prehistory Archives | World Heritage Sites

A black bull painted onto a rock surface.

Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley

A collection of shelters used by prehistoric people, many containing impressive Paleolithic works of art.

A rough cliff and a rocky beach below it, with a group of people listening to a guide.

Miguasha National Park

A cliff-side location with many well-preserved fossils from the period when species moved from sea to land.

A dirt floor with a glass cylinder on the far side of the space.

Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons)

A site dating to thousands of years ago where flint was mined to create axes and other tools.

Drawings of two elephants, one with a human rider on it.

Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka

Artworks spanning thousands of years and depicting animals, people, rituals etc. related to the culture of local indigenous groups.

3 cylindrical houses, white with flat roofs.

Choirokoitia

Ruins of a Neolithic settlement 6000-9000 years old.

View over a lake with mountains in the distance.

Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley

Archeological sites showing evidence of 1.83 million years of continuous hominid habitation.

An oval stone-walled structure with a flat top.

Talayotic Menorca

Numerous archeological sites with dry-stone structures dating to the Bronze Age and Late Iron Age.

A spiral carving.

Megalithic Temples of Malta

Seven impressive stone structures used for ritual purposes during the Bronze Age.

View of several grass-covered mounds at Poverty Point.

Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point

A remarkable achievement in earthen construction by hunter-gatherers more than 3000 years ago.

A drawing of a horse, black outlines and tinted red on the body.

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain

Some of the earliest art by the earliest humans.

A rock face covered in paintings in dark red depicting people and animals as well as boats and buildings and geometric patterns.

Chiribiquete National Park – “The Maloca of the Jaguar”

A large Amazonian forest with unusual rock formations and ancient rock paintings.

A view of the central circle at Stonehenge

Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites

Two mysterious prehistoric stone circles: one, the most sophisticated in the world; the other, the largest.

A flat grassy area with a scattering of the large granite jars, some of them eroded or broken.

Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang – Plain of Jars

Ancient sites with large stone jars that were used in funeral rituals.

An extremely large burial mound with 2 entrances in the middle. The sides are a story tall and in a round shape, the top is grass-covered and dome-shaped.

Brú na Bóinne – Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne

The largest concentration of prehistoric Neolithic tombs in Europe.

A field with wildflowers with, in the background, a mountain that looks just like the face of a person lying on their back.

Antequera Dolmens Site

Megalithic tombs and the natural features that align with them.

View of a massive crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Two active volcanoes and a protected habitat for endemic flora and fauna.

A large flat-sided rock outcropping with a clearly visible drawing of an antelope of some sort on the left - it must be quite big given the distance to the stone - and a somewhat less clear image on the right, also of an antelope. At Tsodilo Hills in Botswana.

Tsodilo

Rock formations bearing a huge collection of petroglyphs spanning thousands of years.

A close-up of one of the heads at Rapa Nui National Park: simple and quite eroded. Beyond that an empty, grass-covered landscape and the sea beyond.

Rapa Nui National Park

Also known as Easter Island, famous for its huge stone statues of human heads.

At Su Nuraxi di Barumini a structure made of rocks forms a low cone shape on a hill.

Su Nuraxi di Barumini

Ruins of a Bronze Age society that built unique circular defensive structures.

A view of a lake with very dry-looking hills around it. The water is greenish and a flock of flamingos makes a pink spot in it.

Lake Turkana National Parks

A huge nature reserve, home to many threatened species and important fossil remains.

A low-ceilinged room, carved out of rock. At the back are two archways (carved, not built). Two people stand in the left-hand archway, showing that the height is about twice a human's height. The right-hand one is larger, and through it more rough-hewn space can be seen in another "room."

Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

A mysterious underground burial site dating to 4000 BC.

A view from above of a light brown landscape, like a desert. A few roads cut through it and to the right of them, an outline of a bird with a long beak and lots of simple wing and tail feathers. Below that is the shadow of the airplane.

Lines and Geoglyphs of Nazca and Palpa

Huge images and straight lines drawn in the desert by pre-Columbian people.

On a gray rock, dark red line drawings: several look like they might be boats, with people in them, or perhaps they're showing oars sticking up. A few human figures at the top holding items: a long stick, perhaps, a gourd or shield. Several 4-legged animals too.

Rock Carvings in Tanum

A collection of ancient petroglyphs dating back to the Bronze Age.

A solitary small house in a hill covered in short grasses, against a sunset sky.

Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland

An island known for its biodiversity, prehistoric ruins, and ancient agrarian landscape.

Palm trees on grassy ground. Narrow channels cut between the trees carrying water.

Cultural Sites of Al Ain

Evidence of a prehistoric transition from nomadic to sedentary societies around oases.

Looking past the side of a hoodoo on the left to a large flat and dry landscape in the background

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Stunning, other-worldly badlands scenery, with some of the most significant dinosaur fossil discoveries ever made.

A row of standing stones on a flat field.

Heart of Neolithic Orkney

Remains of a neolithic society that predates Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza.