Subfolder: D2_Mediterranean_Near_East | Parent Section: D — Sites & Artifacts
Document Count: 15 | Last Updated: March 14, 2026
Category Tags: archaeology, archaeological-site, sites-and-artifacts, sites, artifacts, megalithic, schliemann, bronze-age-aegean

OVERVIEW

This subfolder contains 15 documents covering Mediterranean Near East within the Sites & Artifacts section. Topics include Maltese Temple Builders and the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, Pompeii and Herculaneum — Frozen in Volcanic Time, Karnak Temple Complex — The Dwelling of Amun-Ra, Baalbek — Colossal Stones of the Bekaa Valley, Troy (Hisarlik): Schliemann, Stratigraphy, and the Birth of Field Archaeology and 10 more topics. Key themes span new kingdom, bronze age, thebes, egyptian temple, hatshepsut, ramesses.

KEY POINTS

• D_2_01 — The Maltese Temple Period (~3600–2500 BCE) produced the oldest free-standing structures on Earth — predating the Egyptian pyramids by ~1,000 years and Stonehenge by ~1,500 years.
• D_2_02 — The Roman cities of Pompeii (~11,000 population) and Herculaneum (~5,000 population) were destroyed and simultaneously preserved by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
• D_2_03 — The Karnak Temple Complex, located on the east bank of the Nile at ancient Thebes (modern Luxor, Upper Egypt), is the largest religious complex ever constructed — encompassing over 100 hectares…
• D_2_04 — Baalbek (ancient Heliopolis — "City of the Sun") is one of the most monumental archaeological sites in the ancient world, located in the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon at the foot of the…
• D_2_05 — Troy (modern Hisarlik, northwestern Turkey) is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, identified with the legendary city of Homer's Iliad.
• D_2_06 — Ur (modern Tell al-Muqayyar, southern Iraq) is one of the most important archaeological sites in Mesopotamia.
• D_2_07 — Persepolis (Old Persian: Pārsa; modern Takht-e Jamshid, Fars Province, Iran) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, constructed primarily under Darius I (r.
• D_2_08 — Mycenae, located in the northeastern Peloponnese, was the dominant political and cultural center of Late Bronze Age Greece (~1600–1100 BCE) and gave its name to the entire Mycenaean civilization.
• D_2_09 — Tell el-Amarna, located in Middle Egypt on the east bank of the Nile, is the archaeological site of Akhetaten ("Horizon of the Aten"), the short-lived capital city founded by Pharaoh Akhenaten…
• D_2_10 — Nineveh, located on the east bank of the Tigris River opposite modern Mosul in northern Iraq, was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire at its zenith and the site of the world's first deliberately…
• D_2_11 — Abu Simbel — twin rock-cut temples on the western bank of the Nile in southern Egypt (Nubia), near the modern border with Sudan — represents the apex of pharaonic monumental engineering and one…
• D_2_12 — Knossos — located approximately 5 km south of modern Heraklion on the island of Crete — is the largest and most famous Bronze Age palatial complex in the Aegean world, serving as the political,…
• D_2_13 — Palmyra (ancient Tadmor; Arabic: Tadmur) — an oasis city in the Syrian desert approximately 215 km northeast of Damascus — rose to extraordinary prominence between the **first and third…
• D_2_14 — The Valley of the Kings (Arabic: Wadi al-Muluk; ancient Egyptian: Ta-sekhet-ma'at, "The Great Field") — a narrow, arid wadi on the west bank of the Nile opposite ancient Thebes (modern…
• D_2_15 — Hattusa (modern Boğazköy/Boğazkale, approximately 150 km east of Ankara in north-central Turkey) — the capital of the Hittite Empire from approximately 1650 to 1180 BCE — was one of…

KEY THEMES & KEYWORDS

new kingdom, bronze age, thebes, egyptian temple, hatshepsut, ramesses, hittite, unesco, lion gate, linear b, cuneiform, malta, ħal saflieni hypogeum, ġgantija, mnajdra

DOCUMENT INDEX

WHAT TO EXPECT

Documents in this subfolder follow the project's 4-tier evidence system:

• Tier 1 (Verified): Peer-reviewed, archaeological record, primary texts
• Tier 2 (Credible): Academic, debated but supported by evidence
• Tier 3 (Speculative): Possible but unverified
• Tier 4 (Dubious): No credible source or contradicted by evidence

Tier distribution in this subfolder: 1: 2 docs, 1–2: 3 docs

Each document includes a Quick Summary, tiered claims with specific evidence,

counter-arguments, bibliography, and cross-references to related documents across the corpus.

Subfolder summary auto-generated from corpus analysis. Last Updated: March 14, 2026