Troy VII
| Archaeological Site of Troy | |
|---|---|
| Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List | |
 |
|
| Location | Turkey |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iii, vi |
| Reference | 849 |
| UNESCO region | Europe and North America |
| Coordinates | 39°57′23.18″N 26°14′20.4″E / 39.9564389°N 26.239000°ECoordinates: 39°57′23.18″N 26°14′20.4″E / 39.9564389°N 26.239000°E |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1998 (22nd Session) |
Troy VII, in the mound at Hisarlik, is an archaeological layer of Troy that chronologically spans from c. 1300 to c. 950 BC. It coincides with the collapse of the Bronze Age. It was a walled city with fortified towers reaching a height of 9 metres (30 ft); the foundations of one of its towers measured 18 metres by 18 metres (59 ft). Manfred Korfmann, who excavated the site in the 1980s, estimated the area of Troy VII at 200,000 square metres (50 acres) or more and put its population at five to ten thousand inhabitants, which makes it "by the standards of its day a large and important city".
The city was built following the destruction of Troy VIh, probably by an earthquake c. 1300 BC. A number of layers are distinguished:
Troy VII was contemporary with the late period of Mycenaean culture and the Greek Dark Ages, as well as with the late Hittite Empire to Neo-Hittite times.
The city of the archaeological layer known as Troy VIIa, which has been dated on the basis of pottery styles to the mid- to late-13th century BC, lasted for about a century, with a destruction layer at c. 1190 BC. It is the most often-cited candidate for the Troy of Homer and is believed to correspond to Wilusa, known from Hittite sources dating to the period of roughly 1300–1250 BC.
These dates correspond closely to the mythical chronology of Greece as calculated by classical authors, placing the construction of the walls of Troy by Poseidon, Apollo and Aeacus at 1282 BC and the sack of Troy by the Greeks at 1183 BC.
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