ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN THE TROAD.

Press, Volume XXII, Issue 2719, 27 April 1874, Page 3

ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN THE TROAD.

[From the " Pall Mall Gazette."] Some interesting details respecting the recent archaeological discovery in the Troad are given by the Dardanelles correspondent of the " Levant Herald." It seems that the treasure was discovered towards the end of March in last year by two Greek workmen named Steliano Panayotti and Lezeb Costandi, while digging at Hissarlik for Dr Schliemann. At a depth of some thirty feet they came upon a plain earthen jar, of which the mouth was closed and plastered over with reddish clay. The jar measured about six inches in height, by three in diameter, and the workmen, judging by its weight that it contained gold or some other valuable metal, conveyed it to a secluded spot where they could divide its contents. Tbe following are the things which, as far as it has been possible to ascertain, were found in the jar :—One flat cake of solid gold, about two inches square and a quarter of an inch thick ; two plain finger rings, ornamented with three rows of twisted gold on the upper and one on the lower Burface ; two pairs of earrings, plain, round, and tapering above (to fit the ear), and thick below; two brooches, shaped at the upper extremity in the form of the letter V, and with a horizontal bar attached to the bottom of each, from which dept-nd eight small chains, each terminated by a flat round piece of ornamented gold ; two gold bracelets, thick, plain ; one gold band for tbe hair (Belle Helene), plain and thin, admitting of being rolled up when placed in the jar ; four beads, plain, about tbe size of a small nut, and a large number of small plain beads, each about the size of a pea. Besides the above articles, a large rough lumo of gold intermixed with earth and charred wood was found subsequently by Lezeb' Costandi, and retained by him. This, as well as all his portion of the treasure, has fallen intact into the hands of the authorities. The portion appropriated by- Steliano Panayotti was transferred by , him to a certain Hadji Alexandri, one of the primates of Kalafatti, to whose grand daughter Panayotti is affianced. A few months after Dr Schliemann had definitely taken his departure from the country the Hadji secretly handed over to a goldsmith of Renkieni the greater part of the articles in his keeping, for the purpose of having them converted into ornaments for his granddaughter. Unless—as is suspected— the goldsmith retained them and substituted other gold for them, all these interesting relics will have been irrevocably lost. Izzet Effendi, the official commissioned by Nussif Pasha, ex-vali of the archipelago, to recover the treasure, has, however, rescued two pairs of earrings, two bracelets, two brooches, two large beads, and a .large quantity of smaller ones, and the piece of rough melted gold above mentioned, besides a number of small chains and rods of gold collected in other places, He has also seized all the converted ornaments found in tbe house of Hadji Alexandri and in the goldsmith's shop.