Troy and Its Remains / A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries Made on the Site of Ilium and in the Trojan Plain

by Heinrich Schliemann

CHAPTER III.

Puzzling transitions from the “Stone Age” to a higher civilization—The stone age reappears in force, mixed with pottery of fine workmanship, and the whorls in great number—Conjectures as to their uses: probably Ex votos—Priapi of stone and terra-cotta: their worship brought by the primitive Aryans from Bactria—Vessels with the owl’s face—Boars’ tusks—Varied implements and weapons of stone—Hand mill-stones—Models of canoes in terra-cotta—Whetstones—The one object of the excavations, to find Troy.

On the Hill of Hissarlik, November 3rd, 1871.

MY last communication was dated the 26th of October, and since then I have proceeded vigorously with 80 workmen on an average. Unfortunately, however, I have lost three days; for on Sunday, a day on which the Greeks do not work, I could not secure the services of any Turkish workmen, for they are now sowing their crops; on two other days I was hindered by heavy rains.

To my extreme surprise, on Monday, the 30th of last month, I suddenly came upon a mass of débris, in which I found an immense quantity of implements made of hard black stone (diorite), but of a very primitive form. On the following day, however, not a single stone implement was found, but a small piece of silver wire and a great deal of broken pottery of elegant workmanship, among others the fragment of a cup with an owl’s head. I therefore thought I had again come upon the remains of a civilized people, and that the stone implements of the previous day were the remains of an invasion of a barbarous tribe, whose dominion had been of but short duration. But I was mistaken, for on the Wednesday the stone period reappeared in even greater force, and continued throughout the whole of yesterday. To-day, unfortunately, no work can be done owing to the heavy downpour of rain.

I find much in this stone period that is quite inexplicable to me, and I therefore consider it necessary to describe everything as minutely as possible, in the hope that one or other of my honoured colleagues will be able to give an explanation of the points which are obscure to me.

In the first place, I am astonished that here on the highest point of the hill, where, according to every supposition the noblest buildings must have stood, I come upon the stone period as early as at a depth of 4½ meters (about 15 feet), whereas last year, at a distance of only 66 feet from the top of the hill, I found in my cutting, at the depth of more than 16 feet, a wall, 6½ feet thick, and by no means very ancient, and no trace of the stone period, although I carried that cutting to a depth of more than 26 feet. This probably can be explained in no other way than that the hill, at the place where the wall stands, must have been very low, and that this low position has been gradually raised by the débris.

Further, I do not understand how it is possible that in the present stratum and upon the whole length of my cutting (which must now be at least 184 feet) to its mouth, that is, as far as the steep declivity, I should find stone implements, which obviously prove that that part of the steep side of the hill cannot have increased in size since the stone period by rubbish thrown down from above.

Next, I cannot explain how it is possible that I should find things which, to all appearance, must have been used by the uncivilized men of the stone period, but which could not have been made with the rude implements at their disposal. Among these I may specially mention the earthen vessels found in great numbers, without decorations, it is true, and not fine, but which however are of excellent workmanship. Not one of these vessels has been turned upon a potter’s wheel, and yet it appears to me that they could not have been made without the aid of some kind of machine, such as, on the other hand, could not have been produced by the rude stone implements of the period.

I am further surprised to find, in this stone period, and more frequently than ever before, those round articles with a hole in the centre, which have sometimes the form of humming-tops or whorls (carrouselen), sometimes of fiery mountains. In the last form they bear, on a small scale, the most striking resemblance to the colossal sepulchral mounds of this district, which latter, both on this account and also because stone implements have been found in one of them (the Chanaï Tépé) belong probably to the stone period, and therefore perhaps to an age thousands of years before the Trojan war.[92] At a depth of 3 meters (about 10 feet), I found one of these objects made of very fine marble: all the rest are made of excellent clay rendered very hard by burning; almost all of them have decorations, which have evidently been scratched into them when the clay was as yet unburnt, and which in very many cases have been filled with a white substance, to make them more striking to the eye. It is probable that at one time the decorations upon all of these objects were filled with that white substance, for upon many of them, where it no longer exists, I see some traces of it. Upon some of the articles of very hard black clay without decorations, some hand has endeavoured to make them after the clay had been burnt, and, when looked at through a magnifying glass, these marks leave no doubt that they have been laboriously scratched with a piece of flint.