At Troy's southern gate, archaeologists have uncovered a marketplace dating roughly 2,800 years, built amid the remains of the older Bronze Age city. Pottery, pavement and reused walls suggest Troy may not have remained deserted for long after its earlier settlement was abandoned.Image credit : AA Photo
The Discovery
Excavations at the ancient city of Troy in Çanakkale, Türkiye, have uncovered what researchers describe as Troy's oldest agora.
The marketplace lies in front of the southern gate associated with Troy VI, a major phase of the settlement's Bronze Age occupation. Archaeologists have been investigating the area since 2014 as part of a wider effort to understand how the Bronze Age city developed into the later settlement known as Ilion or Ilios.
Reyhan Körpe, deputy head of the Troy excavations, said the evidence points to a marketplace occupying the area during the Late Bronze Age and later being revived by settlers who arrived around 80 to 90 years after the Bronze Age settlement was abandoned.
That possibility is important because it challenges a simple picture of Troy as a city that disappeared and was then rediscovered centuries later.
Instead, the archaeological evidence suggests that people returned to the site relatively soon and established new structures over elements of the earlier settlement.
The excavations are being conducted under the direction of Rüstem Aslan, head of the Troy Excavations Committee.
The site itself has been a focus of international archaeological attention for generations. Troy was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998 and is closely associated with Homer's Iliad.
But the newly investigated area is concerned with a question that extends beyond the epic tradition: what happened to Troy after its Bronze Age occupation ended?
What Archaeologists Found
The excavated remains include parts of structures associated with the agora, along with a pavement and an entrance leading from the lower city towards the southern gate.
Archaeologists also discovered pottery fragments and amphorae in association with the architectural remains.
These ceramics have been dated to the Early Iron Age.
That dating is particularly significant. According to Körpe, it indicates that Troy was not abandoned for an extended period following the end of its Bronze Age settlement.
Parts of the walls belonging to Troy VI were reused during the Early Archaic period. Houses were constructed over earlier remains, with some structures apparently incorporating or building directly upon old walls.
The evidence suggests a striking sequence of reuse.
An earlier urban space may have functioned as a marketplace during the Bronze Age. After the settlement's abandonment, newcomers returned roughly 80 to 90 years later and established houses and other structures around the surviving remains.
The marketplace itself appears to have continued as an agora.
The discovery therefore provides physical evidence for continuity and transformation at one of the world's most famous archaeological sites.
What might have encouraged new settlers to return to Troy so soon after the Bronze Age settlement was abandoned?
The answer remains uncertain, but future excavation could reveal more about the settlement's population, economy and relationship with the older city.
Historical Background
Troy has a settlement history extending back around 5,000 years and experienced repeated destruction and rebuilding associated with conflict, fires and earthquakes.
Its importance in archaeology is also inseparable from the work of Heinrich Schliemann, whose excavations in the 19th century brought the site enormous international attention.
However, earlier excavation campaigns also damaged or removed archaeological evidence in parts of Troy.
Körpe noted that many areas were affected by Schliemann's excavations. Since 2014, researchers have therefore concentrated on smaller areas and investigated them in considerably greater detail.
The current work is aimed partly at bridging the gap between Bronze Age Troy and the later Archaic and Classical settlement of Ilion.
The name itself carries archaeological and historical importance.
Körpe said that the people who arrived after the Bronze Age occupation knew the earlier place through names including “Wilusa”, Ilios or Ilion. The new settlement retained the old city's name, providing a possible cultural link between successive communities.
The relationship between Bronze Age Troy and later Ilion remains an important research question.
Scientific Analysis
The pottery is central to establishing the chronology of the newly uncovered settlement.
Amphorae and other ceramic fragments found alongside the architectural remains have been dated to the Early Iron Age. Their association with structures and surfaces helps archaeologists establish when the marketplace and surrounding buildings were being used.
The physical relationship between new construction and older Troy VI walls is equally important.
Rather than clearing away every earlier structure, later inhabitants appear to have reused elements of the Bronze Age city. Houses were built over older remains, while the earlier urban landscape continued to shape the later settlement.
The pavement and entrance leading from the lower city towards the southern gate provide additional evidence for movement through this part of Troy.
Taken together, the architecture and pottery allow researchers to reconstruct changes in the site over successive periods.
However, the available evidence does not establish every detail of how the marketplace operated or exactly who the later settlers were. Continued excavation will be necessary to distinguish confirmed archaeological evidence from broader interpretations of population movement and cultural continuity.
Why This Discovery Matters
The significance of the agora lies in what it reveals about Troy after its famous Bronze Age phase.
For decades, Troy has been widely discussed through the lens of its earlier monumental settlement and its association with the Iliad. The newly investigated area instead focuses attention on a later community that inherited and reused the landscape.
If the dating and interpretation hold, the marketplace demonstrates that the site remained important after the Bronze Age settlement was abandoned.
The reuse of Troy VI walls is particularly revealing. Later inhabitants did not simply occupy an unrelated location nearby; they constructed their homes among the physical remains of the earlier city.
The survival of the marketplace's function is another important clue.
A space that may have served as a Bronze Age marketplace appears to have been revived as an agora by later inhabitants. That suggests that aspects of the site's urban geography may have survived across a period of political and cultural change.
It also offers archaeologists a way to study how communities interacted with the ruins of an older city.
Rather than treating Troy's history as a series of disconnected settlements, the excavation is beginning to expose relationships between them.
What's Next?
Excavations in the area will continue in coming years.
Researchers intend to investigate the connection between Bronze Age Troy and Archaic and Classical Ilion in greater detail. Additional structures, pottery and other archaeological material could help establish how long the later settlement occupied the area and how closely its layout followed that of the older city.
Future work may also clarify the nature of the agora itself.
Was it primarily a commercial space, a civic gathering area or a multifunctional part of the settlement? The present evidence establishes the marketplace interpretation proposed by the excavation team, but further excavation will be needed to reconstruct its precise role.
The identity and origins of the newcomers also remain an important question.
The archaeological evidence indicates that people returned to the site approximately 80 to 90 years after the Bronze Age settlement was abandoned, but the supplied excavation findings do not establish every detail of their movement or social organisation.
Further discoveries may help answer those questions.
Conclusion
The newly excavated agora adds another chapter to Troy's exceptionally long archaeological record.
Pavement, an entrance, pottery and reused Troy VI walls show that the area remained significant after the Bronze Age settlement ended. The evidence points towards a relatively early return to the site and the revival of an earlier marketplace as an agora.
For archaeologists, the discovery is valuable not simply because it confirms another structure at Troy, but because it helps explain how one settlement evolved into another.
As excavation continues, the ruins beneath the southern gate may reveal how later inhabitants remembered, reused and reshaped the remains of the city that came before them.
FAQ
How old is Troy's newly discovered agora?
The marketplace is described as dating roughly 2,800 years, with associated pottery attributed to the Early Iron Age.
Where was the agora found?
It was uncovered in front of the southern gate of Troy VI at the ancient city of Troy in Çanakkale, Türkiye.
Did people return to Troy after the Bronze Age settlement was abandoned?
The excavation team believes new settlers arrived approximately 80 to 90 years after the Bronze Age settlement was abandoned and established houses over earlier remains.
What evidence links the later settlement to older Troy?
Archaeologists found Early Iron Age pottery alongside architectural remains, while later houses reused parts of Troy VI's walls and an earlier marketplace area appears to have continued as an agora.
