As the excavation above the Scæan Gate is finished, I am now again vigorously at work on the great platform on the north side, which I have lately had worked whenever I had workmen to spare. We now come upon several houses there at a depth of from 33 to 20 feet; also, as it seems, upon a great wall of fortification in the lower strata.
As it is extremely important to know what were the fortifications on the west and north-west of the Pergamus at the time of the Trojan war, and as I see another wall, 11½ feet thick, running in a north-western direction from the Scæan Gate, which however it is impossible to follow from this side,—during the last eight days I have been making a cutting, 33 feet broad and 141 long, on the north-west side of the hill, at the point where, in April 1870, I made the first cutting, which therefore my men call ἡ μάμμη τῶν ἀνασκαφῶν ("the grandmother of the excavations”). I am having the débris removed simultaneously by a small platform, made at a depth of 34¼ feet on the declivity of the hill, and by three galleries. The distance is not great, and the wheel-barrows proceed across level ground, and moreover the débris here is very light, and only requires to be thrown down the declivity; so the work advances very rapidly. Upon the lower platform I came upon the surrounding wall built by Lysimachus, which is 13 feet high and 10 feet thick, and is composed of large hewn blocks of limestone laid upon one another without any kind of cement. I have just finished breaking through this wall. Directly behind it I came upon an older wall, 8¾ feet high and 6 feet thick, which is composed of large hewn stones joined with earth, and which of course I am also having broken through. This second wall is immediately followed by that wall of large hewn stones which I laid bare three years ago, and which I have hitherto regarded as a bastion; it is, however, probable that it will prove to be something else, and I shall describe it in detail in my next report.
This part of the Pergamus was evidently much lower in ancient times; as seems to be proved not only by the surrounding wall, which must at one time have risen to a considerable height above the surface of the hill, whereas it is now covered with 16½ feet of débris, but also by the remains of the Hellenic period, which here extend down to a great depth. It appears, in fact, as if the rubbish and refuse of habitations had been thrown down here for centuries, in order to increase the height of the place. This also explains how it is that I find here a quantity of small but interesting objects from the Greek period. Among others are 24 heads of terra-cotta figures, 17 of which are of great beauty; also a great number of other fragments of statuettes of the same description, which display skilful workmanship; a terra-cotta slab 5½ inches in length, upon which is a representation of a woman; also eight small terra-cotta slabs, nearly 2 inches in length, upon which I find very curious and to me utterly unknown objects in high relief.[272] I also found here the fragments of some vessels of exquisite workmanship; two beautifully decorated lamps; and a leaden plate, 2¾ inches long and broad, with a pig’s head in bas-relief, which, as I conjecture, may have been a coin. We also discovered here a vessel 28¾ inches long, of an extremely fanciful shape, with a long and very thin foot, a long thin neck, and two enormous handles.