Afət Ziyadqızı
Archaeological excavations are continuing at the ancient city of Troy, which UNESCO added to its World Heritage List in 1998. Work at the site, which has a history of approximately 5,000 years, is being carried out under the direction of Professor Rüstem Aslan, head of the Troy Excavation Team.
The Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the remains of an agora, or marketplace, dating back approximately 2,800 years are being uncovered as part of excavations conducted with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and coordinated by Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University.
Reyhan Körpe, a professor in the Department of History at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and deputy head of the Troy excavations, said the area is located in front of the southern gate dating to Troy VI.
According to Körpe, researchers have been studying the connection between Bronze Age Troy and Ilion of the Archaic-Classical period since 2014. The area is believed to have contained a marketplace, or agora, dating to the late Bronze Age.
Körpe said settlers who arrived in the area about 80-90 years after Bronze Age Troy was abandoned reused the agora. For this reason, the excavated area is described as the oldest known agora in the city of Troy.
The remains indicate that some sections of Troy VI’s walls were reused in the early Archaic period, with houses built on top of them. The marketplace of Bronze Age Troy later continued to function as an agora for the people who settled there.
Excavations have also revealed a paved road and an entrance leading from the lower city toward the southern gate. In addition to the remains of structures associated with the agora, archaeologists have found amphorae and fragments of various pottery vessels.
The finds have been dated to the early Iron Age. This suggests that Troy was not abandoned for a long period after the Bronze Age. It is believed that migrants who arrived approximately 80-90 years later built their homes on the old walls.
Professor Reyhan Körpe said these people established a new settlement in the area formerly known as “Wilusa” and named it Ilios or Ilion. In this way, the ancient city’s name continued in the new settlement.
Excavations at Troy are expected to continue in the coming years, with further research planned into the relationship between Bronze Age Troy and Ilion.
Troy, located in modern-day northwestern Türkiye, is one of the best-known archaeological sites in the world. The settlement is associated with the city described in Homer’s epic poems and contains archaeological layers spanning several millennia.
