I have been obliged to abandon the two large side-passages, when already at a depth of 23 feet, and I have since caused all the rubbish and small stones to be brought in baskets and wheel-barrows through the large exit-channel, and thrown down at its end upon the sides of the steep declivity. This channel—the walls of which have a slope of 67½ degrees—is now, at the present depth of 33 feet, no longer wide enough for carrying away such enormous blocks of stone, and it must first of all be made at least 13 feet wider. This is, however, a gigantic piece of work, which, owing to the daily rain, I dare not venture to begin with winter close upon me.
On account of the many huge stones, no terra-cottas were found either yesterday or on the preceding day. To day, however, during the last hour’s work, I found a small pot, only about 2 inches high, with three feet; the whole of the upper portion is in the form of a globe, and is divided into five large and five small fields, changing alternately in regular succession. All of the large fields are filled with imprinted little stars. The mouth or opening is only about 1/3 of an inch in diameter. I presume that this small and wonderful Trojan vessel was used by ladies for holding scented oil, which we know was applied after the bath. It cannot have been used as a lamp, for Homer, who lived 200 years after the destruction of Troy, does not as yet know of lamps. I also found this morning two copper arrow-heads, and one of those small terra-cotta “volcanoes,” which for some days have been less frequently met with. Further, a small leaden plate, nearly an inch and a half in length as well as in breadth, with the character
Although the word γράφειν only occurs twice in Homer, and both times only signifies “to scratch into,” yet I am firmly convinced that an alphabetical language was known in ancient Troy, and I cherish the hope of being able next spring to discover inscriptions and other monuments, which will leave no doubt, that, since yesterday, at the depth of 33 feet,[100] I have begun to uncover the ruins of the city of Troy, so long looked for theoretically and now at last practically. All the objects that I find, I shall, of course, describe in the most faithful and careful manner.
My excavations at the village of the Ilians (Ἰλιέων κώμη), as was to be expected, have decidedly turned out unfavourable for Strabo and Demetrius of Scepsis; for the steep continuous elevation contains no trace of walls, and consists of coarse sand without the slightest admixture of débris. Neither do I believe, contrary to the assertion of the proprietor of Thymbria, my worthy friend Mr. Frederick Calvert, in the existence of a hot spring at the foot of the hill of the Ἰλιέων κώμη, for I have now searched the whole marsh, with a thermometer in my hand, and I nowhere find, either in the stagnant or the running water, the faintest difference in temperature. Of cold springs there are certainly more than one, but it will be impossible to state how many till the marsh has been thoroughly drained; it consists at present of floating islands.
Now when I collect the result of my excavations:—I found close to the surface only, and in rare cases as far as a depth of 1 meter (3¼ feet), copper medals of Sigeum, Alexandria Troas, and Ilium—the latter belonging to the first centuries before and after Christ; then small solid round articles of terra-cotta, like lamps, with two holes, which occur in great numbers, as far as a depth of 2 meters (6½ feet). These, however, have no ornaments except the potter’s stamp, in which there is sometimes an altar with a bee or fly above it, sometimes a child with its hands stretched forth, sometimes two horses, sometimes a bull or a swan. Below this depth they cease all at once.[101] In place of them I found, at depths of from 2 to 10 meters (6½ to 33 feet), the often described terra-cottas in the form of small volcanoes, humming-tops or whorls, which, at a depth of 3 meters only (nearly 10 feet), were frequently met with in blue stone, but were in all other cases of terra-cotta, and almost all of them with decorations. At 6½ feet below the surface I found a Roman well, which I dug out to a depth of more than 36 feet, but which seems to be sunk down as far as the Plain. At all depths we met with many mussel-shells, boars’ tusks, and fish-bones; but the bones of sharks only at the depth of from 11 to 13 feet below the surface. The ruins of houses built of hewn stone, joined with cement or lime, seldom extend lower than 3¼ feet, and the ruins of buildings built of large hewn stones not joined by any kind of cement, never below 6½ feet: visitors to the Plain of Troy can convince themselves of this with their own eyes, by looking at the walls of my cuttings. From a depth of 3 to 4 meters (6½ to 13 feet) downwards, we met with few or no stones; and the calcined ruins of innumerable layers of débris seem to prove that all of the buildings which existed there during the course of centuries were built of wood, and were destroyed by fire. Consequently in these depths I have hitherto only found fragments of good earthenware; the only things brought out in an uninjured condition were small pots of the coarsest description.
