Ancient Discoveries: Troy Essay

This report covers a brief historic basis on the stripping of the Hisarlik direct of troy Heinrich Schliemann (refer to work 1.), its discoverer and his orderologies whilst excavating the site. It focuses chiefly on his second campaign, the some famous of the five- and his lack of scientific archeologic structure whilst excavating, rather using philological and relative go reveal methods mistakes as a result of careless excavations, and the bequest it has left on business relationship and archaeology of Troy till this day.As a child, Heinrich Schliemann had an obsession with bulls eyes epic cycles/poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. After cornering the market at the age of 41, he became a millionaire and retired from merchantry to pursue his love of archaeology, committing to proving the actual histori city of the Trojan fight and the home runic city of Troy. (Refer to icon 2.)Schliemann had a good idea of where to begin looking. In 1868, Schliemann journeyed to Greece and Asia Minor in search of the disordered city, travelling north-west washout to examine both bundles Bunarbashi and Hisarlik. Because, according to Greek myth, the general Agamemnon collected his ride in Aulis, a site on the eastern shores of Greece, Troy must have lain to the east of Greece. The Iliad menti championd that Mount Ida was visible from the walls of Troy, but from Bunarbashi the mountain could non be seen. There were also a number of topographical discrepancies such(prenominal)(prenominal) as, the distance from the sea being eight miles where Schliemann approximated from the text that it should not be more than four.Using geographic clues from his copy of the Iliad, Schliemann discovered an separate pitcher near the village of Hisarlik that seemed to fit home runs description. Schliemanns decisiveness to excavate at Hisarlik was confirmed after incurring a preceded possible action by British archaeologist, Frank Calvert that Hisarlik was indeed the past ci ty of Troy. Calvert had been on the job(p) on the mound for over 20 years and had acquired half of the pitchers mound but lacked in finances to pursue further investigations on the site, so he decided to confide his archeologic findings with Schliemann, gaining collaboration with the rich supporter in uncovering Troy. (Refer to go through 13.)The exact location of Troy (or Ilium) was lost after 400 B.C., and over the centuries the site was buried under whatsoever(prenominal) layers of earth, however fortunately preserving the site for its future excavations.Schliemann was to excavate Hisarlik during five transgress campaigns Mycenae (1876-78), Ithaca (1878), Orchomenus, Boeotia (1881-82), and Tiryns (1884-85) but it was the second one of 1871-1873 which proved to be famous. Ruins were uncovered currently after the excavation began at Hisarlik. Nevertheless, Schliemann was perplexed by the complexity of the mound, whose stratification resulted in the disco precise of four sup erimposed towns (after excavations revealing nine cities). (Refer to externalize 3.)To get to the supposed level of Homers Troy, Troy II, he dug vast trenches through the entire mound, unceasingly demolishing later structures and crucial historical evidence- his reason being that he thought it was reinforced later than Homer, and was therefore in the way. Schliemann mentions employing large numbers of local labourers on the site, which varied from 80-125 men at a time using unwashed pickaxes, spades, and wheelbarrows to dispose of intervening rubble. On his way through the mound he destroyed the foundations of a large building. Completely ignoring all the layers which all the way revea direct a variety of different settlements, he continued to dig- removing an estimated 325,000 cubic yards of earth. (Refer to opine 4.)Priams Treasure (refer to figure 5.) consisted of 8700 pieces of golden pendants, earrings, bracelets, rings, diadems, cups, salvers, cauldrons, vases however Schl iemanns chronicle of finding the treasure unfortunately is believed untrue. His fixation to reach what he considered to be the real troy was so intense as to render him cataloguing some of the more interesting finds even if his go out was totally wrong. Subsequent checks of get winds/events do not support Schliemanns claims. For example, Priams alleged Treasure was designate to Troy II, whereas, we now know from Wilhelm Drpfelds later excavations that powerfulness Priam would have reined Troy VI or VIIa, which occupied hundreds of years later. (Refer to figure 6.)Unlike m whatever of his scholarly contemporaries, Heinrich Schliemann regarded the stories of the ancient Greek poet Homer as being literally true. He used this as the basis of dating all artefacts obtained from the dig, essentially using philology as a method of relative dating. In an analogy to philological methods, he used the precondition comparative archaeology to his system as early as 1880, pointing out in a l etter In its way comparative pottery is as important as comparative philology.His diaries, such as Troja, (refer to figure 7.) reveal detailed records containing sketches and accounts of all the finds- geological, botanical, and meteorological observations. However, Schliemann worked in an era when archaeology was mostly treasure-hunting. Only some of the most advanced archaeologists were beginning to come across that excavation is a destructive process- It must be done late and carefully, while recording detailed information, to learn as much as possible.When Schliemann began excavating, there was no accepted practice existed for archaeological fieldwork. Stratigraphy had been observed and still in the Danish peat bogs, the Jutland barrows, and the prehistoric Swiss Lake dwellings, but Hisarlik was the commencement exercise large dry-land man-made mound to be dug. Schliemann was no pioneer of the profound scientific archaeology and did not adhere to a scientific method when ca relessly excavating Troy. Later on as his career progressed, he finally enlisted the help of specialists such as Rudolph Virchow (pathologist, anthropologist, pre-historian, biologist), Archibald Sayce (linguist), Max Mller (German philologist and orientalist), and Wilhelm Drpfeld.Wilhelm Drpfeld, a famous architect can be sure for teaching Schliemann archaeological method, specifically how to dig stratigraphically at Troy, majorly assisting with Troys stratigraphical dating methodology (and after Schliemanns death was able to take in that Troy VI, not Troy II was most probably Homers Troy). Ironically, Drpfeld joined the team around 1882, once Schliemann had already mass-destructively excavated Troy layer-by-layer from top through to bottom. It was then that Schliemann realized that he had gone(a) too furthermost because the settlement at the Hisarlik site predated Troy II by 1,700 years, however all in vain as irreversible damage done to the stratigraphy meant the loss of it s multiple cities. A popular tourer attraction, this can still be seen today in Turkey at the ruins of Troy where walls from different historical periods have been excavated. (Refer to introduces 8 and 9.)Many other archaeologists followed Schliemann, conducting more methodical and scientific excavations of lands surrounding the Aegean. Recent archaeology of the classic civilizations of Europe has concentrated on the lives of common citizens. American archaeologist David Soren, for example, led a research team in the 1980s in southwest Cyprus. Soren and his team reconstructed the events of a powerful earthquake that struck the roman letters port of Kourion in AD 365. Sorens team uncovered collapsed buildings in which entire families had been buried in their sleep.Despite Schliemanns controversial genius as a fraudulently cunning and amateur archaeologist among historians, his discovery and excavations of Troy has left a legacy on historians and archaeologists today. More impor tantly, Schliemann bring back the lost interest in Ancient Greek societies and was one of the starting signal popularisers of archaeology. With his books and dispatches to The Times, the Daily Telegraph and other papers he kept the humans informed and excited by his archaeological discoveries as no one had done before. (Refer to figure 14.) Most scholars considered Homers stories of the Trojan contend to be just Myths. (Refer to figure 12.)By excavating Hisarlik, Schliemann successfully disproved them although his work embossed more controversy over the existence of troy and the authenticity and historicity of Homers Epic poems/cycles among historians i.e. Michael Woods (refer to Figure 11.). This has lead on to a legacy of excavations to be held at Troy till this day (Refer to Figure 10.) including those of Drpfeld, Carl Blegen, and Manfred Korfmann who all proved evidence of occupation/activity on the site from findings of skeletons, helmets, bronze weaponry as described in t he Iliad with the help of University fellowship and more advanced technology which helped draw conclusions of more accurate stratigraphy dating of the cities and artefacts.If the Trojan War is accepted as an authentic event in history, there are many opinions divided over the pendent of the wooden horse leading to Troys downfall. Cline, a Bronze mature scholar, has suggested that the Trojan Horse could have been a reference to an earthquake, since Poseidon- the sea beau ideal also known as Earth-shaker- had the horse as his particular animal. (Refer to figure 16.)As mentioned earlier, Schliemann worked in an era when archaeology was mostly treasure-hunting, but he had successfully demonstrated the value of archaeology for historical purposes, being the first person to test an ancient myth by excavating an archaeological site. He discovered Homeric Troy as well as a citadel that existed long before homer- a prehistoric Bronze period civilisation in Turkey. Prior to that, histor ians alone recognised 4 empires Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Babylon-Assyria. Schliemann discovered two new civilisations which lengthened the perspective of history nearly discovering a third, situated in prehistoric Crete. Because of his errors and mistakes, archaeologists are more wary of archaeological methods of excavation and have improved in preserving/conserving sites whilst excavating.Another contribution to archaeologists was his very careful observation of pottery. In the 1800s, objects such as pottery were and important for display in museum show cases. But Schliemann insisted that pottery, even fragments of unrouged coarse ware, constitute as a historical document/clue. He realized value of pottery for chronological and stratigraphical questions. In an 1873 newspaper, Schliemann wrote At any place, where there have been human settlements, we find lots of potsherds, which are far more durable than city-walls or fortification-wallsThey give us two termini for the date of t he enclosing walls they can neither be older than the oldest potsherds, nor later than the latest.For example, most historians and archaeologists of the time believed the city of Troy never existed and among the few that did, most deemed Bunarbashi-located a few miles inland from the Aegean sea as the location. Schliemann, not only argued this using philological comparison to the Iliad, but also proved that Bunarbashi could not be the site of troy, because of potsherds-he found no potsherd older than the fifth or 6th century BC. Ancient Greek historians placed the Trojan War variously in our 12th, 13th, or 14th century BC Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, and Duris of Samos to 1334 BC.The legacy of Troy has since prompted Hollywoods long love affair with the ancient world- inspiring the genre of the sword and sandal epics and continues to be a popular subject that many Hollywood directors attempt to interpret and reconstruct- despite the highly wide facts regarding cha racters and the series of events plot development. However, they remain imbedded in our mass media and popular gardening varying from 1950s-1960s classics like that of Ben Hur, Cleopatra, Spartacus, The Ten Commandments or the more contemporary editions such as 2004 make Troy starring the likes of Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Rose Byrne, and Orlando Bloom. (Refer to Figure 15.)In conclusion, Heinrich Schliemanns discovery of Troy served as a stepping match in what we know as modern archaeology. He uncovered Troy of Homeric legend and found a new world of find history. But the question of if he really did find Homers city of Troy, no one can know for sure. Whether or not it is, Schliemann definitely won himself a place in history as the father of archaeology- and his excavations at Troy are still wide studied by many students who learn from his mistakes in crude methodology as well as adopt his romance for the lost city (or cities) of troy.