🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Old Town of Ghadames
Roman to Modern (19 BCE–present; medieval ksar 7th c CE onward) · Garamantine / Berber Ibadi / Arab / Ottoman
UNESCO saharan ksar Ghadames — whitewashed roof-terrace oasis fed by Ain Al Faras.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock-cut
Hasankeyf — New Town Rock-Cut Tombs (Old Town Roman Bridge Foot)
Roman to Artuqid (200 BCE–1400 CE); tombs Roman · Roman / Artuqid
Tigris cliff town rescue excavations 2000–19, Roman tombs and Artuqid palaces now under Ilısu Lake with relocated Zeynel Bey tomb.
🇱🇻 Latvia · Hillfort
Ķivutkalns
Late Iron Age Liv 10th–12th c Daugava Livonia pre-Riga 1201 · Liv Finnic (Daugava Livs) — pre-Riga Livonia (Henry Livs)
Ķivutkalns — Liv (Finnic Livs) hillfort (Late Iron Age 10th–12th c, abandoned 1201 German Riga foundation) on Daugava right bank 7 km southeast Riga Old Town, Katlakalns promontory at tributary mouth.
🇱🇹 Lithuania · Fortress
Vilnius Lower Castle
Medieval–Renaissance Lithuania 1323–1655 (Gediminas → Vasa) · Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Gediminid–Jagiellonian–Vasa)
Vilnius Lower Castle (Valdovų rūmai) — stately Renaissance palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania (Gediminas c.1323 foundation, 15th–17th c Renaissance florescence Sigismund Old–Vasa) at foot of…
🇱🇹 Lithuania · Ancient city
Vilnius Lower Castle and Cathedral Square
Middle Ages to Early Modern (13th–18th c. with 5th c. hillfort substratum) · Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Vilnius Lower Castle and Cathedral Square in Vilnius County, Vilnius Old Town, Gediminas Hill foot, Lithuania is a Middle Ages to Early Modern (13th–18th c. with 5th c.
🇱🇾 Libya · Fortified city
Old Jarma — Medieval Citadel over Garama
Garamantian to Early Islamic (500 BCE–1500 CE layered) · Garamantian → Arab Jarma
Jarma excavated by Daniels, Islamic layered above Garamantian capital mound.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Kunya-Urgench Ancient Town
Khwarezmshah to Golden Horde 995–1388 · Khwarezmshah / Seljuk / Golden Horde
Lost capital of Khwarezm in Amu Darya delta, flourishing 10th–14th c. with 60 m Kutlug Timur minaret tallest in Central Asia and Turabek Khanum mausoleum (1360s) with world's most complex girikh dome…
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Historic Centre of Bukhara
Samanid to Shaybanid 9th–16th c (settled from 1st c CE) · Samanid / Qarakhanid / Shaybanid Islamic (Persian)
2000-year-old Silk Road oasis city preserved as intact medieval Islamic townscape with 140+ monuments.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Klazomenai Urla Buried Quarters
Submycenaean to Classical (1100–386 BCE) · Ionian Greek (Klazomenai)
Archaic olive-press metropolis 650 BCE — earliest olive mills & Klazomenian sarcophagi.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Quseir al-Qadim — Central Roman Warehouse Harbour
Late Ptolemaic to Late Roman (1st c. BCE – 400 CE) · Roman Egyptian / Nabataean / Indian Ocean merchants
Central Roman harbour of Quseir — warehouse basin at 0.8–2 m behind reef at Leukos Limen.
🇱🇹 Lithuania · Fortress
Vilnius Upper Castle (Gediminas Hill)
Medieval (13th century–1394) · Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Hillfort-origin Upper Castle on 48 m Gediminas Hill at Neris–Vilnia confluence, founded where Grand Duke Gediminas' dream of an iron wolf howling led to capital 1323.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Old Oyo (Oyo-Ile)
Yoruba Oyo Empire (14th–1835 CE; capital 16th–1835) · Yoruba (Oyo)
Old Oyo (Oyo-Ile, Katunga) is the 16th–19th c. capital of Oyo Empire, 10 km triple earthen walls enclosing 6,000 ha savanna plain with 17 palace compounds (Kobi), council houses and reservoirs.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Ancient city
Old Dongola
Medieval Christian–Islamic Nubia (500–1317 CE; peak 800–12th c.) · Makuria (Christian Nubia) / Islamic
Old Dongola on Nile opposite Letti is Makuria Christian Nubia's capital 500–1317 CE, 45 ha walled town with colonnaded citadel, palace of Ioannes (11th c.) 28×18 m with frescoes, five churches…
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Ancient city
Stone Town of Zanzibar
Swahili to Omani and British (Swahili settlement 16th c; Omani capital 1832–1964) · Swahili / Omani Arab / Persian / Indian (Bohra) / British colonial
Swahili stone town capital of Omani Zanzibar sultanate (1832–1964), Stone Town preserves coral-stone labyrinth: House of Wonders (Beit al-Ajaib 1883 Persian-slave-built), Old Fort (Portuguese 1710),…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Heraion of Samos
Archaic to Roman ~900 BCE–300 CE · Samian Greek (Ionian)
Polycrates' 109 m giant Ionic Heraion - largest attempted Greek temple on Samos plain.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Harran Tell (Harran Plain)
Early Bronze Age through Ummayad Abbasid (c.3000 BCE–750 CE); EBA, MBA, Assyrian, Roman, Islamic · EBA → Assyrian Bit-Adini → Aramaean → Hellenistic-Roman Carrhae → Ummayad Islamic
Bibliographic Harran tell — EBA to Ummayad capital of moon-god Sin (Haran) under medieval beehive city (c.3000 BCE–750 CE).
🇲🇱 Mali · Temple complex
Great Mosque of Djenné
Medieval to Modern (13th c original; current 1907 reconstruction) · Sudano-Sahelian / Malian / French colonial restoration
World's largest mudbrick (banco) structure, Great Mosque of Djenné dominates island town: 56×56 m, 11 m high, three 34 m minarets with ostrich-egg pinnacles, toron wooden poles for annual…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Idanre Hills — Oke Idanre Cultural Landscape
Late Ife to Yoruba Oyo-Benin (1100–1928) · Yoruba Idanre (Udane)
Idanre Hills (Oke Idanre) is the hilltop abandoned Yoruba city 680 m above sea on Inselberg 3 km N of Idanre town, occupied 11th–1928 c.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Hasankeyf
Assyrian to Ottoman (12th c. BCE–1920); peak Artukid–Ayyubid 12th–13th century · Assyrian → Roman → Byzantine → Artukid Kurdish → Ayyubid → Ottoman
Cliff-cut Tigris citadel with 10,000 caves, Artukid bridge and salvage-relocated Timurid tomb now under reservoir.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Temple complex
Fayaz Tepe — Termez Buddhist Stupa and Monastery
Kushan (1st–3rd c. CE) · Kushan Buddhist (Kanishka)
Fayaz Tepe — Termez Buddhist Stupa and Monastery in Surkhandarya Province, Uzbekistan is a Kushan (1st–3rd c. CE) temple-complex attributed to Kushan Buddhist (Kanishka).
🇸🇪 Sweden · Fortress
Visby Walls
High–Late Medieval Hanseatic 1160–1400 (Visby Hanseatic florescence 12th–14th c) · Gotlandic Hanseatic (Gutar–German Hansa Visby, Valdemar IV)
Visby City Walls (Ringmuren) — Hanseatic medieval town wall (late 13th–14th c, with 12th c earth predecessor) encircling Visby Old Town 3.4 km circumference, 11 m high, 27 towers, 3 gates…
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Tell Leilan Lower Town South — Shubat-Enlil Annex
Ninevite 5 to Old Babylonian (3200–1728 BCE) Shamshi-Adad capital · Akkadian Shekhna→Amorite Shubat-Enlil (Shamshi-Adad I)
Tell Leilan Lower Town South — Shubat-Enlil Annex in Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria is a Ninevite 5 to Old Babylonian (3200–1728 BCE) Shamshi-Adad capital ancient-city attributed to Akkadian…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Giricano Tepe South Lower Town
Early Bronze to Middle Bronze (3000–1550 BCE) · Ninevite V → Hurrian → Old Babylonian → Mittani
Giricano Tepe South Lower Town is the 4.2-ha south terrace below the main Early Bronze mound on the upper Tigris west of Ziyaret Tepe.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Buhen Fortress — Great Walled Town
Old Kingdom precursors; Middle Kingdom–New Kingdom · Ancient Egyptian
Southernmost bastion of Egyptian 12th Dynasty canal road, first founded as Old Kingdom copper smelting settlement (2500 BCE) then rebuilt by Senusret I and massively expanded by Senusret III as…