Agamemnon's Palace

To an archaeologist, Greek history can be subdivided almost endlessly, but to the non-experts there are really only two major periods: around the 12-13th centuries BC (think Trojan war) and then a long gap before the 3rd-4th centuries BC (think Parthenon, Thermopylae, etc).  Most of the ruins we've been seeing are from the later period, but in the past few days we've seen a number from this earlier period -- Nestor's Palace,  for example.  However, the real crown jewel is Mycenae, where Agamemnon and his dynasty (which only lasted three generations) ruled.  These people really knew how to build a gate:

Lion's Gate at Mycenae

Yes, those stones are huge.  Moving them even today would be a huge effort, and they're definitely comparable to the Pyramids.  The lions at the top of the gate are still amazing after almost 3000 years. This is probably the best preserved area in the site, thanks to those gigantic blocks.  Another truly impressive bit is the water system -- which involved an underground aquifer that was accessed by a carefully designed and supported cavern built into the walls themselves.  Here's a picture taken from the bottom the first set of steps down into the water system:

The entire area of the palace, all on the top of a mountain, was about an acre in size, and according to an archaeologist, held at peak about 1000 people (with food, etc. coming up from the plains below, where another 10,000 people lived).  Office space in the palace for the artisans, clerks, etc. was, according to her, somewhat better than graduate student offices, perhaps at the adjunct faculty level.  Either way, think cramped spaces -- but location is everything.  

Then when a senior person died, they got a serious tomb.  Apparently the original method was to bury people in a hillside, but then they got more advanced and started building their own hills instead.  And I do mean large:

Unfortunately, as the archaeologist we ran into noted, all of the tombs were looted in Ancient times.  Which is probably for the best, as they would have been looted by the British Museum later on...