The day before yesterday, at the depth of 14 meters (46 feet), we met with a great number of interesting things; for instance, the neck of a brilliant red vase with the owl’s head, which has two enormously large eyes; then a brilliant brown vessel, 8-2/3 inches long, 7 inches high, and nearly 6 inches thick, in the form of a sow, with a projecting but closed head of excellent workmanship, and with three feet; the orifice of the vessel is in the tail, which is connected with the back by a handle. Further, a lance and several instruments, as well as a number of copper nails, and needles of ivory for embroidering. In the ashes of the same house, which has evidently been burnt, I also found, at a depth of 13 meters (42½ feet), a tolerably well preserved skeleton of a woman, of which I think I have collected nearly all the bones; the skull especially is in a good state of preservation, but has unfortunately been broken in our excavations; however, I can easily put it together again; the mouth is somewhat protruding, and shows good but astonishingly small teeth. By the side of the skeleton I found a finger-ring, three ear-rings, and a dress-pin of pure gold. The latter is perfectly simple, and has a round head; two of the ear-rings are of quite a primitive kind, and consist of simple gold wire 0.058 of an inch thick; as does also the third ear-ring, which, however, is much more finely wrought and ends in a leaf, which is formed of six gold wires of equal thickness, riveted together.[204] The finger-ring is made of three gold wires 0.115 of an inch thick. All of these objects bear evidence of having been exposed to great heat. The Trojan woman must, however, have also worn other ornaments, for by the side of the skeleton I collected several gold beads only 0.039 of an inch large, and also a very thin oval ring only a quarter of an inch in length. Even the colour of the bones leaves no doubt that the lady was overtaken by fire and burnt alive. With the exception of the skeleton of the embryo of six months which was found in a vase upon the primary soil, this is the only human skeleton I have ever met with in any of the pre-Hellenic strata on this hill.[205] As we know from Homer, all corpses were burnt, and the ashes were placed in urns, of which I have found great numbers in the ruins of all the nations which inhabited this hill before the time of the Greek colony. The bones, however, were always burnt to ashes; at most I have occasionally discovered a whole tooth, in no case have I ever met with another entire bone in the urns.
Among the remains of the same Trojan house, and not far from the skeleton, I found the fragment of a yellow cup (vase-cover), with a very expressive man’s face; the nose is long and somewhat aquiline. In addition to this I found there seven of the round terra-cottas in the shape of a flat top. Among these was one 2-1/3 inches in diameter, which has the exact form of a wheel; in the circle round the nave it has five rising suns. As usual, these decorations are engraved and filled with a white substance.
Of pillars I have as yet found no trace in Troy; hence if there existed real pillars, they must in all cases have been of wood. Moreover, the word “κίων” is never met with in the Iliad, and only in the Odyssey. In a house at a depth of 39¼ feet, I found a prettily carved and very hard piece of limestone in the form of a crescent, with a round hole 1½ inch deep, and I conjecture that it may have been used as the support for a door.
In conclusion, I flatter myself with the hope that, as a reward for my enormous expenses and all my privations, annoyances, and sufferings in this wilderness, but above all for my important discoveries, the civilized world will acknowledge my right to re-christen this sacred locality; and in the name of the divine Homer I baptize it with that name of immortal renown, which fills the heart of everyone with joy and enthusiasm: I give it the name of “Troy” and “Ilium,” and I call the Acropolis, where I am writing these lines, by the name of the “Pergamus of Troy.”[206]
