Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-01-25
Into the Bowels Of the Earth.

The New York Herald devotes an en-
tire page to an interesting and instruc-
tive account of the excavation now
being made in the site of ancient Troy
by DIR. Henry Schleimann. DIR. Schlei-
mann remarks that as early as 1868 he
commenced his excavations on the
heights of Bunarbashi, between the
village and the Scamander. not so much
in expectation of finding the site of the
ancient city as to show conclusively
that it was situated elsewhere; but it
was not till the beginning of October,
1871, that he commenced work in the
locality assumed to he the correct one.
He had considerable difficulty in OBJ
tanning permission to make the excaya-
ton; but the aid of the Turkish gov
eminent having been invoked, he was
enabled to proceed and with the aid of
eighty Workmen he began by digging u
trench, which, when he was stopped by
the winters rains, had attained length
of about seventy-fve yards and depth
of thirteen.
In the course of this excavation he
found remains of different ages of hui
man history, occurring in strata of COM
paratlve regularity. Those of historic
times never extended lever than depth
of about two yards. But from this to a
depth of five yards there were no stones,
and the calcined ruins led him to infer
that all the buildings had been of wood
The remains found at a depth of from
five to nine yards were characterized by
an entire absence of metal, while stone
implements of various kinds, fine pot
terry, and houses built of small stones
united with earth were to him an evil
dence that the inhabitants were Aryans.
Still farther down, to a depth OF
thirteen yards, the houses were all built
of unburned brick, while many copper
weapons and instruments Were found,
although the implements were princi-
pally of diorite stone. At a depth of
eleven yards he found immense masses
of large stones, which he believed to be
the veritable ruins of Troy.
In April, 1872, he began his labors
again, with force of one hundred men,
which was afterward increased con-
slderably, operations being resumed
where he left off the preceding season,
and the trench was sunk down to the
native rock, which was here found at a
depth of about eighteen yards. Having
passed through the stratum of large
stones before referred to-, he began to
find remains of what he believed to be
the temple of Minerva and his perse-
verance was rewarded by discovering
various engraved slabs, with finely in
Bcrlbed characters, as well as several
articles of sculpture of greater or less
interest. He subsequently discovered
the remains of an immense wall of solid
masonry forty feet thick and twenty
feet in height, built on the primitive
rock, which he suggests may have been
part Of the great tower Of Ilium, to
which Andromache went up to 81 can
the plain in search of Hector" He
thinks this tower mayhave been at least
forty yards high, estimating from the
amount of rubbish which forms the
slope Of one Of it's sides. Other re-
mains of period contemporaneous
with that of the construction of this
tower were very varied, embracing a
large amount of pottery, copper nails,
and great variety of flint implements,
saws of flint, millstones, knives, etc.