In Search of Troy
smithsonianmag.com
In Search of Troy
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Re: In Search of Troy
#2Absolutely amazing documentary with the same title.
youtube.com/watch?v=NlpZRBi5xQg&list=PL5rPE79bMQWey_LaeDcJo4F4eslYLTKbg
Re: In Search of Troy
#3For what it's worth, I spent an entire semester researching possible gold links between Schliemann's Troy and the Royal Graves at Ur. My eyes glazed over while reading and I was unable to finish the piece...
Re: In Search of Troy
#4For what it's worth, I spent an entire semester researching possible gold links between Schliemann's Troy and the Royal Graves at Ur. My eyes glazed over while reading and I was unable to finish the piece...
Do you mean you were investigating whether gold from Troy came from Ur?
What were your conclusions?
Re: In Search of Troy
#5For what it's worth, I spent an entire semester researching possible gold links between Schliemann's Troy and the Royal Graves at Ur. My eyes glazed over while reading and I was unable to finish the piece...
Do you mean you were investigating whether gold from Troy came from Ur? What were your conclusions?
No, it was more in terms of techniques, motifs and styles of working the medium. Possible cultural contacts, mostly via trade, were a consideration. There were similarities between the two but so was the case with the Incas who obviously had no contact. I concluded the similarities were mostly the result of the medium itself, pure gold. It lends itself to wire, leaf and embossed designs for decoration and is ill-suited for anything utilitarian...
Re: In Search of Troy
#6The article is quite kind to Schliemann. Kinder than many archaeological experts.
The excavated area thought to be "Troy" had about nine distinct layers. The "Troy" that everyone is interested was one of the upper layers (like Layer VIII, the second from the top), which Schliemann kept digging through. The one he finally settled on and brought "Priam's Treasure" from was much older, long before the era of the fabled Trojan war.
To boot, with each successive layer, the previous layer he simply dumped to the side and didn't take much care in preserving. So much of the Trojan layer that the classicists are interested in studying has actually been destroyed by his attempts to dig deeper.
Re: In Search of Troy
#7The article is quite kind to Schliemann. Kinder than many archaeological experts. The excavated area thought to be "Troy" had about nine distinct layers. The "Troy" that everyone is interested was one of the upper layers (like Layer VIII, the second from the top), which Schliemann kept digging through. The one he finally settled on and brought "Priam's Treasure" from was much older, long before the era of the fabled…
Schliemann was a curious character--he seems to have been as much of a pillager as an archeologist. As a non-sequitur his personal story is a testament to how much more "globalized" the world was in the 19th century, for better or worse.
Re: In Search of Troy
#8Troy is about an hour outside Saint Louis if one takes I-64.
Re: In Search of Troy
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you mean you were investigating whether gold from Troy came from Ur? What were your conclusions?
No, it was more in terms of techniques, motifs and styles of working the medium. Possible cultural contacts, mostly via trade, were a consideration. There were similarities between the two but so was the case with the Incas who obviously had no contact. I concluded the similarities were mostly the result of the medium itself, pure gold. It lends itself to wire, leaf and embossed designs for decoration and is ill-suit…
How many carats is pure gold? I only know of 9 and 18 carat gold.
Re: In Search of Troy
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it was more in terms of techniques, motifs and styles of working the medium. Possible cultural contacts, mostly via trade, were a consideration. There were similarities between the two but so was the case with the Incas who obviously had no contact. I concluded the similarities were mostly the result of the medium itself, pure gold. It lends itself to wire, leaf and embossed designs for decoration and is ill-suit…
How many carats is pure gold? I only know of 9 and 18 carat gold.
Pure is 24. It's too soft to make good jewelry, so you'd only see 24K gold in an object that was meant to be owned as a conversation piece of some kind, but not worn.