diff --git a/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts b/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts
index 7ea355d9c..864cc02cb 100644
--- a/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts
+++ b/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@ export const materializeDirectoryNodes = (
   for (const directory of directories) {
     const children = (childrenByParent.get(directory.occurrence_id) ?? [])
       .map(({ logical_path, artifact_id, entry_kind }) => ({
-        name: logical_path.split("/").at(-1),
+        // Intermediate directory entries may be absent from an archive.
+        name: logical_path.slice(directory.logical_path.length + 1),
         artifact_id,
         entry_kind,
       }))
diff --git a/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts b/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b36cf2d3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+import { TextReader, Uint8ArrayWriter, ZipWriter } from "@zip.js/zip.js";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { digestCanonical } from "../../../src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.js";
+import { inventoryArtifact } from "../../../src/application/ArtifactInventory.js";
+import { compareArtifacts } from "../../../src/domain/artifactComparison.js";
+import type { ArtifactInventoryResult } from "../../../src/domain/artifactGraph.js";
+import { createEvidence } from "../../../src/domain/evidence.js";
+import { jsonValueSchema } from "../../../src/domain/jsonValue.js";
+import { createTestTempDirectory } from "../../fixtures/temporaryDirectory.js";
+
+const observeZip = async (entries: readonly (readonly [string, string])[]) => {
+  const root = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-directory-identity-");
+  const path = join(root, "fixture.zip");
+  const writer = new ZipWriter(new Uint8ArrayWriter());
+  for (const [name, content] of entries)
+    await writer.add(name, new TextReader(content), {
+      directory: name.endsWith("/"),
+      lastModDate: new Date("2020-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
+    });
+  await writeFile(path, await writer.close());
+  const inventory = await inventoryArtifact(path);
+  return {
+    inventory,
+    evidence: createEvidence(
+      { path, sha256: inventory.manifest.root_sha256, format: "zip" },
+      { id: "rea-artifact-graph", name: "REA artifact graph", version: "1" },
+      {
+        operation: "inventory_artifact",
+        parameters: {},
+        result: jsonValueSchema.parse(inventory),
+        confidence: "observed",
+        authority: "shipped-artifact",
+      },
+    ),
+  };
+};
+
+const occurrenceAt = (inventory: ArtifactInventoryResult, path: string) => {
+  const occurrence = inventory.occurrences.find(
+    ({ logical_path }) => logical_path === path,
+  );
+  if (occurrence === undefined) throw new Error(`Missing ${path}`);
+  expect(occurrence.hash_status).toBe("verified");
+  expect(occurrence.artifact_id).not.toBeNull();
+  return occurrence;
+};
+
+// Preserve the pre-fix name-based hash for ordinary immediate children.
+const legacyDirectoryId = (
+  inventory: ArtifactInventoryResult,
+  paths: readonly string[],
+) =>
+  `art_${digestCanonical({
+    sha256: digestCanonical({
+      kind: "directory",
+      children: paths
+        .map((path) => {
+          const child = occurrenceAt(inventory, path);
+          return {
+            name: path.split("/").at(-1),
+            artifact_id: child.artifact_id,
+            entry_kind: child.entry_kind,
+          };
+        })
+        .sort((left, right) =>
+          String(left.name).localeCompare(String(right.name)),
+        ),
+    }),
+  })}`;
+
+describe("virtual directory relative-path identity", () => {
+  it("detects a renamed implicit intermediate directory", async () => {
+    const left = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/a/data.txt", "same bytes"],
+    ]);
+    const right = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/b/data.txt", "same bytes"],
+    ]);
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).not.toBe(
+      occurrenceAt(right.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id,
+    );
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg/a/data.txt").artifact_id).toBe(
+      occurrenceAt(right.inventory, "pkg/b/data.txt").artifact_id,
+    );
+    expect(left.inventory.occurrences.map((item) => item.logical_path)).toEqual(
+      [".", "pkg", "pkg/a/data.txt"],
+    );
+    const comparison = compareArtifacts(left.evidence, right.evidence);
+    expect(comparison.changes).toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        logical_path: "pkg",
+        classification: "changed",
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(comparison.summary).toMatchObject({ changed: 2, unchanged: 0 });
+  });
+
+  it("ignores order of same-basename children beneath implicit directories", async () => {
+    const left = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/a/data.txt", "A"],
+      ["pkg/b/data.txt", "B"],
+    ]);
+    const right = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/b/data.txt", "B"],
+      ["pkg/a/data.txt", "A"],
+    ]);
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).toBe(
+      occurrenceAt(right.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id,
+    );
+    const comparison = compareArtifacts(left.evidence, right.evidence);
+    expect(comparison.changes.map((change) => change.logical_path)).toEqual([
+      ".",
+    ]);
+    expect(comparison.summary).toMatchObject({ changed: 1, unchanged: 3 });
+  });
+
+  it.each(["data.txt", "implicit/data.txt"])(
+    "keeps directory relocation independent for %s",
+    async (suffix) => {
+      const left = await observeZip([
+        ["pkg/", ""],
+        [`pkg/${suffix}`, "same bytes"],
+      ]);
+      const right = await observeZip([
+        ["moved/", ""],
+        [`moved/${suffix}`, "same bytes"],
+      ]);
+      expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).toBe(
+        occurrenceAt(right.inventory, "moved").artifact_id,
+      );
+    },
+  );
+
+  it("preserves exact legacy identities for immediate children and empty directories", async () => {
+    const { inventory } = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/z.txt", "Z"],
+      ["pkg/a.txt", "A"],
+      ["empty/", ""],
+    ]);
+    expect(occurrenceAt(inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).toBe(
+      legacyDirectoryId(inventory, ["pkg/z.txt", "pkg/a.txt"]),
+    );
+    expect(occurrenceAt(inventory, "empty").artifact_id).toBe(
+      legacyDirectoryId(inventory, []),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("preserves nested explicit-directory identities and rename detection", async () => {
+    const left = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/a/", ""],
+      ["pkg/a/data.txt", "same bytes"],
+    ]);
+    const right = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/b/", ""],
+      ["pkg/b/data.txt", "same bytes"],
+    ]);
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg/a").artifact_id).toBe(
+      legacyDirectoryId(left.inventory, ["pkg/a/data.txt"]),
+    );
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).toBe(
+      legacyDirectoryId(left.inventory, ["pkg/a"]),
+    );
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).not.toBe(
+      occurrenceAt(right.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id,
+    );
+  });
+});