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New sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List

Antequera Dolmens Site (Spain)

Dolmen de Menga in Antequera
Photo by Olaf Tausch

New sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List The World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 40th session since 10 July 2016, inscribed new sites on the World Heritage List. Sites are located in China, India, Iran, Micronesia, Greece, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and in a transboundary property located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.]]>

July 15, 2016, source: UNESCO

The new sites, in the order of their inscription are:

Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape (People’s Republic of China)—Located on the steep cliffs in the border regions of southwest China, these 38 sites of rock art illustrate the life and rituals of the Luoyue people.

Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) at Nalanda, Bihar (India) – The Nalanda Mahavihara site is in the State of Bihar, in north-eastern India. It comprises the archaeological remains of a monastic and scholastic institution dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE.

The Persian Qanat (Islamic Republic of Iran)—Throughout the arid regions of Iran, agricultural and permanent settlements are supported by the ancient qanat system of tapping alluvial aquifers at the heads of valleys and conducting the water along underground tunnels by gravity, often over many kilometres.

Nan Madol: Ceremonial Centre of Eastern Micronesia (Federated States of Micronesia) – Nan Madol is a series of 99 artificial islets off the south-east coast of Pohnpei that were constructed with walls of basalt and coral boulders.

Stećci – Medieval Tombstones Graveyards (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia) – This serial property combines 30 sites, located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Serbia, western Montenegro and central and southern Croatia, representing these cemeteries and regionally distinctive medieval tombstones, or stećci.

Archaeological Site of Philippi (Greece) – The remains of this walled city lie at the foot of an acropolis in the present-day region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, on the ancient route linking Europe and Asia, the Via Egnatia.

Antequera Dolmens Site (Spain) – Located at the heart of Andalusia in southern Spain, the site comprises three megalithic monuments: the Menga and Viera dolmens and the Tolos of El Romeral, and two natural monuments: the Peña de los Enamorados and El Torcal mountainous formations, which are landmarks within the property.

Archaeological Site of Ani (Turkey) – This site is located on a secluded plateau of northeast Turkey overlooking a ravine that forms a natural border with Armenia. This medieval city combines residential, religious and military structures, characteristic of a medieval urbanism built up over the centuries by Christian and then Muslim dynasties.

Gorham’s Cave Complex (United Kingdom) – The steep limestone cliffs on the eastern side of the Rock of Gibraltar contain four caves with archaeological and paleontological deposits that provide evidence of Neanderthal occupation over a span of more than 125,000 years.

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New sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List