Troy - Information Point 8

Information Point 8

Prehistoric settlement

From the corner of House M6 A a stone ramp to the Gate FM can be seen at a lower level. It leads from a lower settlement area (discovered in 1992) up to the inner citadel hill. The pre-historic citadel of Troy II which was destroyed by fire was at first thought by Schliemann to be the citadel of Priam. It had a circumference of some 300m/330yds and is now almost completely exposed. The layers of rubble range from a thickness of 1m/40in to 2m/80in.

Ramp

The citadel's ring of walls stretches out on both sides of the ramp. It consists of a substructure 1m/3ft to 4m/13ft high made from roughly hewn limestone and earth mortar and has recently been restored (1992). It now resembles the condition it was in before the first excavations about 100 years earlier. Treasure of Priam

Some 6m/20ft northwest of the ramp Schliemann found the so-called "Treasure of Priam" built into a cavity in the brick superstructure of the ring wall. It later found its way into the Museum of Prehistory in Berlin but disappeared at the end of the Second World War. It was recently discovered in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Similar finds of jewelry, vessels, weapons and tools made of gold, silver, electron (an alloy of gold and silver) and bronze have been made elsewhere in the Troy II level ("Burnt Town") and also in the layer of fire debris in Troy III.

The remains of Troy III, IV, V are of little to interest the ordinary visitor. The citadel's principal monuments from Troy VI have been preserved and of Troy VII some wall remains survive, chiefly those between the citadel wall of Troy VI and the first terrace walls. The two walls belong to quite different periods. First the walls and houses of Troy VI were repaired by simple country- dwellers who still used "Mycenaean" pottery. They built their own smaller houses (similar in plan to Troy VI) against the inside of the citadel walls.

Facing the northern corner of VI A, the remains of similar but larger houses (VI B) have been found. It is at this point that the "Mycenaean" wall which at one time had encircled the whole citadel (about 540m/590yds in length) ceases, although about two- thirds of the full length still remains. At a much lower level the huge foundations of the western corner of the citadel are visible, but its north side and a part of the west wall have disappeared.