Were it not for the splendid terra-cottas which I find exclusively upon the primary soil and as far as 6½ feet above it, I could swear that, at a depth of from 8 meters down to exactly 10 meters (26 to 33 feet), I am among the ruins of the Homeric Troy.[153] For at this depth I have again found, as I found last year, a thousand wonderful objects; whereas I find comparatively little in the lowest stratum, the removal of which gives me such unspeakable trouble. We daily find some of the whorls of very fine terra-cotta, and it is curious that those which have no decorations at all, are always of the ordinary shape and size of small tops or like the craters of volcanoes, while almost all those possessing decorations are flat and in the form of a wheel.[154] Metals, at least gold, silver and copper, were known to the Trojans, for I found a copper knife highly gilded, a silver hair-pin, and a number of copper nails at a depth of 14 meters (46 feet); and at a depth of 16 meters (52½ feet) several copper nails from 4 to 6¼ inches in length. There must have been also copper weapons and tools for work, though I have as yet not found any; but I found many small instruments for use as pins; also a number of ivory needles, likewise a small ivory plate, almost the shape of a playing-card, with six little stars or small suns, also a curious piece of ivory covered with the same decorations, in the form of a paper-knife, and a still more curious one in the form of an exceedingly neat dagger.[155] The ornaments on both sides of this dagger seem certainly to represent the Ilian Athena with the owl’s head. We also discovered some ivory and copper rings, likewise a pair of bracelets of copper. One-edged or double-edged knives of white silex in the form of saws, from above 1¾ inch to nearly 2 inches in length, were found in quantities; also many hand millstones of lava about 13 inches long, and 6-2/3 inches broad, in the form of an egg cut in half longitudinally. All of the terra-cottas were brought out in a broken condition; however, I have got all or almost all the pieces of a number of vases and of several jars, so that I can restore them. I must specially mention a large yellowish bowl 13-1/3 inches high and nearly 17 inches broad, which in addition to a handle has three large curled ram’s horns; then a black vase with a round bottom, with two rings on either side for hanging it up; a beautiful red vase with four handles; also a very fine red cup: further, an exceedingly curious red vessel in the form of two jugs with long perfectly upright beak-shaped mouths, the two jugs being connected with each other at the bulge, as well as by a handle; further, a brilliant black vase, 9½ inches high, with rings on the sides for hanging it up, and a very wide neck in the form of a chimney; the lower portion of the vase is ornamented with signs in the form of lightning, the upper part with dots. Of a pair of brilliant black Trojan deep plates I have so nearly all the pieces, as to be able to put them together; these plates are very remarkable, for on two sides at the edge they have long horizontal rings for suspension by strings; the large dishes have such rings very large. I have the fragments of several black double cups, but not enough of any one to restore it.
