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| Troy IX | |
|---|---|
| Name | Troy IX |
| Region | northwestern Anatolia |
| Period | Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition |
| Built | c. 1200–950 BCE |
| Abandoned | c. 950–900 BCE |
| Major sites | Hisarlık |
| Excavations | Heinrich Schliemann; Wilhelm Dörpfeld; Carl Blegen; Manfred Korfmann |
Troy IX
Troy IX denotes a stratigraphic phase at Hisarlık in northwestern Anatolia associated with Late Bronze Age collapse and Early Iron Age formation, identified in stratigraphic schemes developed by Heinrich Schliemann, Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Carl Blegen, and reassessed by Manfred Korfmann; it is central to debates involving the Sea Peoples, the Hittite Empire, Mycenae, Phoenicia, and regional transformations across the Aegean and Anatolia.
Scholars place the Troy IX phase roughly between the twelfth and tenth centuries BCE, overlapping chronologies tied to the terminal phases of the Late Bronze Age and the emergent Early Iron Age (Anatolia), correlating with radiocarbon series from sites like Hattuša, Ugarit, and Pylos; debates pivot on synchronisms with the destruction horizons at Knossos, Tiryns, and the abandonment of Hittite administrative centers. Ceramic seriation links Troy IX to postpalatial assemblages from Laconia, Ionia, and Cyprus (island), and to trade disruptions documented in texts from Rib-Hadda of Byblos and the archives at Ugarit. Chronological models contrast conventional Blegenian stratigraphy with Bayesian analyses from teams that include researchers associated with the Troy Excavations and the German Archaeological Institute.
Excavations at Hisarlık initiated by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s and continued by Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Carl Blegen in the 1930s–1950s, and later by Manfred Korfmann in the 1990s produced the sequence where the Troy IX layer was defined; finds were cataloged in the holdings of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, the University of Cincinnati, and archives at the German Archaeological Institute in Istanbul. Fieldwork employed stratigraphic methods influenced by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and comparative typologies from the British School at Athens and the French School at Athens, while recent geophysical surveys used magnetometry and coring in collaboration with teams from University of Tübingen and Oxford University. Interpretations of Troy IX draw on comparative studies with assemblages from Gordion, Tarsus, Sardis, and coastal sites excavated by the Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes; contentious finds include votive objects, fortification remnants, and imported wares cataloged in reports by the Istanbul Archaeological Museum and publications in journals like Anatolian Studies and American Journal of Archaeology.
The architectural remains attributed to the relevant horizon include reworked fortification lines, domestic compounds, and possible ritual structures that analysts compare with orthogonal plans seen at Pylos and the citadel layout at Hattuša; masonry includes re-used ashlar stones analogous to construction practices documented at Troy VIIa and at Late Bronze Age sites excavated by Sherratt and Cline. Urban morphology indicates a contraction of the citadel footprint and reorganization of craft quarters paralleling transformations observed in Mycenae and Gla, with evidence for earthen ramparts and timber-laced walls similar to descriptions from Assyrian reliefs and administrative texts from Hattusa. Spatial analyses reference grid studies applied in surveys at Izmir (Smyrna), plan comparisons with Phokaia, and settlement hierarchy models used in studies of Luwian polities.
Ceramic assemblages diagnostic of the Troy IX horizon include handmade burnished wares, wheel-made monochrome pottery, and local derivatives of Protogeometric and sub-Mycenaean styles paralleling finds from Argos, Miletus, Chios, and Rhodes; metallurgical evidence points to bronze toolkits undergoing compositional shifts documented in metallurgical studies from Greece and Cyprus (island), with tin supply networks inferred via comparisons to distributions recorded at Kissonerga and Enkomi. Organic remains and zooarchaeological assemblages echo subsistence patterns similar to those reconstructed for Gordion and rural sites in the Menderes Valley, while botanical macrobotanical studies align with cereal economies described in contemporaneous texts from Ugarit and Byblos. Trade in amber, faience, and glass is attested through finds analogous to objects from Samaria and Megiddo, suggesting participation in long-distance exchanges noted in the Amarna letters context.
Material and textual correlations connect the Troy IX horizon to interactions with Mycenaean Greece, Lydia, Phrygia, Phoenicia, and coastal Cyprus (island), reflecting both maritime contacts across the Aegean Sea and inland exchanges into central Anatolia; ceramic parallels and metalwork point toward continued ties with Ionia and episodic influence from post-Hittite entities attested at Hattuša and Karkemish. Interpretations have invoked movements of peoples such as groups associated in scholarship with the Sea Peoples and migratory narratives derived from Near Eastern texts, while comparative analysis references demographic shifts identified at Gordion and settlement discontinuities documented around Smyrna. Diplomatic and economic networks implicated include merchant elites comparable to agents known from Ugarit and Byblos correspondence.
The terminal sequence shows demographic contraction, rebuilding episodes, and eventual architectural reconfiguration that mark a transition into subsequent stratigraphic phases often labeled Troy X by earlier excavators, paralleling site trajectories seen at Mycenae and Knossos during the Early Iron Age; models for decline reference climatic hypotheses tested against paleoclimatic proxies from Gökçeada and isotope records used in studies of Late Bronze Age collapse. Archaeologists debate whether the transformation reflects invasion, internal restructuring, or economic realignment, invoking comparative frameworks developed from the collapse of the Hittite Empire, disruptions recorded at Ugarit, and sociopolitical reorganization evident in the archaeological sequences of western Anatolia.