Troy

:This article is about the city of Troy / Ilion as described in the works of Homer, and the location of an ancient city associated with it. For other uses see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation).

Excavation campaigns

Schliemann

With the rise of modern critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were consigned to the realms of legend. In the 1870s (in two campaigns, 1871-73 and 1878/9), however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a hill, called Hissarlik by the Turks, near the town of Chanak (Çanakkale) in north-western Anatolia. Here he discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities, dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Schliemann declared one of these cities—at first Troy I, later Troy II—to be the city of Troy, and this identification was widely accepted at that time.

Related Topics:
1870s - 1871 - 73 - 1878 - 9 - Archaeologist - Heinrich Schliemann - Çanakkale - Anatolia - Bronze Age

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Dörpfeld, Blegen

After Schliemann, the site was further excavated under the direction of Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1893/4) and later Carl Blegen (1932-8). These excavations have shown that were at least nine cities built one on top of each other at this site.

Related Topics:
Wilhelm Dörpfeld - 1893 - 4 - Carl Blegen - 1932 - 8

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Korfmann

In 1988 excavations were resumed by a team of the University of Tübingen and the University of Cincinnati under the direction of Professor Manfred Korfmann. The question of Troy's status in the Bronze Age world has been the subject of a sometimes acerbic debate between Korfmann and the Tübingen historian Frank Kolb in 2001/2002.

Related Topics:
1988 - University of Tübingen - University of Cincinnati - Manfred Korfmann - Bronze Age - Frank Kolb

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In August 2003 following a magnetic imaging survey of the fields below the fort, a deep ditch was located and excavated among the ruins of a later Greek and Roman city. Remains found in the ditch were dated to the late Bronze Age, the alleged time of Homeric Troy. It is claimed by Korfmann that the ditch may have once have marked the outer defences of a much larger city than had previously been suspected.

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Possible evidence of a battle was also found in the form of arrowheads found in layers dated to the early 12th century BC.

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Korfmann died on 11 August 2005, and since the digging permit was tied to his person, it is uncertain how and when the excavations will continue.

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