Plan of Lower Palace

A plan of the Lower Palace area at the site of Carchemish.

This area has been, and continues to be, an area of intense excavation and restoration.  Included in the area are two temples and a palatial compound.  This urban scheme was first established around 1330 BC and lasted until the end of the Neo Hittite Period in 717 BC.  At that time the Assyrians suppressed the temple usage but the palace remained in use.

Beginning in the tenth century the Neo Hittite rulers of Carchemish embellished the temples, public spaces, and the palace with all kinds of sculpted materials.