Page:Troja by Heinrich Schliemann.djvu/103

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chap. III.]
LEVELLING OF THE SITE.
53

tions of the third settlers having been sunk into the calcined débris of the second city, we erroneously attributed these latter to the third settlement, with which they have nothing to do.

The slanting strata of débris of the first city, 2.50 m. deep (see N—N on Plan III. in Ilios), are succeeded in the Acropolis by a layer of earth 0.50 m. deep, which contains no traces of walls, and extends uninterruptedly above it; proving that the site had been left deserted, and had not been built upon for a long time. Above this earth we see a layer of débris of baked bricks, 0.25 m. deep, which may be followed in the great northern trench (Plan III. in Ilios) almost for its entire length, and which had its origin from the very foundation of the second city. This settlement developed itself gradually to what it was at the time of its great catastrophe, for in several of its buildings we recognize great changes, which I shall describe in detail in the following pages. The first and most remarkable change introduced by the second settlers, a change which testifies to their wonderful building activity, was that they completely levelled the site, which before slanted to the north. To this end they heightened the ground on the south side by 0.50 m., on the north side by 3 mètres; at the same time they extended the site of the Acropolis considerably in a southerly direction. The large edifices could not be erected immediately on this "planum;" they were therefore provided with foundations sunk 2.50 m. deep, of larger and smaller stones (see q, R, on Plan III. in Ilios), which were laid on the older and more solid soil. These foundations, in which we formerly thought we recognized the fillings-up of funnel-like holes made by the rain-water, are particularly conspicuous on the north-east side in the great northern trench (see q, R, on Plan III. in Ilios). Just below these foundations we found a house-floor of large white pebbles, which extended to the very wall on the north side, and of which a large part may still

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.