Abstrakt
The development of Troy follows a trajectory similar to many Aegean centres: A slow but steady rise to social complexity during the first half of the EBA (Troy I), with a peak of activity and foreign relations in the second quarter of the 3rd Millennium (Troy II and III), a sudden change around 2200 BCE and again a slow start with a period of seeming decline and isolation in the late EBA and during the MBA (Troy IV and V). The phase of Troy VI Early (roughly MH III to LH I) is characterized by the re-establishment of foreign contacts and important changes in the local production.
Among others, the manufacture of Anatolian Grey Ware was introduced. In the next phase, VI Middle (ca.
LH II), Troy became a fortified stronghold. During this time, or at the latest at the beginning of Troy VI Late, a considerable transformation took place both in the settlement structure of the site and its neighbourhood.
The significance of Troy grew and it undoubtedly reached the status of the most important centre in the region. Troy VI Late and VIIa (LH IIIA and IIIB) was the time of the most monumental architecture and the most wideranging foreign contacts.
The dimension of the lower town, used likely for both habitation and industrial activities, estimated in the course of an intensive survey and the many years of excavations, as well as by the position of a surrounding ditch, corresponds to the proposed size of lower towns of Thebes and Mycenae; the Troy VI Late citadel reached dimensions of the palace area in Pylos or the citadel in Midea.