Starting My Treasure Hunting In England - Chapter 984

c984 City Analysis (Part 2)

Due to a series of discoveries, Liang En and the others were basically certain that this ruins was indeed the legendary Troy. During the excavation of the most prosperous sixth-level ruins, they also discovered a characteristic of urban construction.

This characteristic is that because Troy is located right at the junction of two civilizations, it can be seen from the architectural remains that it is different from the castles in the Aegean world and from the craftsmanship of the Hittites.

For example, the closely connected limestone blocks on the city wall ruins and the unique upward-sloping wall structure seem to reflect the native architectural style of northwest Anatolia.

This style continued in Hissarik for several centuries, and was also found in the neighboring ancient Phrygian city of Gordion.

From this point we can basically see that Troy is not a separate city, but one of the civilized city-states in the entire western Anatolian Peninsula.

Thanks to this construction method, the magnificent city wall on the south side of the Troy ruins is still well preserved. What is impressive is the protruding tower at the southeast end. Although no mortar was used, its structure is so tight.

There is a fortress about 18 meters wide at the east end, and its remaining height today exceeds 9 meters. The fort may have served as a watchtower, offering a commanding view across the plains of West Mois and the eastern entrance into the highlands.

This fortress does not exist alone. A 180m-long spectacular wall carved from large limestone blocks runs through the northern hills of the hill.

That is to say, it was part of a tight defense system, but unfortunately the ancient builders severely damaged it and buried it under newer strata.

Thanks to the existence of ground-penetrating radar, Lian Ge Na and the others discovered the grand structure of the city wall: the city wall here made a sharp turn, descending 7 meters in a distance of only 12 meters. A stepped foundation is formed.

The underground part of this foundation was approximately 7m high, enough to support a fortress over 18m high, but unfortunately the more specific details were never clarified because the superstructure was dug away by those building New Troy.

Compared with the solid city wall here, the thickness of the city wall further back in time is only half of the city wall built before. The stones used are smaller and rougher. The foundation of the wall is also shallow, and the strength is obviously far less than that.

Of course, Liang En and the others did not only study these defense formulas during the past month or so. For example, they discovered that all roads seemed to lead to the western top of the hill. It is further deduced that this is the location of the royal palace.

On the terraces below the palace are the foundations of about 25 houses, which should have been the residences of the royal family’s personal attendants and relatives, while the king’s brothers and sons may have had separate residences.

From today’s perspective, the residences of the royal family and close ministers are too simple. Whether it is the royal family with only a few private residences or the ministers who need everyone to live in dormitories, it is completely different from what people imagined before.

But at that time, this was already the top-of-the-line residence. After all, most people in that era only had a straw shed or a rammed earth hut to live in. Not only did the whole family live in one house, they even had to live with animals.

After all, for humans at that time, those animals often represented the most valuable wealth of the family, and were even more expensive than some family members, so it became very normal for humans and animals to live together.

Perhaps because some houses were more similar to today’s dormitories, the largest houses were all large two-story buildings nearly 27 meters long.

These buildings are similar to the central halls of Tiryns and Mycenae, where local nobles and warriors gathered. The only difference is that the buildings on the Troy side are entered and exited through side doors.

This form of architecture was found in other parts of the world, mainly to avoid dust and noise from roads and to gain some advantage during war years.

One of these buildings is located near the south city gate. It is called a “column mansion” because there are not many ruins accumulated above it, so it has become the main excavation target of Liang En and others at this stage.

During the excavation, they found that the foundation of the building was 26 meters long and 12 meters wide. From the decorations and traces of fire, it could be seen that the building had a main hall and a kitchen.

Although the building has completely collapsed long ago, it can still be seen that the roof was supported by some large stone pillars, one of which has survived to this day.

The upper floor of the building was probably a wooden frame structure with mud brick walls and stucco surfaces, with windows and doors, and possibly a skylight roof, which is what can still be seen in northwest Anatolia today. An ancient architectural style.

Skylights were a necessity in many buildings in ancient civilizations, because buildings of that era were often made of woven plants plus soil, or simply rammed earth structures. Their structural flaws made them far less perfect than today’s houses.

To take the simplest example, although buildings with this structure are much more advanced than living in caves or living directly in the wild, the fragility and irrationality of the structure are also very prominent. For example, the walls are very fragile.

Therefore, in the ruins of Çatal, the earliest human city found in Turkey, we can see that the buildings built by people of that era did not even have doors at all.

This is a city that dates back more than 8,000 years, with more than 1,000 adobe houses and a population of more than 6,000. The house has uniform specifications and consists of a living room and several ancillary rooms. The interior is connected by some small holes of about 70cm.

There are no doors or windows on the ground floor of the house. There is only a skylight with an entrance on the second floor. People who want to enter the room must climb the ladder to the second floor and then enter the room through the skylight.

In addition to the structural issues of the house, the choice of skylights is also related to lighting. At least before there was no light-transmitting material, the small holes barely dug in the walls were simply not enough for lighting.

As for artificial light sources, there was no need to consider them in ancient times. Because that cost is simply unaffordable except for a very small number of top princes and nobles.

In addition to their understanding of the building structure, Liang En and the others also discovered more clues, such as the final stage of Troy. This kind of building was likely to be used as an armory or barracks.

Because a large number of slingshots were found inside, as well as signs of a large amount of food being consumed, etc., it all showed that organized armed forces had been stationed in this place for a long time. Based on the tight city defense during the same period, it can be judged that the situation at that time was very bad.

After all, this place is an extremely rich city, and there are definitely not a few forces that covet it. Naturally, it is unlikely that this hostility will be hidden from the Trojans.

It’s just that the way the city was destroyed in the end was not due to the invasion of foreign enemies. At least judging from the clues obtained from the remains of those buildings, the city was eventually destroyed by a large-scale earthquake.

It can be seen here that whether it is ancient or modern, the first thing that is most likely to destroy a city is war, and the second is various natural disasters.

Even though today’s cities are still very fragile when facing earthquakes, floods or typhoons, from this point of view, cities in ancient and modern times are still very similar.