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9,978 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.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Hausa foundation (9th c CE – 1805 Fulani conquest; Bayajidda c. 900 CE) · Hausa (Bayajidda legend; Daurama matriarchal tradition)
Holiest Hausa city where Bayajidda legend says Daurama queen's serpent Sarki in Kusugu well was slain c. 900 CE founding Hausa Bakwai; 14th c mud walls 6.5 km with palace of Emir a...
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age (2500–1500 BCE) · Recumbent Stone Circle builders
Gowk Hill stone circle on a ridge west of Insch, Aberdeenshire, an upland circle of eight granitic boulders enclosing a slight interior cairn, part of the Aberdeenshire recumbent circle concentration…
🇰🇪 Kenya · Megalith
Pastoral Neolithic / Sirikwa · Elmenteitan / Sirikwa
Pastoral Neolithic–Sirikwa mound (1500 BCE to 1500 CE) atop tukana hill: stone-walled enclosures, 30-cairn necropolis with Elmenteitan obsidian blades, 20 crouched burials and Nderit ceramics.
🇩🇪 Germany · Megalith
Late Neolithic · Wartberg
Wartberg culture gallery grave (c. 3000 BCE) at Lohra, Hesse, 20 m long gallery with sandstone orthostats, perforated door-stone and collective burials for ~20 individuals.
🇮🇪 Ireland · Megalith
Early Neolithic (3800–3600 BCE) · Northwest Irish Neolithic
Kilclooney More portal dolmen on the Donegal coast north of Ardara, a dramatic tripod dolmen with tilted capstone on slender portal orthostats overlooking Donegal Bay; intact burial chamber never…
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman (2nd c. CE–7th c. CE) · Roman (Numidia)
Municipium famed for 220 CE water-law inscription regulating drought rotation.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Fortress
Roman (81 CE – 5th c CE; legionary base 123–238 CE) · Roman (Legio III Augusta)
Africa's largest legionary fortress, Lambaesis housed 6,000 men of III Augusta with principia, baths, amphitheatre, aqueduct and arch of Commodus. Headquarters shrine and numerus i...
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Neolithic Yangshao (5800–3000 BCE; classic 5000–3000 BCE) · Yangshao (Dadiwan culture, Painted Pottery)
Dadiwan is the type site of Yangshao Dadiwan culture (5800–3000 BCE) on the Wei River terrace — 50-ha Neolithic village with 200+ house pits, painted pottery, and the 290-m² Palace F901 (4000 BCE,…
🇮🇹 Italy · Buried city
Roman (foundation Oscan 6th c BCE, Roman from 80 BCE) · Roman
Roman city of 12,000 buried by Vesuvius eruption 24 August 79 CE under 4–6 m pumice and ash, preserving streets, villas, Forum, amphitheatre, baths and plaster casts of victims.
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Hopewell 1–500 CE · Hopewell tradition
121-acre Hopewell circle-square with 335 m Great Circle and Seip-Pricer mound, UNESCO 2023.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Buried city
Early Bronze Age to Byzantine (Troy I c.3000 BCE – Troy IX 85 CE–500 CE) · Anatolian / Mycenaean-associated / Greek / Roman
Mound of Hisarlik with 9 settlement layers Troy I–IX (3000 BCE–500 CE) plus Homeric epic city Troy VI/VII.
🇫🇷 France · Tumulus
Middle Neolithic · Morbihan Neolithic / Carnac
Large passage tomb tumulus at Arzon, Rhuys Peninsula (c. 3800–3200 BCE), 50 m diameter, 15 m high, with polygonal chamber and corridor, yielded jadeite axes, callaïs beads and elite burial goods…
🇧🇷 Brazil · Geoglyph
Pre-Columbian 1–1500 CE · Acre / Xinguano tradition
Hundreds of large ditched enclosures (squares, circles, U-shapes) revealed since 1977 by deforestation, built by pre-Columbian Amazonian cultures using forest clearance, dated 1–1500 CE, associated…
🇮🇹 Italy · Megalith
Bronze Age (Bonnannaro) · Nuragic antecedent
Coddu Vecchiu Giants' Tomb in Sardinia, Olbia-Tempio, Italy is a Bronze Age (Bonnannaro) megalithic attributed to Nuragic antecedent culture.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Fortified city
Hausa classical (c. 1100–1807 CE; Ganuwa built 13th–14th c) · Hausa (Katsina scholarly centre)
Seven-gate 14 km mud rampart enclosing 405 ha Hausa scholarly city of Gobarau minaret (14th c mudbrick tower 15 m, oldest multi-storey mud in West Africa), manuscript libraries and...
🇸🇩 Sudan · Temple complex
Kushite (3rd c BCE – 4th c CE; Lion Temple c. 300 BCE) · Kushite (Meroitic, King Arnekhamani)
Vast Kushite labyrinth (180×150 m Great Enclosure with 55 columns) and Lion Temple of Apedemak with vivid reliefs of king and lion-god, possibly elephant training ground; Hintze ex...
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Makurian Christian (c. 500–1500 CE; cathedral 707 CE) · Makurian Nubian Christian
Annex quarter south of Old Dongolo's famous cruciform church, with 707 CE cathedral (32×28 m) with 6 granite columns, 11th c frescoes of archangels and king portraits, and palace a...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Pharaonic / Graeco-Roman · Egyptian / Greek / Roman
Nome capital whose rubbish mounds yielded 500,000+ Greek papyri (Grenfell & Hunt 1896–1906) – Sappho, Menander, Gospel of Thomas.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city
Roman / Byzantine · Roman
Veteran colonia of Nerva (97 CE) raised to capital of Mauretania Sitifensis by Diocletian. Byzantine fortress 548×416 m encloses forum under modern city; museum holds mosaic hoard; centuriation grid…
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Proto-Hassuna to Ubaid (c.6200–4200 BCE) · Hassuna–Samarra → Halaf → Ubaid
Small Neolithic tell in the Upper Khabur near the Wadi Jaghjagh, excavated by Takuya Matsutani. Stratified Proto-Hassuna...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Old Kingdom / Second Intermediate · Egyptian
Lost capital of Xoite 14th Dynasty (76 kings) contesting Hyksos Avaris. Stepped temple of Amun and 8 m Hyksos walls detected by magnetometry; Herodotus lists Delta metropolis.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Early Neolithic · Medway Megaliths
Coldrum Long Barrow (Coldrum Stones) in Kent, England, United Kingdom is a Early Neolithic megalithic attributed to Medway Megaliths culture.
🇪🇸 Spain · Megalith
Neolithic to Bronze Age · Iberian megalithic
Three megalithic monuments (Menga, Viera, El Romeral) forming UNESCO site with natural monuments Peña de los Enamorados and El Torcal.
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Trans-Saharan caravan (c. 700–1400 CE; Almoravid market) · Berber–Tuareg (Tadmekka Sanhaja) / Arab caravan
Mysterious stone city in Saharan piedmont, Essouk is Tadmekka the 9th c Arab-described 'Tadmakkat' gold city with 450×250 m stone houses, mosque and 11th c Arabic stelae, on Niger–...
