Blog - Photations

Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba

The Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba includes the remains of several 19th-century coffee plantations found in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains. In the 1800s and early 1900s, eastern Cuba focused mainly on growing coffee. The leftover parts of these plantations show how people worked in hard-to-farm areas and highlight the importance of the plantation system for the economy and society in Cuba and the Caribbean.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Lenggong

Lenggong Valley, also called Lembah Lenggong in Malay, is a region located between the Bintang mountain range to the west and the Titiwangsa mountain range to the east. It is a rural area with small villages, called kampongs, surrounded by green plants and limestone hills that have many caves. The Lenggong Valley is one of the most important places in Peninsular Malaysia for archaeology.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Aranjuez

Aranjuez is a city and municipality in Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. It is located at the southern end of the region. The main part of the city is on the left bank of the Tagus River, slightly upstream from where the Jarama River flows into the Tagus.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Angkor

Angkor, also called Yasodharapura, was the capital city of the Khmer Empire, located in present-day Cambodia. The empire existed from about the 9th to the 15th centuries. The Angkor area includes many religious temples, libraries, moats, and other buildings.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Xidi

Xidi (Chinese: 西递) is a village located in Xidi Town, Yi County, Huangshan City, in the historical Huizhou region of Anhui province, China. Xidi and the nearby town of Hongcun are famous for having very well-preserved buildings and city planning from ancient times in Anhui. Together, they were named the “Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui” World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 2000.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Thebes, Egypt

Thebes, known to ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an ancient city located along the Nile River, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the Mediterranean Sea. The ruins of Thebes are now found within the modern city of Luxor, Egypt. Thebes was the main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome, called the Sceptre nome, and served as the capital of Egypt during parts of the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom periods.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Pingyao

Pingyao, officially known as Pingyao Ancient City, is a walled city in central Shanxi Province, China. It is famous for its role in Chinese economic history and for its well-maintained city layout and buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Administratively, it includes the town of Gutao in Pingyao County, Jinzhong.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Sigiriya

Sigiriya, also known as Sinhagiri or Lion Rock (Sinhala: සීගිරිය, Tamil: சிகிரியா/சிங்ககிரி, pronounced SEE-gi-ri-yə), is an ancient rock fortress in the northern Matale District near Dambulla town in Sri Lanka’s Central Province. It is a place of great historical and archaeological importance, featuring a large granite rock column about 180 meters (590 feet) high. According to an old Sri Lankan story called the Cūḷavaṃsa, this area was once a forest.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Qalhat

Qalhāt (Arabic: قلهات) is a village in Oman, located more than 20 kilometers to the north of Sur. The area where people live is to the northwest of Wādī Ḥilm (Arabic: وادي حلم), and the ruins of the ancient city are found to the southeast. The ancient city was called Calatu by Marco Polo and named Calha on the map created by Abraham Ortelius.

April 10, 2026 No Comments

Polonnaruwa

Polonnaruwa, also spelled Poḷonnaruva in Sinhala and Polaṉṉaṟuvai in Tamil, is the main town of the Polonnaruwa District in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province. The modern town is sometimes called New Town, while another part of Polonnaruwa remains the ancient royal city of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. Polonnaruwa is the second-oldest kingdom in Sri Lanka.

April 10, 2026 No Comments