Iron Age Era

1200 BCE – 550 BCE · 51 sites

All sites in this period

Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in Asia

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

World Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in the World

Troy

3000 BCE – 500 CE

Nine settlement layers at Hisarlık in northwestern Türkiye, where Heinrich Schliemann dug for Homer's Troy and archaeologists still debate which level matches a historical war. UNESCO listed the site in 1998; renewed interest from epic film adaptations keeps new visitors comparing poetry with stone.

312

Iron AgeClassicalRoman

Featured

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.

521

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

Featured

Country Record

Earliest Known Site in Iraq

Babylon

1894 BCE – 539 BCE

Capital of ancient Babylonia, Babylon flourished under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II, famed for its Hanging Gardens and Ishtar Gate, before falling to Persia in 539 BCE.

412

Bronze AgeIron Age

Featured

Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in Africa

Carthage

814 BCE – 700 CE

Ancient Phoenician city-state that became Rome's greatest rival, later reborn as a Roman metropolis, embodying over a millennium of Mediterranean history.

422

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

Delphi

800 BCE – 393 CE

Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, seat of the Pythia whose oracles shaped Greek colonisation, warfare, and personal choices. Treasury buildings, a theatre, and the stadium crown the site where Greeks imagined the omphalos, the navel of the world.

422

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

The Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem

Featured

Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Israel

Old City of Jerusalem

1000 BCE – 1900 CE

The walled heart of Jerusalem — roughly one square kilometre sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — where the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Dome of the Rock stand within Ottoman-era ramparts and layers of Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine, and medieval archaeology.

211

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

Featured

Olympia

776 BCE – 393 CE

Ancient sanctuary of Zeus and birthplace of the Olympic Games, hosting athletes and pilgrims from 776 BCE until its closure in 393 CE.

322

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

Featured

Country Record

Longest Continuously Occupied Site in Syria

Palmyra

2000 BCE – 273 CE

Ancient oasis city in Syria, Palmyra was a crucial hub on the Silk Road, famed for its fusion of Greco-Roman and Persian architecture and the brief but dramatic reign of Queen Zenobia against Rome.

322

Bronze AgeIron AgeHellenistic

Featured

World Record

Oldest Temple in the World

Karnak

2055 BCE – 100 BCE

The Karnak Temple Complex, the largest religious site ever built, developed over two thousand years as the preeminent cult center of the god Amun-Ra, showcasing the architectural ambitions of dozens of pharaohs and the evolving political power of Thebes.

322

Bronze AgeIron AgeClassical

Derinkuyu

800 BCE – 1923 CE

The deepest known underground city in the world, extending 85 meters below the surface with 18 levels. It could shelter approximately 20,000 people along with livestock and food stores.

312

Iron AgeClassicalByzantine

Featured

Country Record

Longest Continuously Occupied Site in Iraq

Ur

3800 BCE – 500 BCE

Ur, a major Sumerian city-state in southern Mesopotamia, flourished from 3800 BCE to 500 BCE, renowned for its massive ziggurat, opulent royal tombs, and as the traditional birthplace of Abraham.

322

ChalcolithicBronze AgeIron Age