Problems in Chronology and Settlement in Troia I, II and III.

For more than 100 years the 16 m. high accumulation of strata at Troia has provided a core sequence for Bronze Age chronology in the Aegean, Anatolia and Southeastern Europe. No other site has yielded so much information nor as many finds. A variety of chronological chains seemed to permit relatively acceptable synchronisms with the cultural remains of Southwest Asia and Egypt and the "absolute dates". The resulting chronological scheme for Troia seemed assured until the early 1950s when the physical method of ¹⁴C-dating reassigned many sites and cultures to very different periods. In consequence Troia's significance for chronology naturally decreased to a point where, for some, the site was "out of date". Others very boldly argued that ¹⁴C dates from Troia, if such existed, would support this and that chronology.

It is common knowledge that in recent years specialists have disagreed in their chronological evaluation of the Troia phases and periods. Against this background, the primary duty incumbent on the new excavations was to provide some remedy to this problem. The lecture will deal with in concentrated form with this topic and try to summarize to which point we can come by looking carefully at the results of the former excavations in light of the new ones. Troia I, II and III are considered one cultural unit, the 'Maritime Troia Culture", which lasted from before 3000 BCE (=Kumtepe IB) to about 2250 BCE.