Ancient town of Troy was much bigger than previously thought
London, September 19 : New excavations have revealed that the ancient town of Troy was
much bigger than previously thought, and may have housed as many as 10,000 people.
According to a report in the Times, the lower town, in which most of the population
would have lived, may have been as large as 40 hectares (100 acres).
The new data includes two large storage pithoi found near the city's boundary
ditch.
The pots, which may have been as much as 2 metres high, were kept in or near homes,
suggesting that houses in the lower town stretched to its limits, another indication that
Troy's lower town was fully inhabited and the city was bigger than revealed in previous
expeditions.
"They were used for storing water, oil or maybe grain," said Professor Ernst
Pernicka.
Troy has been a controversial site ever since Heinrich Schliemann and Frank Calvert
pinpointed it at Hissarlik, near the Turkish city of Canakkale, more than a century
ago.
The reality of the Trojan War has been equally contentious, although Homer's account
fits the topography around Hissarlik remarkably well, and it seems likely that the Iliad
does indeed reflect a conflict around 1180BC, towards the end of the Aegean Bronze
Age.
For a long time, Homer was doubted, because his description of Achilles chasing Hector
around the walls did not fit well with the small site that can be seen at Hissarlik
today.
Excavations by the late Manfred Korfmann showed that this Troy was just the citadel and
that a much larger lower town lay south of it enclosed by a rock-cut ditch.
Professor Pernicka's continuation of Korfmann's work has confirmed the substantial
nature of this defensive work, which was probably backed by a now-vanished rampart.
He has traced it for 1.4 kilometers, and showed it to be 4 meters wide and 2 meters
deep. The length of the defences may be as much as 2.5 kilometers.
According to Professor Pernicka, "This year, we established that the trench continues
around the town. We've found a southern gate, a southeastern gate, traces of a
southwestern gate and I expect to find an eastern gate. So we have evidence of town
planning."
Ends AK
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--ANI
