🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Tumulus
Boralday Saka Kurgans (Boralday Steppe Necropolis)
Early Saka (Scythian) Iron Age · Saka Tigrakhauda (pointed-hat Sakas)
Saka steppe royal cemetery 28 km from Almaty: 81 kurgans 45-105 m with tigrine gold plaques.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Musawwarat es-Sufra — Great Enclosure (Butana Steppe, Sudan)
Meroitic (300 BCE–350 CE) · Kushite (Meroitic)
Enigmatic Meroitic 3rd-century BCE–1st-century CE sandstone temple complex 25 km from Nile in Butana steppe, 180 km NE of Khartoum and 20 km north of Naqa.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to early nomadic (~2000 BCE – 1000 CE) · Andronovo, Karasuk, Saka and Turkic nomadic
Arid gorge in the Chu-Ili massif preserving five major groups with over 5,000 petroglyphs, famed for anthropomorphic sun-headed figures up to 80 cm tall with rayed haloes.
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Ancient city
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm
Afanasievo to Sarazm Chalcolithic–Bronze Age · Sarazm culture (Central Asian proto-Bactrian)
Earliest proto-urban centre in Central Asia (4000–2000 BCE) in Zarafshan Valley, Tajikistan's first UNESCO site (2010), 100 ha town with irrigation canals, palace, fortified citadel and aeolian…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Temple complex
Musawwarat es-Sufra – Lion 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...
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Hydraulic works
Karakorum — Orkhon Valley Hydraulic and Urban Canals
Mongol Empire (Ögedei to Möngke, 1235–1260) · Mongol imperial (Ögedei, Möngke, artisans Chinese–Muslim–European)
1235 Ögedei capital's 8-km Orkhon pipe to Silver Tree fountain and 60-well moated square, Bonn–Ulaanbaatar excavated.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Sbeitla (Sufetula)
Roman to Early Islamic (Flavian to 7th c; peak 2nd–5th c) · Roman / Berber / Byzantine
Mid-steppe Roman-Byzantine city with triple Capitol temples, olive-press quarter and five Byzantine basilicas.
🇲🇳 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.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly Kungei Ridge Sanctuary — Aiyrtau Sun Shrine
Bronze Age to Turkic (1400 BCE – 800 CE) · Andronovo to Saka to Turkic
Ridgetop with shaman drum and deer-headdress plus Saka kurgans.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Temple complex
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
Timurid 1389–1405 over Yasawi 12th c. · Timurid / Sufi Sunni
Colossal Timurid shrine (1389–1405) over 12th-c. Sufi poet Khoja Ahmed Yasawi's grave, commissioned by Timur to draw Islam to steppe, largest brick dome in Central Asia (44 m high, 22 m span) and…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Ancient city
Umm ar-Rasas (Kastron Mefaa)
Roman to Umayyad (3rd–8th c CE; Byzantine peak 5th–8th c) · Roman / Byzantine / Ghassanid / Umayyad
Desert frontier city on Via Nova Traiana, Umm ar-Rasas contains Roman castrum, five Byzantine churches with superb mosaic floors, and the intact 14×6 m mosaic map in St Stephen's Church (718 CE) –…
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Hampi Aqueducts and Stepped Tanks
Vijayanagara 14th–16th c. · Vijayanagara Hindu
Hampi hydraulic – Vijayanagara capital's Tungabhadra canal system: 15 km Raya canal, aqueduct on pillars crossing 2-tier, Pushkarini stepped tanks (6.8m deep chlorite schist, geometric black basalt…
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Lingqu North Pound Extension Canal (Qin Lingqu Northern Stepped Pound)
Qin 214 BCE to Tang 825 CE (Lingqu North pound) · Qin imperial (Shi Huang–Shi Lu) Lingqu Yue conquest hydraulic
North pound extension 1.2 km ×8×1.5 m with 3 Qin granite pound-locks 8×4 m ×1.0 m lift — earliest locks globally 214 BCE.