enclosure, 3…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Mycenae
Mycenaean Helladic 1600–1100 BCE, peak 1350–1200 BCE · Mycenaean Greeks
Homeric citadel with Cyclopean walls, Lion Gate and gold mask tombs.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple III (Temple of the Jaguar Priest)
Late Classic Terminal Classic transition c. 810–820 CE · Maya (Tikal late)
55 m high pyramid west of Tozzer Causeway, last great temple built at Tikal for Dark Sun / Chitam late 8th c: thickest roof comb remaining, steep 55° stair and jaguar-pelt sculpture of priest at…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bingling (Binglingsi) Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Ming ~420–1644 CE · Northwestern Chinese Buddhist (Western Qin to Tibetan)
Yellow River cliff grotto accessible only by boat, bearing China's earliest dated 420 CE inscription.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Elephanta Caves
Late Gupta to Early Chalukya 5th–8th century CE · Hindu (Shaiva) and Buddhist under Kalachuri/Chalukya patronage
Rock-cut Shaiva cave complex on Elephanta Island with colossal Trimurti sculpture, 5th–8th c. CE.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Ephesus and Temple of Artemis
Archaeic Greek to Roman Imperial 10th c. BCE–3rd c. CE, Artemision 550 BCE · Greek Ionian then Roman
Roman Asian capital with Artemis Wonder remnant and Library of Celsus.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saimaluu-Tash West Lake Shelf Petroglyphs
Saka to Qarakhanid · Saka, Wusun, Qarakhanid
Lake-margin boulder bar at the tarn below Saimaluu-Tash West cirque, a 400-m shoreline shelf with 180 panels on glacially-rafted quartzite.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments
Pallava dynasty 630–700 CE · Hindu (Shaiva) under Pallava
Pallava seaside rock-cut trials: Shore Temple surviving tsunami and 27-m bas relief.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Uruk (Warka)
Neolithic to Sassanian (c.5000 BCE–632 CE; Uruk period city 4000–3100 BCE) · Sumerian / Babylonian / Persian
Type site for Uruk period and first true city (c.4000–3100 BCE), Uruk at peak 2900 BCE housed 50,000–80,000 inside 9.5 km city wall built by Gilgamesh (per Epic).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Eridu Ziggurat — Abu Shahrain
Ubaid through Ur III (c.5400–2000 BCE, ziggurat Ur III Amar-Sin) · Sumerian (Eridu / Ubaid type-site, Ur III)
Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain) is traditionally the first city of Sumer (King List) with an 18-level temple sequence from Ubaid small shrine (≈5400 BCE) to Ur III ziggurat of Amar-Sin.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Kailasa Temple Ellora Outlier
Rashtrakuta c.756–773 CE · Rashtrakuta Hindu (Ellora)
Kailasa (756–773, Krishna I Rashtrakuta) – world's largest monolithic rock-cut temple, excavated top-down from 200,000 tonnes basalt: 33m shikhara, surrounding courtyard 98×48m, two-storey gopura,…
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Mahabodhi Temple Bodh Gaya
Maurya to Gupta and Pala (3rd c. BCE–6th c. CE core; current 5th–6th c. brick shikhara) · Indian Buddhist (Mauryan-Gupta-Pala)
Mahabodhi (5th–6th c. Gupta brick shikhara 55m) – on Vajrasana where Buddha attained enlightenment under Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa descendant).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Pergamon Acropolis
Hellenistic to Roman 283 BCE–3rd c. CE · Greek (Attalid) and Roman
Attalid citadel with world's steepest theater and Altar of Zeus frieze.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal — Temple I (Gran Jaguar) Pyramid
Maya Late Classic, c.730–734 CE, reign Hasaw Chan K'awil · Maya (Classic Lowland)
Temple I — Gran Jaguar — pyramid over tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (Hasaw Chan K'awil, r.682–734 CE), north of Great Plaza, 47 m high.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Notion Necropolis-Agora — Apollo Claros Necropolis Grid
Archaic to Roman (700 BCE – 300 CE) · Aeolian to Ionian Notians
Necropolis-agora with painted tombs and Apollo sacred way 600 m from temple.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Pyramid of Sahure
Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty early · Ancient Egyptian
First pyramid at Abusir for second king of 5th Dynasty (47.5 m high, 78.75 m base, angle 50°11'), introducing 5th Dynasty pyramidal art refinement: exquisite limestone mortuary temple reliefs (naval…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Yungang Western Cliffs — Datong Grottoes West End Caves
Northern Wei to Liao (453 – 525 CE peak) · Buddhist Tanyao imperial under Emperor Wencheng
Western 5 caves 40–45 with Tanyao Buddhas 15 m of Northern Wei Pingcheng capital.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple
Unified Silla 751 CE (King Gyeongdeok reign) · Silla Korean Buddhist (Hwaeom)
Silla artificial cave-shrine (751 CE) on Tohamsan summit, commissioned by Kim Dae-seong, housing 3.48 m granite Vairocana surrounded by 40 meticulously sculpted bodhisattvas and guardians in 3.6 m…