At a depth of 4 meters (13 feet), I found a fragment of pottery with a drawing of a bust, of Phœnician workmanship. Directly upon it were an immense quantity of stone implements and weapons of hard black stone, which continued to a depth of 7 meters (23 feet). Simultaneously with these, but extending to a depth of 10 meters (33 feet), I found elegant pottery of one colour and without any kind of ornament beyond the owl’s face; small pots and vases of a larger size with three little feet; then, but only as far as a depth of 23 feet, the Priapus of terra-cotta in its natural form, and also in the form of a pillar rounded off at the top. From 4 to 7 meters (13 to 23 feet) deep, there were a great many flint knives, the majority of which have the shape of saws, or consist only of sharp pieces, rarely in the form of blades; needles and little spoons made of bone, as well as an enormous number of terra-cotta discs with a hole through the centre; and two copper nails. As is proved by the numerous house-walls which I have cut through in these depths, many of which are in the earth-wall of my excavations, the houses were built of small stones joined with earth. From 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet), I found a great many copper nails, frequently 5 inches in length, and a few lances and battle-axes of elegant workmanship. At every foot of earth that we dig down, after a depth of 23 feet, we find the traces of a much higher civilization; stone weapons are still occasionally met with, but they are of splendid workmanship. I found many copper knives, but also immense numbers of flint knives, which, however, are incomparably better made than those of the preceding strata. We also found, although not often, very sharp double-edged knife-blades of obsidian, 2¾ inches in length. The pots and vases continue to be more elegant; there were also bright red vase-covers in the form of a bell with a coronet above, or like gigantic champagne glasses with two large handles; very many elegant vessels with or without three little feet, but with little rings on the sides and holes in the mouth in the same direction, so that they could not only stand, but also be carried on a cord; likewise a number of very small vases with three little feet. All the terra-cottas are of a brilliant red, yellow, green, or black colour; only the very large urns are colourless. From 2 to 10 meters deep (6½-33 feet) we note the complete absence of painting. At a depth of 7½ meters (24¾ feet) was a small terra-cotta disc with five letters, which I consider to be Phœnician; at 28 feet one of those frequently mentioned terra-cottas in the form of a top with six written characters. At the same depth, upon a stone, one letter, which to all appearance belongs to a different language; and lastly, at a depth of 10 meters, or 33 English feet, a leaden plate with one letter.
Now as regards the construction of the houses belonging to the strata at a depth of from 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet), only the foundations and thresholds were composed of large stones—as anyone may convince himself by a glance at the earthen walls of my excavations. The house-walls, on the other hand, were composed of unburnt sun-dried bricks. At a depth of 10 meters (33 feet), I again found the buildings to be of stone, but of colossal proportions. Most of the stones are very large, many of them hewn, and we meet with a great many massive blocks. It appears to me that I have already brought to light several walls at this depth; but I have unfortunately not yet succeeded in arriving at an opinion as to how they were actually built and what their thickness was. The stones of the walls seem to me to have been separated from one another by a violent earthquake. I have hitherto seen no trace of any kind of cement between them, either of clay or lime.
Of the terrible difficulties of the excavations, where such large pieces of stone are met with, only those can have any idea who have been present at the work and have seen how much time and trouble it takes, especially during the present rainy weather—first to get out the small stones round one of the many immense blocks, then to dig out the block itself, to get the lever under it, to heave it up and roll it through the mud of the channel to the steep declivity.
But these difficulties only increase my desire, after so many disappointments, to reach the great goal which is at last lying before me, to prove that the Iliad is founded on facts, and that the great Greek nation must not be deprived of this crown of her glory. I shall spare no trouble and shun no expense to attain this result.
I must still draw attention to the remarkable growth of this hill. The huge square stones of the foundations of the house on the summit of the hill (where I found the inscription which appears to belong to the third century B.C.), which in its day must have been on the surface, are now in some places only 13 inches, in others only 3¼ feet below the earth. But as the colossal ruins, which I positively maintain to be those of ancient Troy, lie at a depth of 33 feet, the accumulation of débris on this part must have amounted to more than 30 feet during the first 1000 years, and only from 1 to 3 feet during the last 2000 years.
But, strange to say, on the north side of the hill, with its steep declivity, at the place where I am digging, the thickness of the hill has not increased in the slightest degree. For not only do the ruins of the innumerable habitations in all cases extend to the extreme edge of the declivity, but I also find up to this point the same objects that I find on the same horizontal line as far as the opposite end of my excavations. Hence it is interesting to know that the declivity of the hill on the north side was exactly as steep at the time of the Trojan war as it is now, namely, that even at that time it rose at an angle of 40 degrees.