What's new on Mythic Grounds — feature updates, content additions, and improvements to the site.
v2.0.0
The Stitch Redesign — Timeline, Cards, Immersive Hero & Mobile Nav
AddedNew Timeline page at /timeline — 'The Chronological Axis' displays all 200 entries organized along a vertical timeline by era, from Neolithic Dawn to The Living Thread.
AddedMobile bottom tab bar — fixed navigation with Map, Directory, Bookmarks, and Profile tabs visible on all mobile screens.
ImprovedEntry detail pages now feature a full-bleed immersive hero image with era and culture pill tags, white title overlay, and inline bookmark/share actions.
ImprovedLayer sections redesigned with archival-style labels: MYTHOLOGY (BELIEF), GEOGRAPHY (PLACE), HISTORY (ARCHAEOLOGY) — each with color-coded decorative dashes.
ImprovedDirectory page redesigned with 'Discovery Directory' hero, visual card grid with cover images and culture badges, and archive status footer.
ImprovedSearch input now reads 'Enter culture, deity, or region...' with an 'SEARCH THE ARCHIVE' label for the scholarly aesthetic.
v1.7.0
The 200 Milestone — Hagia Sophia & Bagan
AddedHagia Sophia — the 1,489-year-old sacred building in Istanbul, from Justinian's cathedral to Ottoman mosque to modern flashpoint.
AddedBagan — Myanmar's plain of 2,200+ Buddhist temples, the greatest concentration of sacred architecture on Earth.
Added2 new cultural traditions: Byzantine/Ottoman and Burmese Buddhist.
ImprovedMythic Grounds now catalogues 200 sacred sites across 55 cultures — milestone reached!
v1.6.0
Time Travel — Era Filtering Across All 198 Sites
AddedNew Historical Era filter on the Map and Directory pages — browse sites by Prehistoric, Ancient, Classical, Medieval, or Continuous/Living era.
AddedAll 198 entries tagged with one of five historical eras based on their primary period of significance.
AddedEra filter is context-aware: selecting an era updates culture, type, and tradition counts in real time.
AddedEra pills in fullscreen map mode for quick filtering while exploring.
ImprovedFilter sidebar now supports four dimensions: Tradition, Era, Culture, and Type — all cross-filtering each other.
v1.5.0
Roots & Ruins — 9 Sites Across the Americas & Africa
AddedChaco Canyon — the Ancestral Puebloan ceremonial center aligned to solar and lunar cycles in New Mexico.
AddedTulum — the Maya clifftop city overlooking the Caribbean, one of the last cities inhabited at Spanish contact.
AddedOllantaytambo — the living Inca city in Peru's Sacred Valley, still inhabited along its original street plan.
AddedCoricancha — the Inca Temple of the Sun in Cusco, once covered in gold and the center of Inca cosmology.
AddedAhu Tongariki & the Moai — Rapa Nui's iconic stone statues, the largest ceremonial platform on Easter Island.
AddedAksum — the obelisk city of Ethiopia, legendary home of the Ark of the Covenant and the Queen of Sheba.
AddedTimbuktu — Mali's legendary center of Islamic learning with 700,000 manuscripts in its medieval libraries.
AddedCradle of Humankind — the Sterkfontein Caves of South Africa, where 'Mrs. Ples' and other early hominid fossils were found.
AddedPoverty Point — the 3,700-year-old earthwork complex in Louisiana, built by pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers.
Added4 new cultural traditions: Ethiopian Orthodox, West African Mali, Pre-Human/Paleoanthropological, and Archaic North American.
ImprovedTotal entries now 198 across 53 cultures — up from 189 in v1.4.0.
v1.4.0
Stones & Sagas — 12 European Sacred Sites
AddedCarnac Stones — over 3,000 standing stones in Brittany, the largest megalithic alignment in the world.
AddedAvebury — the world's largest stone circle in Wiltshire, surrounding an entire village.
AddedCallanish Stones — the lunar-aligned stone cross on Scotland's Isle of Lewis, older than Stonehenge.
AddedSkara Brae — Europe's best-preserved Neolithic village, buried under Orkney sand for 4,000 years.
AddedRing of Brodgar — Orkney's great ceremonial stone circle, the heart of a Neolithic sacred landscape.
AddedTintagel Castle — the legendary birthplace of King Arthur on Cornwall's dramatic cliffs.
AddedOlympia — the Temple of Zeus and birthplace of the Olympic Games, one of the Seven Wonders.
AddedTemple of Artemis at Ephesus — one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, center of goddess worship.
AddedMeteora — the gravity-defying monasteries perched atop sandstone pillars in central Greece.
AddedHadrian's Wall — the 73-mile Roman frontier across northern England, edge of the known world.
AddedJelling Stones — Denmark's 'birth certificate,' the runestones marking the transition from Norse paganism to Christianity.
AddedL'Anse aux Meadows — the only confirmed Norse settlement in North America, Leif Erikson's Vinland.
Added3 new cultural traditions: Neolithic Orkney, Eastern Orthodox, and Neolithic Breton.
ImprovedTotal entries now 189 across 49 cultures — up from 177 in v1.3.0.
v1.3.0
Sacred East — 11 Asian Temples & Shrines
AddedLumbini — birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) in Nepal, a UNESCO World Heritage pilgrimage site.
AddedSarnath — the Deer Park where the Buddha delivered his first sermon and set the Wheel of Dharma in motion.
AddedShwedagon Pagoda — Myanmar's golden crown, the 2,600-year-old stupa housing relics of four Buddhas.
AddedItsukushima Shrine — the floating vermillion torii gate on Japan's sacred island of Miyajima.
AddedFushimi Inari Taisha — the ten thousand vermillion gates of Kyoto, Japan's most iconic Shinto shrine.
AddedTirupati Venkateswara Temple — the world's busiest and richest Hindu temple, receiving 50,000+ pilgrims daily.
AddedMeenakshi Amman Temple — the jewel of Tamil Nadu, a Dravidian masterpiece with 33,000 sculpted figures.
AddedTiger's Nest (Taktsang) — the clifftop monastery in Bhutan where Guru Rinpoche meditated in a tiger-cave.
AddedSigiriya — Sri Lanka's Lion Rock, the sky palace of a parricide king, with ancient frescoes and water gardens.
AddedShaolin Temple — birthplace of Chan Buddhism and Kung Fu, with its legendary Pagoda Forest.
AddedTemple of Heaven — Beijing's imperial ritual complex where the Emperor mediated between heaven and earth.
Added3 new cultural traditions: Buddhist Mahayana, Sinhalese Buddhist, and Bhutanese Buddhist.
ImprovedTotal entries now 177 across 46 cultures — up from 166 in v1.2.0.
v1.2.0
The Holy Ones — 10 Abrahamic Sacred Sites
AddedThe Western Wall & Temple Mount — Judaism's holiest site, the last remnant of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
AddedChurch of the Holy Sepulchre — Christianity's holiest site, built over Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus.
AddedDome of the Rock & Al-Aqsa Mosque — Islam's third holiest site, where Muhammad ascended to heaven.
AddedMecca — Masjid al-Haram & the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam and direction of prayer for 1.8 billion Muslims.
AddedVatican City — St. Peter's Basilica, seat of the Catholic Church, built over the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
AddedMount Sinai — where Moses received the Ten Commandments, with St. Catherine's Monastery at its base.
AddedMedina — Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque and burial place of Muhammad.
AddedSantiago de Compostela — endpoint of the Camino, one of Christianity's three great pilgrimages.
AddedMont Saint-Michel — the tidal island monastery in Normandy, founded after a vision of Archangel Michael.
AddedMasada — Herod's mountaintop fortress and site of the last stand of Jewish resistance against Rome.
AddedCultural sensitivity notices for contested and restricted sacred spaces, including the Temple Mount and Mecca.
ImprovedTotal entries now 166 across 43 cultures — up from 156 in v1.1.0.
v1.1.0
The Big Gaps Update — 13 Iconic Sites
AddedStonehenge — the world's most iconic megalithic monument, aligned to solstices and lunar cycles.
AddedGöbekli Tepe — the world's oldest known temple (c. 9500 BCE), predating agriculture by millennia.
AddedÇatalhöyük — the world's oldest known city (c. 7500 BCE), with evidence of goddess worship and rooftop-entry architecture.
AddedThe Parthenon & Acropolis — Athens' crown jewel, temple of Athena Parthenos, symbol of Classical Greece.
AddedTroy (Hisarlik) — the legendary city of Homer's Iliad, archaeologically verified at the Dardanelles.
AddedPompeii — the Roman city frozen in time by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE.
AddedPetra — the rose-red Nabataean city carved into Jordan's sandstone cliffs, one of the New Seven Wonders.
AddedLoch Ness — Scotland's legendary lake, home of the Loch Ness Monster and older Celtic water-horse folklore.
AddedNazca Lines — the enormous desert geoglyphs of Peru, visible only from the sky, dating to 500 BCE–500 CE.
AddedBorobudur — the world's largest Buddhist temple in Java, a stone mandala encoding the path to enlightenment.
AddedThe Great Sphinx of Giza — the limestone guardian of the Giza Plateau, companion to the pyramids.
AddedTikal — the largest Maya city, with towering temple-pyramids rising above the Guatemalan rainforest canopy.
AddedGreat Zimbabwe — the largest ancient stone structure in sub-Saharan Africa, and the namesake of a nation.
Added11 new cultural traditions: British Neolithic, Anatolian Neolithic, Abrahamic (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Nabataean, Nazca, Scottish/Celtic, Shona/Bantu, Buddhist Theravada, and Arthurian Legend.
Added8 new site types: Megalithic/Stone Circle, Cathedral/Church, Mosque/Islamic Site, Archaeological Complex, Lost City/Legendary Site, Monastery, Pagoda/Stupa, and Rock-Cut Monument.
ImprovedTotal entries now 156 across 43 cultures — up from 143 entries across 32 cultures at launch.
v1.0.0
Launch
Added154 sacred and mythological sites across 32 cultures, spanning every inhabited continent.
AddedInteractive map with Leaflet — search, filter by culture or site type, and explore geographically.
AddedRich entry pages with layered content: mythology, place, and history perspectives for each site.
AddedCultural sensitivity framework with per-entry notices for Indigenous and sacred sites.
AddedWikimedia Commons imagery with Creative Commons attribution for all site photos.
AddedScholarly sources and bibliography — every factual claim is cited with tiered references.
AddedSave sites to your personal bookmarks (stored locally, no account needed).
AddedShare buttons on every entry — X, Facebook, Pinterest, and copy link.
AddedTravel links (Booking.com, Amazon, GetYourGuide) for planning visits to sacred sites.
AddedNewsletter signup for updates on new sites and features.
AddedFull legal framework: Privacy Policy with CCPA compliance, Terms of Service, and Affiliate Disclosure.
AddedGoogle Analytics for visitor insights and site performance tracking.
AddedDark and light theme support across the entire site.
AddedOpen Graph images for rich social media previews when sharing entries.
v1.0.1
Under the Hood — Performance, Accessibility & Security
ImprovedLazy-loaded Google Analytics, AdSense, and Plausible scripts — switched from afterInteractive to lazyOnload to stop blocking initial page render.
ImprovedAdded preconnect hints for Wikimedia Commons, Google Fonts, and tile servers to cut latency on first load.
ImprovedWCAG AA contrast fixes — adjusted ink-faint color across all four themes (Coastal, Parchment, Obsidian, Midnight) to meet the 4.5:1 ratio for normal text.
ImprovedAdded will-change: opacity, transform to scroll-reveal animations for smoother compositor-promoted transitions.
AddedHSTS security header (max-age 2 years, includeSubDomains, preload) for enforced HTTPS.
AddedCross-Origin-Opener-Policy (same-origin-allow-popups) header for additional cross-origin isolation.
AddedDNS prefetch hints for Google Tag Manager, AdSense, Plausible, and OpenStreetMap tile servers.
This is the beginning. More sites, features, and stories are on the way.