Ancient Archaeological Sites Worldwide

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260 ancient sites around the world, from the Paleolithic to the early modern era.

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Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in Europe

Colosseum

72 CE – 80 CE

The Colosseum, Rome's iconic Flavian Amphitheatre, hosted gladiatorial combats and public spectacles, embodying imperial power and engineering innovation.

Roman

100

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World Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in the World

Great Wall of China

700 BCE – 1644 CE

The largest defensive structure ever built by human hands — a sprawling system of walls, forts, and watchtowers stretching over 21,000 kilometres across northern China, constructed and rebuilt across more than two millennia by successive dynasties from the Warring States period through the Ming. Far more than a single wall, it represents the accumulated military engineering of an entire civilization defending its northern frontier against nomadic incursion.

Iron AgeClassicalImperial China

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Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in South America

Machu Picchu

1450 CE – 1572 CE

An Inca citadel built c. 1450 CE, Machu Picchu sits atop a mountain ridge in Peru. Abandoned during the Spanish conquest, it remained unknown to the outside world until 1911.

Pre-ColumbianHigh MedievalEarly Modern

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Continent Record

Oldest Monument in Europe

Stonehenge

3100 BCE – 1600 BCE

Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic monument in Wiltshire, England, erected in phases between 3100 and 1600 BCE. Its iconic sarsen stones and bluestones form a complex of ceremonial and astronomical significance.

NeolithicBronze Age

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Country Record

Oldest City in Jordan

Petra

300 BCE – 700 CE

Petra, the Nabataean capital from ~300 BCE to 700 CE, is famed for its rock-cut tombs and sophisticated water system, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders.

HellenisticRomanLate Antique

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Country Record

Oldest City in Italy

Pompeii

700 BCE – 79 CE

The Roman city of Pompeii was buried in the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, its extraordinary preservation offering an unparalleled window into ancient daily life.

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

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Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Cambodia

Angkor Wat

1113 CE – 1218 CE

Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious monument, was built as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu by Khmer king Suryavarman II, later evolving into a Buddhist complex.

High Medieval

The fifteen moai of Ahu Tongariki at Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile

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Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in Oceania

Easter Island

900 CE – 1722 CE

The most remote inhabited island on Earth and the home of the moai — over 900 monumental stone figures, some weighing 80 tonnes, carved and transported by the Rapa Nui people across a tiny Pacific island to stand on ceremonial platforms as the embodied presence of ancestral chiefs.

MedievalEarly Modern

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Troy

3000 BCE – 500 CE

The legendary city of Homer's Iliad, located at Hisarlık in northwestern Türkiye. Multiple settlement layers spanning over 4,000 years make it one of the most storied archaeological sites in the world.

Iron AgeClassicalRoman

The twin Gothic spires and west façade of Cologne Cathedral, Germany

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Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Germany

Cologne Cathedral

1248 CE – 1880 CE

The masterpiece of German Gothic architecture and the most-visited landmark in Germany — a twin-spired cathedral begun in 1248 to enshrine the relics of the Three Kings. Left unfinished for centuries, it was completed in 1880 to its original medieval plans, and for four years stood as the tallest building in the world.

High MedievalMedieval

The domed exterior of Hagia Sophia with its Ottoman minarets, Istanbul, Turkey

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Country Record

Oldest Monument in Türkiye

Hagia Sophia

532 CE – 1453 CE

The supreme achievement of Byzantine architecture — a vast domed basilica built by the emperor Justinian in Constantinople in just five years and completed in 537 CE, its 31-metre dome seeming to float on a ring of windows. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest enclosed space and greatest cathedral in the Christian world, before becoming a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.

Late AntiqueByzantineOttoman

The portico and rotunda of the Pantheon in Rome, Italy

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Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Italy

Pantheon

27 BCE – 125 CE

The best-preserved monument of ancient Rome — a temple "to all the gods" rebuilt under the emperor Hadrian around 125 CE, crowned by the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built, a perfect hemisphere lit by a single open oculus at its apex. It has stood roofed and in continuous use for nearly nineteen centuries.

Roman

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