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The Mysterious Case of the Hallstatt Culture
The Hallstatt culture of early Iron Age Europe, c. 800-450 BCE, named for an Austrian salt-mining town: its prehistoric mines, rich graves and trade links.
Greece, Rome and Europe
Lost Peoples and Places
Lesser-known cultures and sites around the western Mediterranean and Europe.
The Ancient Civilization of the Garamantes: A Culture of Kings and Merchants
The Garamantes ruled oasis towns in the Libyan Sahara from about 500 BCE to the seventh century CE, watering fields with underground foggara channels.
The Ancient Civilization of the Moors: A New Era
Who were the Moors? The ancient Mauri of Mauretania in northwest Africa, and how the word later came to describe medieval Muslims of North Africa and Iberia.
The Enigmatic Megalithic Temples of Malta
Malta's megalithic temples, from Ggantija on Gozo (c. 3600 BCE) to Tarxien, are older than Stonehenge. Here is what is known about them and their elusive builders.
The Forgotten Civilization of the Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture
The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, c. 5000-3000 BCE: painted pottery, giant Neolithic settlements and the debate over their size.
The Hidden Treasures of the ancient Library of Alexandria
No hidden treasure is known at the Library of Alexandria. Here is what it held, how scrolls were gathered and catalogued, and how it really declined.
The Mysterious Disappearance of the Viking Settlements
The Norse Greenland settlements, founded c. 985 CE, faded out by the fifteenth century. Climate, trade and the ivory market explain it; Vinland was only brief.
The Mysterious Megaliths of Carnac: A Puzzle of Ancient Origins
The Carnac stones of Brittany, set up roughly 4500-3300 BCE, long before the Celts. What the alignments are, how they are dated and what theories explain them.
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