Page:Mycenaean Troy.djvu/89

 the city wall; (4) three great gates, one of which was walled up during the existence of the city, and a door affording access to the Northeast Tower; (5) individual dwellings within the citadel, separated by broad and narrow streets; (6) concentric terraces, ascending toward the center of the city; (7) a broad circuit road between the first terrace and the city wall, with ramps leading up to the summit of the acropolis; (8) several wells within the citadel.

The demolition of the upper wall of the city, the ruin of the gates, and the destruction of the walls of the inner buildings could have been wrought only by hostile hands. In several places are seen traces of an extensive conflagration. About the date of the great catastrophe we can judge only approximately. The presence of Mycenaean pottery establishes the fact that the city belonged to the period of Mycenaean culture. The damage to the walls from exposure to the weather during the existence of the VI City and the gradual increase in the elevation of the ground between several buildings show a period of long duration. We can conjecture that the city flourished between 1500 and 1000 B.C., a date which corresponds to that given by tradition for the fall of Homer's Troy.