I receive a weekly newsletter from Biblical Archaeology that usually has 8 or so articles, either previous ones they've run or to newspapers around the world, essentially articles on archaeological finds.However, this time, there is this link:
http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf
that has the neatest animated map covering kingdoms/empires of the last 3,000 years.
There is also a timeline across the bottom of the map.