![]() In 1988, Chichén Itzá became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One notable highlight of the city is El Castillo, a step pyramid constructed between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries that served as a temple to the god Kukulkán, and whose stairs cast a shadow of a moving serpent around the spring and fall equinoxes. At its peak, the four-mile-long city had up to 50,000 inhabitants. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1987.Ĭhichén Itzá, founded by the ancient Mayans in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula around 600 CE, was a thriving metropolis for more than 600 years. The Great Wall spans more than 13,000 miles, making it the world’s largest military structure, though it was never effective in preventing invaders. Construction on the wall-including perhaps the best-known and best-preserved sections-continued through the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). With a base ranging from 15 to 50 feet wide, it stood roughly 15 to 30 feet high and was topped with 12-foot ramparts and guard towers. Made with a combination of earth and stone, it is one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken by a civilization. ![]() ![]() ![]() In 1986, the monument and the surrounding area were added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.Ĭonceived by Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century BCE, the Great Wall of China is a collection of fortifications originally intended to prevent intrusions by barbarian nomads. There have also been human bones found in the area, suggesting that Stonehenge may have been a sacred burial ground or a site of ritual sacrifice. Within the bluestones, which are arranged in a horseshoe, is another set of free-standing vertical sarsen stones topped with a lintel. Inside stands a smaller ring of bluestones. At 13-foot-tall and 7-foot-wide, the outermost ring contains vertical sarsen stones-large sandstone rocks native to Southern England-weighing around 25 tons and topped with horizontal stones. While Stonehenge’s purpose remains unclear, the monument is aligned toward sunrise at the summer and winter solstices. Most scientists agree that it was built in stages by Neolithic and Bronze Age people who constructed them with simple tools and limited technology. Other theories posit that they were erected by invading Danish forces or that they are the ruins of a Roman temple. According to folklore, the site was created by the Arthurian wizard Merlin, who magically transported the stones from Ireland, where they had been assembled by giants. One of numerous “henges” in the United Kingdom, the archaeological site of Stonehenge, consisting of massive prehistoric stones standing vertically and arranged in an outer ring and an inner horseshoe with smaller stones interspersed, still survives at more than 5,000 years old. These places-many of them still accessible to the public today-continue to be of significant historical and cultural importance.īelow is a brief overview of the 24 most notable archaeological sites around the world. While some of these sites are the only record of the civilizations that created them, others have been continuously occupied, such as the present-day city of Jerusalem, which was built on top of its ancient structures. This list considers places-some of which are included among the Seven Wonders of the World, and others among UNESCO’s list of protected World Heritage sites-built by ancient Romans, Sumerians, Egyptians, Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and Chinese. All offer clues to their builders’ aesthetics and values. Many foreshadow art and architecture as we know them today. By studying these sites, scholars are often able to trace their histories, as well as their place in the historical continuum. Imbued with the mores of the cultures that created them, archaeological sites shed light on past civilizations, preserving their societal structures, religious beliefs, and modes of living.
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