🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art
Tsagaan Salaa — Baga Oigor South Valley Panels
Neolithic to Turkic (6000 BCE – 900 CE) · North Asian hunter-gatherer to Bronze Age nomad to Turkic
South tributary with deer stones and Neolithic birthing scene across 15 km.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Marib Wadi Dhana South Dam — Sabaean Southern Oasis Spillway
Sabaean to Himyarite (800 BCE – 575 CE) · Sabaean Kingdom (Saba) and Himyarite maintenance
South dam and spillway of Sabaean 763 m rock-fill marvel feeding southern oasis.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Maijishan Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang ~384–907 CE · Chinese Buddhist Northern Dynasties
Stacked-cliff wheat-plant-shaped grotto city with 7,200 sculptures on bolted plank galleries.
🇨🇳 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.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city
Mohenjo-daro
Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) · Indus Valley / Harappan
Largest city of Indus Valley Civilization (2500–1900 BCE) with grid plan, Great Bath (12x7 m citadel tank), granary, brick drains and standardized weights; script undeciphered. Abandoned c.1900 BCE.
🇬🇹 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…
🇮🇳 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.
🇨🇳 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.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur
Chola 1003–1010 CE · Hindu (Shaiva, Tamil Chola)
Chola granite imperial vimana 66 m still tallest pre-modern; capstone ramp mystery.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Pyramid of Neferirkare
Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty mid · Ancient Egyptian
Tallest 5th Dynasty pyramid at Abusir (Neferirkare Kakai): left in stepped form, source of the main Abusir Papyri archive.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
El-Wad Cave (Mugharet el-Wad)
Middle Palaeolithic to Natufian (c.200 ka–9600 BCE) · Mousterian → Aurignacian → Natufian
Karst cave at the mouth of Nahal Me’arot, type site of the Natufian culture (excavated Dorothy Garrod 1929–1934). 4 m st...
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Nalanda Mahavihara
Gupta to Pala 427–1193 CE (peak 5th–12th c) · Bihar / Gupta-Pala Buddhist Mahayana
Iconic Buddhist residential university (5th–13th c CE) with Gupta to Pala brick viharas, stupas, chaityas and votive structures across 23 ha.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Assur (Qal'at Sherqat)
Old Akkadian to Middle Assyrian, c.2600–1200 BCE · Assyrian
Ziggurat of Assur at Qal'at Sherqat — holy city of Ashur, earliest Assyrian capital (c.2600–614 BCE, core Old Akkadian/Ur III, restored Shamshi-Adad I, Shalmaneser I).
🇱🇦 Laos · Temple complex
Vat Phou and Associated Settlements (Wat Phou)
Chenla to Khmer Empire 5th–12th c CE (peak 6th–12th c) · Khmer / Chenla Hindu (Shiva Lingaparvata)
Khmer linga sanctuary (5th–12th c) at foot of Phu Pasak sacred spring mountain, aligned 1.4 km axial processional causeway from Mekong baray to cliff-top shrine.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Airavatesvara Temple Complex Darasuram
Chola 12th c. (1146–1172 CE) · Chola Hindu (Rajaraja II)
Airavatesvara (1146–1172, Rajaraja II) – Chola chariot temple (Skt ratha) where front mandapa wheels are stone chariot wheels, music steps that resonate seven tones, and yali_balustrade.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Calakmul Structure II
Late Classic · Maya
Massive Late Classic Maya pyramid Structure II at Calakmul (c.600 CE) 55 m high base 120×100 m, twin temples, burial of Yuknom Yich'aak K'ak.
🇯🇵 Japan · Tumulus
Daisen Kofun — Nintoku Outer Moat Sector
Kofun (c. 411–453 CE Nintoku) · Yamato Kofun (Emperor Nintoku tradition)
Mozu kofun group excavated non-invasive by Sakai 1872, UNESCO 2019 as Mozu-Furuichi, Imperial mound unentered.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Ephesus Arsinoeion-Octagon — Sanctuary Terrace of Arsinoe
Hellenistic to Roman (288 BCE – 262 CE) · Ptolemaic to Roman Ephesian
Curetes terrace with 36 m Arsinoeion rotunda and Octagon princess tomb.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Harran — First Islamic University Excavation Trench
Eblaite to Ottoman; University 8th–12th c. CE · Umayyad / Abbasid (Harran School)
Plain city excavated by Lloyd & Brice 1951–56 and recent Harran University, birthplace of al-Battani, Sabian moon temple underlying.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock-cut
Kahta — Arsameia at Nymphaios Dexiosis Relief
Commagene (80–50 BCE Antiochus I) · Commagene Greek-Persian syncretism
Arsameia excavated by Dörner & Young 1935–64, inscription records founding by Arsames c.230 BCE and Antiochus reshaping.
🇩🇰 Denmark · Megalith
Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church
Viking Age · Jelling Dynasty (Gorm & Harald Bluetooth)
Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church in South Denmark, Vejle Municipality, Denmark is a Viking Age megalithic attributed to Jelling Dynasty (Gorm & Harald Bluetooth) culture.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
West Kennet Avenue — Avebury Stone Row North
Late Neolithic (2600 BCE) · Grooved Ware / Avebury
Avebury's west avenue excavated by Keiller 1934 and Long 1850s, linking Overton Hill Sanctuary (concentric stone/timber circles) to southern entrance of henge.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Yagul Archaeological Zone
Zapotec Postclassic 1250–1521 CE · Zapotec (Tlacolula valley)
Zapotec hill-fortress Palace Six Patios 1250–1400 CE, UNESCO 2010.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saimaluu-Tash Araköl Lake — Mid-Mountain Boulder Field
Early Iron Age to Karakhanid (800 BCE – 1000 CE) · Saka to Kyrgyz–Karakhanid nomad
Mid-bench tarn with herder and Arabic blessing graffiti 600 m below plateau.