Editing Troy (section)

== Excavation history ==

=== Early modern era ===

[[File:Alexandria Troas Thermen.JPG|thumb|left|Alexandria Troas]]

Early modern travellers in the 16th and 17th centuries, including [[Pierre Belon]] and [[Pietro Della Valle]], had mistakenly identified Troy with [[Alexandria Troas]], a ruined Hellenistic town approximately {{convert|20|km|mi}} south of Hisarlık.{{sfn|Schliemann|1881|p=184}} In the late 18th century, [[Jean Baptiste LeChevalier]] identified a location near the village of [[Pınarbaşı, Ezine]], a mound approximately {{convert|5|km|mi}} south of the currently accepted location. Published in his ''Voyage de la Troade'', it was the most commonly proposed location for almost a century.{{sfn|Schliemann|1881|pp=184–191}}

In 1822, the Scottish journalist [[Charles Maclaren]] was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known.<ref name="Bibliobazaar">{{cite book |last=MacLaren |first=Charles |year=1822 |title=A Dissertation On the Topography of the Plain of Troy |quote=Including an examination of the opinions of Demetrius, Chevalier, Dr.&nbsp;Clarke, and Major Rennell. |publisher=Bibliobazaar |isbn=978-1-146-73161-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkkMAAAAYAAJ |access-date=28 December 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Schliemann|1881|p=189}} The first excavations at the site were trenches by British civil engineer John Brunton in 1855.<ref>[https://ub01.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/85937/StTr19_Pavel.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316163112/https://ub01.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/85937/StTr19_Pavel.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|date=16 March 2023}}Pavel, Cătălin, "Recording the Excavations in Troy, 1855–2010", Studia Troica, 19, pp. 255-283, 2011</ref>

=== Frank Calvert ===
The next excavation at Hisarlık was conducted in 1865 by [[Frank Calvert]], a [[Turkish Levantine]] man of English descent who owned a farm nearby. Calvert made extensive surveys of the site and correctly identified it with classical-era Ilion.<ref>{{harvnb|Wood|1985|pp=42–44}}</ref> This identification convinced Heinrich Schliemann that Homeric Troy should be sought beneath the classical-era remains and led to their subsequent partnership.{{efn|
"...&nbsp;by his generosity and constant assistance to Schliemann, enabled him to transform himself with such spectacular success from a businessman into an archaeologist."<ref>{{harvnb|Robinson|1994|p=153}}</ref>
}}<ref name=allen-1995-380>{{harvnb|Allen|1995|p=380}}</ref>

=== Heinrich Schliemann ===
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1878) b 713.jpg|thumb|left|Heinrich Schliemann]]
In 1868, German businessman [[Heinrich Schliemann]] visited Calvert, and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık. At this point in time, the mound was about 200 meters long and somewhat less than 150 meters wide. It rose 31.2 meters above the plain and 38.5 meters above sea level.

As with Calvert and others, in April 1870 Schliemann began by excavating a trench across the mound of Hisarlık to the depth of the settlements, today called "[[Schliemann's Trench]]".<ref name="Schuchhardt">Schuchhardt (1889)</ref> In 1871–1873 and 1878–1879, 1882 and 1890 (the later two joined by Wilhelm Dörpfeld), he discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the [[Bronze Age]] to the Roman period.<ref>Schliemann, Henry, "Recent Discoveries at Troy", The North American Review, vol. 135, no. 311, pp. 339–62, 1882</ref><ref>Luce, J.. "FOUR. TROY, HOMER, AND THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS". Celebrating Homer's Landscapes: Troy and Ithaca Revisited, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022, pp. 81–110</ref> Schliemann was planning for another excavation season in 1891 when he died in December 1890. He proposed that the second layer, Troy&nbsp;II, corresponded to the city of legend, though later research has shown that it predated the Mycenaean era by several hundred years. Significant finds included many "owl-headed idols" and stone axes from the lower levels.<ref>Yılmaz, Derya, "Some Thoughts on the Troy Type Owl-Headed Idols of Western Anatolia", Praehistorische Zeitschrift 91.2, pp. 369-378, 2016</ref><ref>[http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/publications/schliemann/Schliemann_2012_65-69_Sugaya.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329071304/http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/publications/schliemann/Schliemann_2012_65-69_Sugaya.pdf|date=29 March 2023}}Sugaya, Chikako, "The stone axes of Troy", Pp. 65-69 in Αρχαιολογία και Ερρίκος Σλήμαν. Archaeology and Heinrich Schliemann, 2012</ref>

[[File:Golden bottle and goblets.jpg|thumb|Golden bottle and goblets from [[Priam's Treasure]]. [[Pushkin Museum]]]]

Some of the most notable artifacts found by Schliemann are known as [[Priam's Treasure]], after [[Priam of Troy|the legendary Trojan king]]. Many of these ended up in the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museum]]. Almost all the precious metal objects that went to Berlin were confiscated by the Soviet Union in 1945 and are now in [[Pushkin Museum]] in [[Moscow]].<ref>Akimova, Ludmila, and Vladimir Tolstikov, "The Troy treasures in Russia", ANTIQUITY 69, pp. 11-14, 1995</ref> Even in his own time Schliemann's legacy was controversial because of his excavation methods which included removing features he considered insignificant without first studying and documenting them.<ref name="Schuchhardt" />

[[File:Priam's treasure (r).jpg|right|thumb|Artifacts which Schliemann dubbed ''[[Priam's Treasure]]''.]]

[[File:Ilios - the city and country of the Trojans - the results of researches and discoveries on the site of Troy and throughout the Troad in the years 1871-72-73-78-79, including an autobiography of the (14597820599).jpg|thumb|Hisarlık, pictured in 1880. The notch at the top is "Schliemann's Trench".]]

=== Wilhelm Dörpfeld ===
[[Wilhelm Dörpfeld]] {{nowrap|(1893–1894)}} began working the site alongside Schliemann and later inherited excavation at the site and published his own independent work.<ref>{{cite book | first=Wilhelm | last=Dörpfeld | title=Troja und Ilion: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen in den vorhistorischen und historischen Schichten von Ilion, 1870-1894 | publisher=Beck & Barth | year=1902}}</ref> His chief contributions were to the study of Troy&nbsp;VI and VII, which Schliemann had overlooked due to his focus on Troy&nbsp;II. Dörpfeld's interest in these layers was triggered by the need to close a hole in the initial excavators' chronology known as "Calvert's Thousand Year Gap".<ref>{{harvnb|Allen|1995|p=142}}.</ref> During his excavation, Dörpfeld came across a section of the Troy&nbsp;VI wall which was weaker than the rest. Since the mythic city had likewise had a weak section of its walls, Dörpfeld became convinced that this layer corresponded to Homeric Troy.<ref>[https://archive.org/download/mycenaeantroybas00tolmuoft/mycenaeantroybas00tolmuoft.pdf] Tolman, Herbert Cushing, and Gilbert Campbell Scoggin, "Mycenaean Troy: Based on Dörpfeld's Excavations in the Sixth of the Nine Buried Cities at Hissarlik", American Book Company, 1903</ref> Schliemann himself privately agreed that Troy&nbsp;VI was more likely to be the Homeric city, but he never published anything stating so.<ref>{{harvnb|Allen|1995|p=143}}</ref>

=== Carl Blegen ===
[[Carl Blegen]], professor at the [[University of Cincinnati]], managed the site 1932–38. Wilhelm Dörpfeld collaborated with Blegen.<ref>Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy 1932", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 431–51, 1932; Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy 1933", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 223–48, 1934; Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy 1934", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 6–34, 1935; Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy, 1935", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 550–87, 1935; Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy, 1936", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 17–51, 1937; Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy, 1937", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 553–97, 1937; Blegen, Carl W., "Excavations at Troy, 1938", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 204–28, 1939</ref> These archaeologists, though following Schliemann's lead, added a professional approach not available to Schliemann. He showed that there were at least nine cities. In his research, Blegen came to a conclusion that Troy's nine levels could be further divided into forty-six sublevels,<ref>{{harvnb|Allen|1995|p=259}}</ref> which he published in his main report.<ref>{{cite book | first=Carl W. | last=Blegen | title=Troy: Excavations conducted by the University of Cincinnati, 1932–1938 | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=1950 | url=https://ia801709.us.archive.org/32/items/in.gov.ignca.18601/18601.pdf}}</ref> A post hoc Correspondence Analysis of Blegen's pottery sequence showed a 100-year gap between Troy III and Troy IV. Combined with a similar analysis of the pottery sequences of Korfmann and Schliemann this suggests that for a time in the late Early Bronze Age occupation contracted to the western end of the citadel mound.<ref>Easton, Donald, and Bernhard Weninger, "A Possible New Bronze Age Period at Troy", Anatolian Studies, vol. 68, pp. 33–73, 2018</ref>

=== Manfred Korfmann ===
From 1988 to 2005, excavations were conducted by a team from the [[University of Tübingen]] and the [[University of Cincinnati]] under the direction of Professor [[Manfred Korfmann]], with Professor [[C. Brian Rose|Brian Rose]] overseeing Post-Bronze Age (Greek, Roman, Byzantine) excavation along the coast of the Aegean Sea at the Bay of Troy. Possible evidence of a battle was found in the form of bronze arrowheads and fire-damaged human remains buried in layers dated to the early 12th century BC. The question of Troy VI's status in the Bronze-Age world was the subject of a sometimes acerbic debate between Korfmann and the Tübingen historian [[Frank Kolb]] in 2001–2002.<ref>[https://scholar.archive.org/work/ijsq7in5dnd7joonlmwa5dt4ny/access/wayback/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/4974BD1EC7BF9BFAD2E7E63B9D44C5A9/S0066154600008358a.pdf/div-class-title-troy-in-clearer-perspective-div.pdf] Hertel, Dieter, and Frank Kolb, "Troy in clearer perspective", Anatolian studies 53, pp. 71-88, 2003</ref><ref>[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.3764/aja.108.4.577] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318155032/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.3764/aja.108.4.577|date=18 March 2023}}Kolb, Frank, "Troy VI: A trading center and commercial city?", American Journal of Archaeology 108.4, pp. 577-613, 2004</ref><ref>[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.3764/aja.108.4.615] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318233929/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.3764/aja.108.4.615|date=18 March 2023}}Jablonka, Peter, and C. Brian Rose, "Late Bronze Age Troy: A Response to Frank Kolb", American Journal of Archaeology 108.4, pp. 615-630, 2004</ref>

One of the major discoveries of these excavations was the Troy&nbsp;VI–VII lower city. This lower town had a wide anti-chariot defensive ditch backed by a wooden palisade. Added to the citadel this lower town would have brought Troy up to an area of around 200,000 square meters. This discovery led to a major reinterpretation of the site, which had previously been regarded as a small aristocratic residence rather than a major settlement.<ref>Korfmann, Manfred, "Troia, an Ancient Anatolian Palatial and Trading Center: Archaeological Evidence for the Period of Troia VI/VII", The Classical World, vol. 91, no. 5, pp. 369–85, 1998</ref>

A number of radiocarbon dates, from charcoal samples, were obtained from various phases of the Troy I level.<ref>[https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/viewFile/1692/1696] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318231707/https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/viewFile/1692/1696|date=18 March 2023}}Weninger, Bernhard, "Stratified 14C dates and ceramic chronologies: case studies for the Early Bronze Age at Troy (Turkey) and Ezero (Bulgaria)", Radiocarbon 37.2, pp. 443-456, 1995</ref>

From 2006 until 2012, these excavations continued under the direction of Korfmann's colleague Ernst Pernicka, with a new digging permit.<ref>E. Pernicka, Ch. B. Rose, P. Jablonka (eds), "Troia 1987–2012: Grabungen und Forschungen I", Studia Troica Monographien 5, Bonn, 2014</ref><ref>Pernicka, Ernst, Magda Pieniążek, Peter Pavúk, and Diane Thumm-Doğrayan, "Troia 1987–2012: Grabungen und Forschungen III. Troia VI bis Troia VII: Ausgehende mittlere und späte Bronzezeit", Bonn, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 2020</ref>

=== Recent developments ===
In 2013, an international team made up of cross-disciplinary experts led by William Aylward, an archaeologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was to carry out new excavations. This activity was to be conducted under the auspices of [[Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University]] and was to use the new technique of "molecular archaeology".<ref>{{cite press release |first=Terry |last=Devitt |date=15 October 2012|title=UW-Madison archaeologists to mount new expedition to Troy |website=news.wisc.edu |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin]] |place=Madison, WI |url=https://news.wisc.edu/uw-madison-archaeologists-to-mount-new-expedition-to-troy/ }}</ref> A few days before the Wisconsin team was to leave, the Turkish government cancelled about 100&nbsp;excavation permits throughout Turkey, including Wisconsin's.<ref>{{cite news |last=Simmons |first=Dan |date=22 July 2013 |title=UW-Madison archaeology trip to Troy postponed until next summer |newspaper=Wisconsin State Journal |url=http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/university/uw-madison-archaeology-trip-to-troy-postponed-until-next-summer/article_2bf073da-cee6-53c9-9bc1-15fdc2905712.html |access-date=6 May 2014 |archive-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824190242/http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/university/uw-madison-archaeology-trip-to-troy-postponed-until-next-summer/article_2bf073da-cee6-53c9-9bc1-15fdc2905712.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since 2014 excavations have been conducted by a Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University team led by Rüstem Aslan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-search-of-troy-180979553/ |title=In Search of Troy - Smithsonian Magazine - March 2022 |access-date=26 February 2023 |archive-date=26 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226224045/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-search-of-troy-180979553/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The excavators claim to have found a "Level 0" at Troy near the entrance of Troy-II with the new level pushing the city's history back 600 years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/discovery-takes-troys-history-back-600-years-145976 |title=Discovery takes Troy's history back 600 years - Hurriyet Daily News - August 23 2019 |date=23 August 2019 |access-date=15 March 2023 |archive-date=15 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315233706/https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/discovery-takes-troys-history-back-600-years-145976 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://arkeonews.net/a-tiny-2300-year-old-votive-vessel-presented-to-the-gods-by-the-poor-was-found-in-the-ancient-city-of-troy/ |title=A tiny 2,300-year-old votive vessel presented to the gods by the poor was found in the Ancient City of Troy - Arkeonews - 16 March 2023 |date=26 August 2022 |access-date=16 March 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326230838/https://arkeonews.net/a-tiny-2300-year-old-votive-vessel-presented-to-the-gods-by-the-poor-was-found-in-the-ancient-city-of-troy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Since 2016 the University of Amsterdam has conducted a project to examine the 150-year history of excavation at the site.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.uva.nl/en/discipline/archaeology/research/troy/troy.html |title=Archaeology of archaeology at Troy - University of Amsterdam |date=7 December 2020 |access-date=18 March 2023 |archive-date=18 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318160340/https://www.uva.nl/en/discipline/archaeology/research/troy/troy.html |url-status=live }}</ref>