Visiting Göbekli Tepe: The World’s Oldest Temple
Göbekli Tepe predates Stonehenge by 6,000 years and was built by people with no farms, pottery or metal tools.
Category Engineering & Human Ingenuity
Visiting Sigiriya: King Kashyapa’s Lion Rock
Sigiriya: how a Sri Lankan king's fifth century fortress, built out of guilt and fear, became one of Asia's most sophisticated ancient sites.
Visiting Samarkand: Tamerlane’s Silk Road Capital
Timur built Samarkand on conquest. His grandson built an observatory that outmeasured Europe for a century. Visit both, and the tomb that unites them.
Visiting Derinkuyu: The World’s Largest Underground City
Derinkuyu is the world's largest excavated underground city, an 85 metre deep complex carved into Cappadocia's volcanic rock. Discover its history, defensive engineering and how to visit today.
Visiting Cu Chi Tunnels: The Tunnel Rats’ War
Beneath Cu Chi lies 250km of hand dug tunnel. How Viet Cong fighters made a rural district near Saigon invisible to American troops.
Visiting Hashima Island: The World’s Most Crowded Island
Our guide to Hashima Island, a speck of concrete jutting out from the East China Sea, which has a long and complicated history.