Buried? End badly in ancient city (5)
I believe the answer is:
under
'buried?' is the definition.
(eg underground)
'end badly in ancient city' is the wordplay.
'badly' is an anagram indicator.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'ancient city' becomes 'ur' (ancient Sumerian city state).
'end' anagrammed gives 'nde'.
'nde' inserted into 'ur' is 'UNDER'.
(Other definitions for under that I've seen before include "Dylan Thomas wrote '. . . . . Milk Wood'" , "Sub" , "Inferior" , "In a state of unconsciousness" , "Subordinate to; planted with" .)