Summer residences:
- Versailles
=> not limited to such use

Archeological type sites:
Caral - Norte Chico Culture
=> no reference found citing a location as a "type site"
San Agustin - San Agustin Culture
=> no reference found citing a location as a "type site"
Easter Island - Rapa Nui Culture
-> Lapita is normally regarded as the type site for polynesian archaeology.
Rome - Roman Culture
=> "type site" seems t only apply to prehistoric archaeology
Istanbul - Byzantine Culture
=> "type site" seems t only apply to prehistoric archaeology

If historic sites are out then should Monte Alban too.

And same about Mycenae.

What about the Meroitic Culture?

Designed by Belgian architects
> Le Havre (Auguste Perret was born in Brussels)

I have added it for now, but am a bit in doubt as Perret is described as French architect. He was born in Brussels, but maybe out of French parents?

after further research, this doesn't seem to be entirely true (although focused on the technological/material side of cultures, it often will be prehistoric)

the connection will still be limited to those that can be provided with a reasonable reliable reference (Mycenae has several, Monte Alban too but may be needs more specific reference)

This article indicates that Perret lived in Brussels for c7+ years from his birth in Feb 1874 of French emigre parents before the family returned to France
"Auguste Perret, the eldest of three brothers, was born near Brussels of French parentage. His father, descended from a long line of master stonemasons, had been a successful building contractor in Paris. His involvement in the Communist uprising against the government in 1871 forced him to leave France for Belgium, where he reestablished himself as a contractor. In 1881, however, after a general amnesty, he and his family returned to Paris, where he successfully continued his career as a building contractor, training his sons to do the same."
http://www.enotes.com/auguste-perret-reference/auguste-perret

That might have allowed him to play soccer for Belgium if he had wanted but am not sure it makes him a Belgian Architect"!

Of the sites identified so far as "Type sites" only Mycenae isn't "Prehistoric" and even that lies on the absolute cusp of prehistory - The Linear B fragments hardly represent a literature and its mythology, carried forward to Greece, is opaque at best as to Mycenae's nature, extent and development. And even those literate fragments required a "dig" for their discovery

I think the distinction remains generally true - a culture which is defined solely by its archaeological sites requires that any definition of or debate concerning its nature, extent and development is largely be based on those sites - and in the early days of study and definition that is likely to be based on work at a single "type site" whose hypotheses are tested at other sites. This is not the case for historic cultures such as Rome and Byzantium whose parameters are far more widely accessible than through an initial identifying archaeological dig and the hypotheses derived from it.

Ah well, someone found a "type site" for the Roman Empire - "early post Roman development of a fort" - one lives and learns!! Perhaps pedantically, I can point out that it isn't a "type site" of a culture (as per the definition) but rather of a type of building! Perhaps Ironbridge is a type site of "Early Industrial Revolution ironworks development" - I am Googling for it now!

Monte Alban and El Tajin too have inscriptions which makes them too a historic rather than a pre-historic sites. Nonetheless, I tend to agree with Solivagant that the main criterion for judging type sites is their significane as source of information regarding a specific culture. I would then add the following two candidates:

San Agustin - A culture named after the site and which is also its main source of information.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultura_San_Agust%C3%ADn

Caral - Norte Chico culture was based in Caral and that is the main source of information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norte_Chico_civilization

Monte Alban and El Tajin weren't included in my original correspondence with Els when i suggested the Connection - but I did concede Mycenae!

Regarding Norte Chico Culture - this article about it only uses the word/phrase "type site" in relation to the site of Aspero, which is down river from Caral
"First, there is the question of the significance of communal architecture at maritime sites up and down the coast. The type-site of Aspero, with its small mounds, is one of the very few sites in the littoral zone with any kind of communal architecture."
But that could be referring to Aspero as a "type site" for Maritime sites only!
http://diggingperu.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/haas-creamer-2006_crucible-of-andean-c ivilization.pdf

I was the one who added the others. I have been searching a bit on Google, and the term "type site" seems to be used quite broadly.

No problem! I was just explaining how my comment had not taken them into account.

(4772) Shell Mounds (Middens)
Catalhoyuk
>> please name a source

http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-268601242/the-microstratigraphy-of-middens-capturi ng-daily

These are waste middens but not shell mouns so I guess it is out.