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The article is quite kind to Schliemann. Kinder than many archaeological experts. The excavated area thought to be "Troy" had about nine distinct layers. The

The article is quite kind to Schliemann. Kinder than many archaeological experts. The excavated area thought to be "Troy" had about nine distinct layers. The "Troy" that everyone is interested was one of the upper layers (like Layer VIII, the second from the top), which Schliemann kept digging through. The one he finally settled on and brought "Priam's Treasure" from was much older, long before the era of the fabled Trojan war. To boot, with each successive layer, the previous layer he simply dumped to the side and didn't take much care in preserving. So much of the Trojan layer that the classicists are interested in studying has actually been destroyed by his attempts to dig deeper.

turkishlurker 5y ago
Schliemann was a curious character--he seems to have been as much of a pillager as an archeologist. As a non-sequitur his personal story is a testament to how much more "globalized" the world was in the 19th century, for better or worse.
sherr 5y ago
Yes, a real disaster for us now. He didn't just "dig" through, but bulldoze to where he thought Homer's Troy should be. Doing this destroyed a lot of the evidence of the actual Troy he was looking for. Some of this has been recovered and pieced together by later and better archeologists but still a great loss. The best video documentary I've seen on this is Michael Wood's BBC series "In Search of the Trojan War" from 1985. Six parts covering the history of the dig and the background of the war and aftermath. Much of it is on YouTube I think.
hecturchi 5y ago
At least it mentions Calvert... > he encouraged Schliemann to pick up where he left off Yeah, like Schliemann arrived, dismissed Calvert suggestions that it was Troy, and when finally convinced, cheated, stole and took all credit for discoveries from Calvert despite Calvert owning half of the land of the mound and sorting out a ton of practical matters for him (Calvert was consul and well established in the area).

turkishlurker 5y ago

Schliemann was a curious character--he seems to have been as much of a pillager as an archeologist. As a non-sequitur his personal story is a testament to how much more "globalized" the world was in the 19th century, for better or worse.

sherr 5y ago

Yes, a real disaster for us now. He didn't just "dig" through, but bulldoze to where he thought Homer's Troy should be. Doing this destroyed a lot of the evidence of the actual Troy he was looking for. Some of this has been recovered and pieced together by later and better archeologists but still a great loss. The best video documentary I've seen on this is Michael Wood's BBC series "In Search of the Trojan War" from 1985. Six parts covering the history of the dig and the background of the war and aftermath. Much of it is on YouTube I think.

hecturchi 5y ago

At least it mentions Calvert... > he encouraged Schliemann to pick up where he left off Yeah, like Schliemann arrived, dismissed Calvert suggestions that it was Troy, and when finally convinced, cheated, stole and took all credit for discoveries from Calvert despite Calvert owning half of the land of the mound and sorting out a ton of practical matters for him (Calvert was consul and well established in the area).