Another passage from the Stone Age to copper implements mixed with
stone--The signs of a higher civilization increase with the depth
reached--All the implements are of better workmanship--Discovery of
supposed inscriptions--Further discussion of the use of the
whorls--TROY still to be reached--Fine terra-cotta vessels of
remarkable forms--Great numbers of stone weights and hand
millstones--Numerous house-walls--Construction of the great
cutting--Fever and quinine--Wounds and arnica.
On the Hill of Hissarlik, November 18th, 1871.
[Illustration: No. 45. Copper Implements and Weapons from the Trojan
stratum (8 M.). _a_, Axe of an unusual form; _b_, _c_, Battle-Axes of
the common form; _d_, _e_, _g_, Knives; _f_, a Nail.[95]]
[Illustration: No. 46. A Mould of Mica-schist for casting Copper
Implements (8 M.).]
Since my report of the 3rd of this month I have continued my excavations
with the greatest zeal, and although interrupted sometimes by the rain,
and sometimes by Greek festivals, and also in spite of the continually
increasing difficulty in removing the rubbish, I have now reached an
average depth of 10 meters or about 33 English feet.[94] Much that was
inexplicable to me has now become clear, and I must first of all correct
an error made in my last report, that I had come upon the stone period.
I was deceived by the enormous mass of stone implements of all kinds
which were daily dug up, and by the absence of any trace of metal,
except two copper nails, which I believed to have come in some way from
one of the upper strata into the deeper stratum of the stone period. But
since the 6th of this month there have appeared not only many nails,
but also knives, lances, and battle-axes of copper of such elegant
workmanship that they can have been made only by a civilized people.
Hence I must not only recal my conjecture that I had reached the stone
period, but I cannot even admit that I have reached the bronze period,
for the implements and weapons which I find are too well finished. I
must, moreover, draw attention to the fact, that the deeper I dig, from
7 meters (23 feet) downwards, the greater are the indications of a
higher civilization. At a depth of from 4 to 7 meters (13 to 23 feet)
the stone implements and weapons were of a coarse description; the
knives were of flint, generally in the form of small saws, and rarely in
that of a blade; but there were a very great number of sharp pieces of
silex, which must likewise have served as knives. Since then, however,
the stone implements, such as hammers and axes, are of much better
workmanship; there still occur a quantity of silex knives in the form of
saws, but they are much better made than those of the upper strata, and
at a depth below 23 feet double-edged knife-blades of obsidian, which
are so sharp that they might serve as razors. In these depths, moreover,
as I have already said, we again meet with weapons and quantities of
nails, knives, and implements of copper.
[Illustration: Stone Instruments from the Trojan stratum (8 M.).
Nos. 47, 48, 49, of Green Stone, probably Lance-Heads; No. 50, of
Diorite, use unknown.]
But what above all other circumstances seems to prove that I never
reached the stone period, and that, after digging further down into the
strata of rude races between 13 and 23 feet, I have again come upon the
remains of a more civilized nation, are two inscriptions, one of which,
found at a depth of 7½ meters (about 25 feet), seems to be Phœnician,
but consists of only about five letters, which have been scratched by a
pointed instrument, into that side of a small terra-cotta disc which had
been painted white, the disc being only about 2-1/3 inches in diameter.
The letters, in any case, must have stood out very distinctly in the
white colour, but the greater portion of it has disappeared, and thus
two of the five written characters cannot G 2 easily be distinguished. I
hope, however, that the inscription may nevertheless be deciphered.[96]
The other inscription was found at a depth of 8½ meters (27¾ feet)
upon one of those small round articles of terra-cotta with a hole in the
centre, which, from a depth of 6½ feet downwards, occur in immense
numbers in the form of the humming-top, the carrousel, and the volcano.
I have already expressed my opinion that they may have been used as _Ex
votos_, and I may now suggest whether they might not even have been
idols, and especially whether those in the form of a volcano do not
represent Hephæstus? This thought struck me principally from the great
resemblance between these objects and the colossal sepulchral mounds on
the Plain of Troy, which cover the ashes of the corpses of the heroes,
which were burnt by the fire of Hephæstus. At all events, the
decorations introduced upon all of these objects--which seem to have
been executed with very great care, especially on those made of
immensely hard burnt terra-cotta--and also the white substance with
which these decorations are filled so as to be more striking to the eye,
leave no doubt that they have served important purposes. It was upon one
of these small articles of terra-cotta, in the form of a top, that I
found the second inscription.[97] It is so admirably engraved, that one
is astonished to find such work possible in terra-cotta. As the writing
runs right round the small whorl, and is formed on both sides alike, it
seems to me, in my complete ignorance of the language, impossible to
perceive with which letter it commences, or which is the upper or lower
portion of it.
Upon an ordinary stone I at the same time found the character
[Illustration: left-leaning L]. I should be immensely delighted if any
one were able to read these inscriptions, and thus be in a position to
give an explanation about the use of these remarkable objects, about the
people who made them, and about the epoch in which I found myself at the
depth of from 25 to 28 feet.
When, at the time of writing my last report, I saw stone implements and
weapons brought to light, and none but stone, and was forced to believe
that I had penetrated into the stratum of the people belonging to the
stone period, I really began to fear that the actual object of my
excavations, to find here the Pergamus of Priam, had failed; that I had
already reached a period long anterior to the Trojan war, and that the
colossal sepulchral mounds in the Plain of Troy were perhaps thousands
of years older than the deeds of Achilles. But as I find ever more and
more traces of civilization the deeper I dig, I am now perfectly
convinced that I have not yet penetrated to the period of the Trojan
war, and hence I am more hopeful than ever of finding the site of Troy
by further excavations; for if there ever was a Troy--and my belief in
this is firm--it can only have been here, on the site of Ilium. I think
that my excavations of 1868 on the heights of Bunarbashi have proved the
impossibility of a city or even a village ever having stood there,
except at the extreme end of Balidagh, where Consul Hahn has made
excavations, but where, owing to the small space, which is limited by
precipices, there can only have been a small town of 2000 inhabitants at
most. Upon the site of the Ἰλιέων κώμη, which place was regarded as the
site of ancient Troy by Strabo--who had never visited the Plain of
Troy--in accordance with the theory of Demetrius of Scepsis, which I
discussed in my report of the 26th of last month--I have, since Tuesday
the 21st, employed ten workmen to lay bare a portion of the surrounding
wall which seems to be indicated by a low but long rise of the ground.
I do this, however, simply in the interest of science, and I am far from
fancying that I shall find Troy there.
[Illustration: [No. 51. No. 52.]
Trojan Terra-cottas (8 M.).
No. 51. A Vase-cover. No. 52. A Two-handled Cup.]
[Illustration: No. 53. Small Trojan Vase (9 M.).]
[Illustration: Nos. 54, 55. Trojan Terra-cotta Vases (8 M.).]
I must also add, in regard to the round articles of terra-cotta, that,
after a depth of 7 meters (23 feet), those in the form of the volcano
occur less frequently, and almost all are the shape of the top
(_carrousel_). At this depth also, the idols of Vishnu, in the form of
the Priapus, are no longer met with. But I still very frequently find at
a depth below 23 feet the owl’s head on the earthen vessels, which,
although only of one colour and without any decorations, are elegant in
their simplicity, and become the more elegant and finer the deeper I
dig. I have to draw especial attention to the bright red cups, which are
sometimes found in the form of a bell with a kind of coronet below,[98]
sometimes in the shape of immense champagne-glasses with two large
handles. In neither form can they stand upon the lower end like the cups
of the present day, but only upon the upper part, just as we should be
obliged to set down a bell, if we used it as a drinking-cup. I must next
mention the small pots with three little feet, and the large ones with a
neck bent back, then the large vessels with two handles and two others
in the form of upraised arms; and, lastly, the very large funereal urns,
frequently more than a meter (3¼ feet) in height and breadth, which
are met with in such numbers that they hinder us in our work, but which
have hitherto been so much broken that I have been unable to save even
one of them. It is impossible to cement together the pieces of these
broken urns, as the clay is from an inch and a half to nearly 2 inches
thick.
At a depth below 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) down to the depth of 10
meters (33 feet), we find a great many pieces of clay an inch and a half
thick, from about 4 to 5 inches in height, and from about 3 to 4 inches
in breadth, with a perforated hole, either on the broad upper side or on
the narrow side, and which appear to have been used as weights; we also
frequently meet with cylinders of the same clay, which are from 3-1/3
inches in length to 2½ inches in breadth. The enormous quantities of
stone weights and hand-mills of lava, continually brought to light, give
an idea of the number of the houses, through the ruins of which I daily
penetrate. I have placed great numbers of these mills and other stone
implements in the niches of the walls in my excavations for the
inspection of the admirers of Homer who may visit the Plain of Troy.
At a depth of from 8 to 10 meters (26 to 33 feet), I have found numerous
fragments of a substance, about 2¾ inches broad and 1¾ thick,
which is on the inside as hard as stone and of a resinous colour, and on
the outside it has a brilliant gloss, which has evidently been produced
artificially. It has clearly been poured into a mould when in a liquid
state, for it is channelled on all four sides. Doubtless in the
continuation of my excavations I shall obtain an explanation of how
these pieces (the length of which I do not yet know, as I have hitherto
only met with fragments) were made, and what they were used for.[99]
The numerous house-walls, the ruins of which I have daily to remove,
are, at the depth of from 4 to 7 meters (13 to 23 feet), all built of
ordinary unhewn stones joined with clay; and from 7 to 10 meters (23 to
33 feet) they are made of unburnt bricks, dried only in the sun. The
foundations and the door-cills of these brick houses, however, consist
of large stones, such as we have not met with since 2 meters (6½
feet) below the surface.
Lastly, as regards the inclination of the walls of my great cutting, the
nature of the _débris_ allowed me only in three places, each of about 49
feet in length, to make it at an angle of 85 degrees; in all other
places it is at an angle of 67½ degrees. In order to make this more
clear, I may add that my walls of 33 feet high at an angle of 85 degrees
deviate only about 25½ inches, but those of 67½ degrees deviate
about 8½ feet from the perpendicular.
It would give me much pleasure if, in my next communication, I could
report some very interesting discovery.
_November 21st._--The heavy rainfall of yesterday and the day before,
which continued till this morning, rendered it impossible to dispatch
this report before the evening; for I am here living in a wilderness at
eight hours’ distance from the nearest post-office, that is, from the
Dardanelles. I hope that the ground will have become sufficiently dry by
to-morrow morning for me to proceed with my work. I intend, at all
events, to continue the excavations till the appearance of winter, and
then to begin again in April.
The constant warm damp weather produces a very malignant fever, and my
services as a doctor are daily sought. Fortunately, I have a large stock
of quinine by me, and can thus help everyone. But as I do not understand
anything about medicine I should, no doubt, make great mistakes.
Fortunately, however, I remember that once when I was at the point of
death with a fever contracted in the marshes of Nicaragua, the excellent
German physician, Tellkampf of New York, saved my life by a dose of 64
grains of quinine. Hence I give a similar quantity here, but only _in
one dose_ when the case is a very bad one; the quantity I generally give
is four doses of 16 grains. I am also daily called upon not only to cure
wounded men, but camels, donkeys, and horses. I have hitherto been
successful in all cases by using tincture of arnica. I have also, thus
far, cured all the fever patients who have applied for my help. Not one
of them, however, has ever come to thank me; indeed, gratitude does not
appear to be one of the virtues of the present Trojans.