Page:Troja by Heinrich Schliemann.djvu/71

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
1882.]
WALL OF THE FIFTH CITY.
21

all my labourers were able to do, and which was always rewarded by additional pay in the evening. We reserved only those blocks which had a peculiar interest in an architectural point of view. It was impossible for us to ascertain to what edifices these foundations had belonged, for they had been already partly demolished in the Middle Ages, and had been in modern times a welcome quarry for building-stones. Among these foundations, those on the north-east side are particularly distinguished by their gigantic proportions and their good construction.

Having broken through them, we struck at the northeast end of the trench a large fortress-wall of rudely-wrought stones, which my architects ascribe with the very greatest probability to the fifth prehistoric city, and of which the woodcut No. 99, p. 189, gives a good view. We brought it to light to a depth of 6 mètres, and were obliged to cut it through in order to make a road for the man-carts which worked in the trench. It is distinguished by its masonry from the substruction-walls of the more ancient prehistoric cities, for it consists of long plate-like slabs of stone, joined in the most solid way without cement or lime, which have enormous dimensions, particularly in the lower part, whilst the lower part of the walls of the second prehistoric city consists of smaller stones of rather a cubical shape. This peculiar construction gave us the clue to find on the opposite side of the Acropolis the continuation of this wall of plate-like slabs, and it thus enabled us to indicate the course of the wall of the fifth prehistoric settlement, at least in general.

The exterior side of this wall is slightly curved; its upper breadth is 2.50 m., its lower breadth being 5 m., owing to an enlargement in the middle of its height. On a level with this prehistoric citadel-wall many house-walls were brought to light, consisting partly of quarry-stones, partly of unbaked clay-bricks. It is very remarkable that below the Hellenic layer of ruins we found, from the point K to about half the

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.