
Digging Up Troy - pepys
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/digging_troy
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sherr
Eric Cline, the author of the piece, wrote the book "1177 B.C.: The Year
Civilization Collapsed", a book on the bronze age collapse I found very
interesting. In the 1980's, the BBC produced a series called "In Search of
Troy", written and presented by Michael Wood, the historian. Cline brings this
up to date with Manfred Korfmann's findings from the 1990's, expanding the
size of Troy with the "lower city" and adding much to our knowledge. I think
the BBC series can be found on YouTube and is worth watching still, as it
covers a lot of the same ground. I wish Schliemann had been more careful.

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mongol
I can confirm the series are interesting, just purchased it on DVD. In the
series we learn that the gold from Troy disappeared from german museums during
WW2, perhaps forever. But since the end of the cold war it has appearently
turned up in a russian museum.

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vxxzy
Was it common to really build cities on top of one another? It seems weird to
me that one would simply build over top another ruined building. And actually,
what did this look like? Did they simply build on top of some rubble? I
imagine this happens over a long period of time but I don't know enough to
understand. Anyone can explain or send references?

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jarito
Not an expert, but groundworks are expensive. Building on an existing
foundation would be easier. Include the fact that ancient cities were usually
founded in advantageous locations (rivers, etc) and the existence of
infrastructure (roads, local farmland) then staying put makes sense. In fact,
without modern communications, if you moved, no one would be able to find you.

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TheSpiceIsLife
I'm no expert on the matter, but I can imagine how it might be possible to
maintain address records and update them as required without the aid of
electronic communication.

Also, you could move home locations but still go to the same market, tavern,
workplace, fields, etc, and be located there, or just tell your old neighbour
you moved.

