Archaeological Sites in Afghanistan

City/town/settlement in Afghanistan (8)

Alexandria Arachosia - Old Kandahar

Alexandria Arachosia - Old Kandahar

Alexandria Arachosia was a fortress-city founded by Alexander the Great around 330-329 BC on the site of an earlier Achaemenid fortress. It was one of over twenty cities…

City/town/settlement · 1500 - 500 BC
Alexandria in the Caucasus

Alexandria in the Caucasus

Alexandria in the Caucasus was a colony of Alexander the Great. It was one of many colonies designated with the name "Alexandria". He founded the colony at an important junction…

City/town/settlement · 500 BC - 1 AD
Alexandria Oxiana-Ai-Khanoum

Alexandria Oxiana-Ai-Khanoum

Ai-Khanoum is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. It served as a major military and economic centre of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The…

City/town/settlement · 500 BC - 1 AD
Dilberjin Tepe

Dilberjin Tepe

Dilberjin Tepe is an ancient fortified town in northern Afghanistan, probably founded in the 5th century BC during the Achaemenid period and flourishing until the 6th century AD.…

City/town/settlement · 1500 - 500 BC
Mundigak

Mundigak

Mundigak is a prehistoric archaeological site in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, representing a major center of the Helmand culture during the Bronze Age. Located approximately 55…

City/town/settlement · 4500 - 3000 BC
Nagara (Ancient city)

Nagara (Ancient city)

Nagara, also known as Dionysopolis, was an ancient city in what is now eastern Afghanistan, associated with the site of Nagara Ghundi about 4 km west of Jalalabad near the…

City/town/settlement · Undated

Said Qala Tepe

Said Qala Tepe is an archaeological site near Kandahar in Afghanistan. The tell is about 8 meters high and 200 by 200 meters in area. It has produced particularly strong evidence…

City/town/settlement · 4500 - 3000 BC

Yemshi Tepe

An ancient circular fortified city covering approximately 20 hectares, located 5 km northeast of Sheberghan in northern Afghanistan. Built during the Kushan Empire period (1st-3rd…

City/town/settlement · 500 BC - 1 AD

Monastery in Afghanistan (7)

Ahin Posh Tape

Ahin Posh Tape

A Kushan-era Buddhist stupa and monastery near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, first excavated by William Simpson in 1879. The central relic deposit contained a golden Gandharan amulet…

Monastery · 1 - 500 AD
Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa

Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa

The Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa, also code-named "Stupa C1", is a small limestone stupa from the Chakhil-i-Ghoundi monastery, at the archeological site of Hadda in eastern…

Monastery · 1 - 500 AD
Hadda

Hadda

Haḍḍa is a Greco-Buddhist archeological site located ten kilometers south of the city of Jalalabad. Some 23,000 Greco-Buddhist sculptures, both clay and plaster, were excavated in…

Monastery · 1 - 500 AD
Mes Aynak

Mes Aynak

Mes Aynak is a major Buddhist settlement located 40 km southeast of Kabul in Logar Province, Afghanistan. The site features a vast complex of Buddhist monasteries, homes, over 400…

Monastery · 500 BC - 1 AD
Takht-e Rostam

Takht-e Rostam

Takht-e Rostam is a Buddhist stupa and monastery complex carved from bedrock in northern Afghanistan. Located 2 km south of Haibak, the site features five chambers, two serving as…

Monastery · 1 - 500 AD
Tapa Shotor

Tapa Shotor

Tapa Shotor, also Tape Shotor or Tapa-e-shotor, was a large Sarvastivadin monastery near Hadda, Afghanistan, and is now an archaeological site. The first Buddhist period dates to…

Monastery · 500 BC - 1 AD
Tepe Sardar

Tepe Sardar

Tepe Sardar, also Tapa Sardar or Tepe-e-Sardar, is an ancient Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan. It is located near Ghazni, and it dominates the Dasht-i Manara plain. The site…

Monastery · 1 - 500 AD

Temple complex in Afghanistan (2)

Guldarra Stupa

Guldarra Stupa

Located near the village of Guldara in Kabul Province, Afghanistan, the Guldara stupa sits atop a high hill at the end of the Valley of Guldara. The monument was established in…

Temple complex · 1 - 500 AD
Surkh Kotal

Surkh Kotal

Surkh Kotal is a monumental Kushan-era archaeological site in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan. Excavated by Daniel Schlumberger (1952-1963), the site yielded inscriptions in Greek…

Temple complex · 1 - 500 AD

Archaeological site in Afghanistan (1)

Bimaran

Bimaran

Bimaran is a locality 11 km west of Jalalabad in Afghanistan, known for five ancient stupas dating to the 1st century BC-1st century AD. British archaeologist Charles Masson…

Archaeological site · 500 BC - 1 AD

Castle/palace in Afghanistan (1)

Daschly

Daschly

Daschly (Dashly) is an oasis in northern Afghanistan's Jowzjan Province containing 41 Bronze Age archaeological sites excavated by Viktor Sarianidi from 1969-1979. Dashly 1…

Castle/palace · 3000 - 1500 BC

Fortification in Afghanistan (1)

Kutlug-Tepe

Kutlug-Tepe is an Achaemenid-period fortification in northern Afghanistan, in ancient Bactria. The site comprises a hill measuring 40 x 40 metres and 4 metres high, about a…

Fortification · 1500 - 500 BC

Fortress/citadel in Afghanistan (1)

Farah Citadel

Farah Citadel

A massive fortress on the edge of Farah City, Afghanistan, with walls reaching 15 meters high and a perimeter extending one kilometer. Known as the Citadel of Alexander, its…

Fortress/citadel · 500 BC - 1 AD

Minaret/tower in Afghanistan (1)

Minar-i Chakri

Minar-i Chakri

Minar-i Chakri was a 28.5-m-tall pillar of carved stone, situated at 2,500 m elevation, 16 km southeast of Kabul, Afghanistan. Erected in the 1st century AD, it was one of the…

Minaret/tower · 1 - 500 AD

Necropolis/tombs complex in Afghanistan (1)

Tillya Tepe

Tillya Tepe

Tillya tepe, Tillia tepe or Tillā tapa is an archaeological site in the northern Afghanistan province of Jowzjan near Sheberghan, excavated in 1978 by a Soviet-Afghan team led by…

Necropolis/tombs complex · 1500 - 500 BC

Religious in Afghanistan (1)

Shewaki Stupa

Shewaki Stupa

(1st–5th c. AD) Shewaki is a village in Bagrami District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan, near Koh e Hindaki and Munar e Chakari mountains. The site contains Shahbahar (King's…

Religious · 1 - 500 AD

Rock relief/carving in Afghanistan (1)

Rag-i-Bibi

Rag-i-Bibi is the local name of the relief, which refers to Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad, who is venerated by the Shiites. The relief was likely carved around the 3rd Century…

Rock relief/carving · 1 - 500 AD

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