Excavating Ancient Cities: Troy & Gordion

1 Course Unit

The instructor has spent the last 30 years excavating the Turkish sites of Troy and Gordion, the latter of which has been explored under Penns sponsorship. The former was famous in antiquity as the site of the Trojan War; the latter served as the capital of the Phrygian Kingdom, ruled by Midas. Both of these are multi-period sites, with nine settlements built above each other during more than four millennia, and determining the chronology and appearance of each settlement has consistently been controversial. In this course we will examine the history of both sites, focusing on the problems of archaeological interpretation. Students will be placed in the position of the archaeologist and charged with re- interpreting the existing archaeological evidence. 1 Course Unit