Early Medieval Era

500 CE – 1000 CE · 37 sites

All sites in this period

Country Record

Longest Recorded History in China

Great Wall of China

700 BCE – 1644 CE

The vast frontier fortification system of northern China — rammed-earth Qin walls and the iconic stone Ming battlements — remains the single most conspicuous monumental gap left in a global archaeological atlas.

933

Iron AgeClassicalImperial China

Featured

Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in North America

Chichén Itzá

600 CE – 1200 CE

A major Maya-Toltec ceremonial center from 600–1200 CE, featuring the iconic stepped pyramid of Kukulcán and one of the largest ballcourts in Mesoamerica.

422

Pre-ColumbianEarly MedievalHigh Medieval

Featured

Country Record

Oldest Temple in Indonesia

Borobudur

778 CE – 850 CE

Monumental 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Java, Indonesia, featuring nine stacked platforms with over 2,600 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues—the world's largest Buddhist temple.

322

Early Medieval

Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) at Ellora, carved from a single basalt outcrop, Maharashtra, India

Country Record

Longest Recorded History in India

Ellora Caves

100 BCE – 1100 CE

The world's largest rock-cut monastic and temple complex — 34 monasteries and shrines carved directly into a 2-kilometre basalt escarpment in Maharashtra, representing Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain traditions side by side. The Hindu Kailasa Temple (Cave 16), hewn from a single enormous rock in the 8th century CE, is the largest monolithic structure ever carved from stone and one of humanity's most audacious feats of rock-cut architecture.

ClassicalLate AntiqueEarly Medieval

Featured

Continent Record

Oldest Complex in North America

Mesa Verde

600 CE – 1300 CE

Mesa Verde, in Colorado, USA, preserves elaborate cliff dwellings built by the Ancestral Pueblo people between 1190 and 1280 CE, reflecting a sophisticated pre-Columbian society.

421

Late AntiqueEarly MedievalHigh Medieval

The three main towers of Prambanan at sunset, Java

Featured

Continent Record

Southernmost Known Site in Asia

Prambanan

850 CE – 930 CE

The largest Hindu temple complex in Southeast Asia, built on Java c. 850 CE, comprising 240 temples centered on three towers rising 47 m dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

Early Medieval

Reconstructed Sutton Hoo helmet with face mask, British Museum

Featured

Country Record

Earliest Known Site in United Kingdom

Sutton Hoo

575 CE – 650 CE

The most spectacular archaeological discovery in British history — a royal Anglo-Saxon ship burial in Suffolk dating to around 625 CE whose treasure, including a magnificent iron helmet and gold regalia, transformed understanding of the so-called Dark Ages and may mark the grave of the king who inspired Beowulf.

Early Medieval

The Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India

Featured

Country Record

Oldest Temple in India

Bodh Gaya

500 BCE – 1900 CE

The place where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree — marked by the soaring Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar, India — the holiest pilgrimage site in Buddhism and a UNESCO World Heritage monument drawing devotees from across Asia.

Iron AgeClassicalEarly Medieval

Featured

Tiwanaku

200 BCE – 1000 CE

The monumental center of a pre-Inca Andean civilization (200 BCE–1000 CE) known for its colossal stone architecture, advanced agricultural systems, and artistic influence across the south-central Andes.

422

ClassicalRomanLate Antique

Country Record

Longest Continuously Occupied Site in Germany

Trier

16 BCE – 1300 CE

Roman colony founded c. 16 BCE, Trier preserves the largest ensemble of Roman architecture north of the Alps, including the Porta Nigra, Imperial Baths, and Constantine’s basilica, with continuous settlement into the medieval period.

422

ClassicalRomanLate Antique

Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Japan

Tōdai-ji

728 CE – 800 CE

Tōdai-ji, founded in 728 CE, is a monumental Buddhist temple in Nara renowned for housing the colossal bronze Great Buddha and reflecting the zenith of imperial patronage during Japan's Nara period.

322

Early Medieval

Cliff face of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, honeycombed with Buddhist cave temples carved over a thousand years

Country Record

Oldest Complex in China

Mogao Caves

366 CE – 1368 CE

A honeycomb of 492 Buddhist cave temples cut into a cliff face at the western edge of the Gobi Desert, filled with murals and sculptures created continuously across a thousand years of Silk Road history. In 1900, a hidden chamber known as the Library Cave was discovered sealed behind a wall, containing roughly 50,000 manuscripts and paintings — including the Diamond Sutra of 868 CE, the world's oldest dated printed book — that transformed the study of medieval Asian religion, language, and trade.

Late AntiqueEarly MedievalMedieval