🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Zuojiang Huashan Ningming — Luoyue Serpent Cliff
Warring States to Eastern Han (403 BCE – 220 CE) · Luoyue (proto-Zhuang) Boyue culture
Serpent-bend cliff with dragon and drum motifs 8 km upstream from main panel.
🇮🇶 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).
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
State Historical Park Ancient Merv
Achaemenid 6th c BCE to Timurid 18th c CE (Seljuk peak 11th–13th c) · Parthian / Seljuk / Timurid (Persian-Central Asian)
Four superimposed cities of Merv oasis on Murghab alluvium: Erk Kala Achaemenid citadel, Gyaur Kala Hellenistic-Parthian double-walled (Antiochia Margiana), Sultan Kala Seljuk capital (world's…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Tiryns
Mycenaean 1600–1100 BCE, acme 1300–1200 BCE · Mycenaean
Cyclopean citadel with earliest vaulted galleries in Europe and megaron palace.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Dazu Beishan Rock Carvings — Chongqing Northern Mountain Gallery
Late Tang to Southern Song (892 – 1178 CE) · Chinese Buddhist with Song gentry patron
Beishan 264 caves with 10k slender Song statues 892–1178 at Dazu north hill.
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Prambanan Temple Compounds
Mataram Hindu-Buddhist c.850–900 CE (peak Rakai Kayuwangi) · Central Javanese Hindu (Trimurti Shivite)
Largest Hindu temple complex in Southeast Asia (c.850 CE) of Mataram Pu Sanjay, with 47 m Shiva terraced shrine (Candi Siwa) surrounded by 238 smaller shrines in concentric mandala, opposite Sewu…
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Heijō Palace (Heijō-kyō)
Nara Period 710–784 CE (with brief return 745–784) · Yamato / Nara Japanese (Ritsuryo)
Imperial palace of Heijō-kyō capital (710–784 CE) modeling Tang Chang'an, 1.2×1.6 km enclosure with Daigokuden audience hall, Suzaku Gate and Eastern Palace Garden ponds.
🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Rani ki Vav (Queen's Stepwell)
Solanki Chaulukya 1022–1063 CE · Gujarati / Solanki Hindu (Maru-Gurjara)
Jewel-box stepwell (1022–1063 CE) built by Queen Udayamati in memory of Bhima I, 64 m long with seven descending galleries and 500+ principal sculptures.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat of Zarch, Yazd
Achaemenid to present ~700 BCE–present · Persian (Median/Achaemenid onward)
71 km 2,115-shaft Zarch qanat - world's longest - still feeding Yazd after 3,000 years.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Dholavira
Mature Harappan 2650–2100 BCE (with Early/Late phases 3500–1800 BCE) · Indus Valley / Harappan
Harappan metropolis (2650–2100 BCE) on Khadir island in Great Rann of Kutch, the fifth largest Harappan site covering 100 ha with citadel, middle and lower towns and monumental water management.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Archaeological wonder
Registan Square at Samarkand
Timurid Shaybanid 1417–1660 CE · Timurid / Uzbek (Turko-Persian Islamic)
Timurid and Shaybanid plaza framed by three majestic madrasas: Ulugh Beg (1417–1420) with astronomical iconography, Sher-Dor (1619–1636) with tiger mosaics defying aniconism, and Tilla-Kari…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Parthian Fortresses of Nisa
Parthian Arsacid 3rd c BCE–3rd c CE (peak 1st c BCE–1st c CE) · Parthian / Arsacid
Parthian ceremonial and administrative capital (3rd c BCE–3rd c CE) of two tells: Old Nisa (Mithridatkert fortress 14 ha with 43 towers, wine rhytons and ivory rhytons inscribed Arsacid) and New Nisa…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Yin Xu (Ruins of Yin at Anyang)
Late Shang Dynasty c.1300–1046 BCE (Anyang period) · Shang Chinese
Late Shang capital (1300–1046 BCE) on Huan River, premier Bronze Age urban site of East Asia covering 30 km² with palatial foundations, royal tombs (Fu Hao intact 76), 150,000 oracle bones with…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Mogao Caves (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas)
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan 366–1368 CE (peak Tang 618–907) · Multi-ethnic Buddhist (Han, Tibetan, Uyghur, Sogdian)
492 temple caves on 1.7 km Mingsha cliff with 2,000 painted sculptures and 45,000 m² murals spanning 366–1368 CE (Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan).
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Ellora Caves
Late classical: Kalachuri, Chalukya, Rashtrakuta periods 600–1000 CE · Buddhist, Hindu (Shaiva), Jain under Rashtrakuta patronage
Largest rock-cut monastery-temple complex in world with 34 caves carved 600–1000 CE into basalt Charanandri Hills: 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu, 5 Jain, including monolithic Kailasa Temple (Cave 16)…
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Archaeological wonder
Tiwanaku
Formative to Tiwanaku Period 300–1000 CE (flourishing 500–950) · Tiwanaku Empire
Capital of Tiwanaku Empire (300–1000 CE) on Altiplano near Lake Titicaca at 3,850 m, featuring Akapana pyramid, Kalasasaya enclosure, and Gateway of the Sun carved from single andesite blocks…
🇵🇭 Philippines · Hydraulic works
Banaue Hydraulic Terraces North Cluster (Cambulo–Batad North Extension)
Ifugao post-Spanish intensive (Acabado) · Ifugao (Tuwali) terrace engineers
Northernmost Ifugao terrace hydraulic: 120 terraces over 280 m vertical fed by 2.4 km mountain contour canal.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat-e Zarch – Longest Qanat in Iran
Achaemenid to present (2,500 years continuous) · Persian qanat engineers (Achaemenid, Sassanian, Safavid)
71-km Zarch qanat—longest gravity aquifer tunnel on Earth (500 BCE–Safavid).
🇪🇸 Spain · Megalith
Tholos de El Romeral
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age (c.3800–2500 BCE) · Los Millares / Alentejo Chalcolithic (tholos tradition)
Antequera hill tholos (corbelled dome 5.2 m) with 26 m corridor — Mediterranean-type beehive tomb 4 km north of Menga/Viera.
🇪🇸 Spain · Hydraulic works
Les Ferreres Aqueduct (Devil's Bridge, Pont del Diable — Tarraco Aqueduct)
Roman Augustan (late Republic to early Principate) · Roman Tarraconensis (Tarraco Colonia)
217-m Augustan double-tier arcade (20 BCE–20 CE) 27 m high — Tarraco's Francolí aqueduct masterpiece.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Siega Verde Rock Engravings – Águeda River
Upper Palaeolithic (Solutrean–Magdalenian) · Solutrean–Magdalenian hunter-gatherers of western Iberia
443 Palaeolithic figures on Águeda schist—UNESCO trans-frontier extension of Côa Valley (20–10k BCE).
🇲🇱 Mali · Ancient city
Timbuktu (Sankore, Djingareyber & Sidi Yahya)
Medieval Sudanic (11th–17th c; peak 14th–16th c under Mali-Songhai) · Tuareg / Soninke / Malinke / Songhai / Berber / Moroccan (Arma)
Scholar caravan metropolis on Niger Bend with three 14th-c earthen Sudano-Sahelian mosques and 600,000-manuscript university Sankore.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Turpan Karez Extension (Flaming Mountains North Piedmont)
Imperial Chinese (Ming-Qing) on Han antecedent · Turpan Uyghur / Han frontier
Eastern extension (30 m asl, 42°57′04″N 89°11′22″E Turpan municipal 42.9512,89.1895; Flaming Mountains 100 km E-W 42.98,89.20 500-850 m) of Turpan-Hami Silk Road karez water system UNESCO 1442 Silk…
🇩🇪 Germany · Ancient city
Hedeby (Haithabu) Viking Town — Schleswig
Viking Age (c.770–1066 CE) · Danish Viking (later German Ottonian)
Hedeby (Heiðabýr, 8th–11th century CE), on the Haddebyer Noor inlet at the base of the Jutland Peninsula, was the largest Viking Age emporium in Scandinavia, a 27-hectare semicircular…