Sunday, July 12, 2026

History Highlights

General overview of the Cahokia Mounds archaeological site in Illinois

Cahokia: The Largest Ancient City North of Mexico

Cahokia was the largest pre-Columbian city in North America, a Mississippian settlement in Illinois built around a massive earthen pyramid called Monks Mound.

General view of the Kultepe mound, ancient Kanesh, in central Turkey

Kultepe: The Bronze Age Trade City Behind Ancient Kanesh

Kultepe is the site of ancient Kanesh in Turkey, where Assyrian merchants left over twenty thousand cuneiform tablets recording Bronze Age trade and family life.

The Sphinx Gate entrance to the Hittite settlement mound at Alacahoyuk, Turkey

Alacahoyuk: The Bronze Age Tombs Behind a Sphinx Gate

Alacahoyuk is an ancient mound in central Turkey where Early Bronze Age royal tombs full of gold and bronze standards sit beneath a Hittite sphinx gate.

Model of the Nevalı Çori excavation site before it was flooded by the Atatürk Dam

Nevali Cori: The Neolithic Shrine That Rivaled Gobekli Tepe

Nevali Cori is a Neolithic settlement in southeastern Turkey where carved stone pillars and a polished shrine floor, built nearly 11,000 years ago, now sit underwater.

A cell-plan building excavated at the Neolithic site of Cayonu

Cayonu: The Neolithic Village Where Farming Life Began

Cayonu is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey where early farming, animal domestication, and organized architecture emerged nearly 11,000 years ago.