Excavations begun in 1988 suggest that the settlement below the “sixth” Troy may have been five times bigger than the city described by Homer. The excavations are being carried out by a team of archaeologists led by Manfred Korfmann of the University of Tübingen, on the narrow plane between the mound of Hissarlik and the Dardanelles. Troy VI was defended by the massive walls of the acropolis which extended down the slopes of the mound, probably providing a protection zone around the acropolis itself. This would seem to prove that the ten-year war was fought some distance away from Priam’s rock. The battlefield may have been beyond the rampart protecting the lower city, which the archaeologists are now attempting to locate.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'How far beyond the ramparts was the Trojan War fought?'
