<P> Archaeologists have recovered few artifacts predating the Neo-Babylonian period . The water table in the region has risen greatly over the centuries and artifacts from the time before the Neo-Babylonian Empire are unavailable to current standard archaeological methods . Additionally, the Neo-Babylonians conducted significant rebuilding projects in the city, which destroyed or obscured much of the earlier record . Babylon was pillaged numerous times after revolting against foreign rule, most notably by the Hittites and Elamites in the 2nd millennium, then by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire in the 1st millennium . Much of the western half of the city is now beneath the river, and other parts of the site have been mined for commercial building materials . </P> <P> Only the Koldewey expedition recovered artifacts from the Old Babylonian period . These included 967 clay tablets, stored in private houses, with Sumerian literature and lexical documents . </P> <P> Nearby ancient settlements are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha . Marad and Sippar were 60 km in either direction along the Euphrates . </P> <P> Historical knowledge of early Babylon must be pieced together from epigraphic remains found elsewhere, such as at Uruk, Nippur, and Haradum . </P>

Where is the capital of the babylonian empire located in ancient times