The Korfmann dig using what we now know could have changed Finley’s view on the Trojan War dramatically with all of its discoveries. The dig helped show that Troy was real and it was in the location like it said in Homer’s books. Along with finding its locations they discovered that the area it was at the time was an important spot that many people would want to get their hands on, which would give reason to why there were battles. At first they believed that Homer was really off with describing its size but found an underground city which would explain why Homer said it was so big. Not only did they find artifacts but they found artifacts that relate with the Gods that they use to worship during their times, almost like statues they used
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There are signs of burning and warfare at the appropriate level of Troy to correspond to the period in the Late Bronze Age when most plausibly a “Trojan War” would have occurred roughly about 1200 BCE or somewhat earlier. Despite those hints, there isn’t a clear archaeological level that was certainly destroyed by a big war that also looks like it would match the “Homeric” Troy. Certainly a 10 year large scale conflict seems quite unlikely, but raids/skirmishes involving the communities along the Western coast of Anatolia and the Mycenaean Greeks are documented in letters and treaties found at the Hittite capital of Hattusa. “My personal opinion is that the poems combine Near Eastern literary traditions, remembered historic events, various historic figures built into legendary heroes with a good deal of “add-on” to their portraits and deeds. So my answer, only one opinion and definitely not “evidence” is that at its core there is some history in the Iliad but to read it in some literal form is to go far astray from historical reality.” At some point another “library” of tablets may be uncovered in the western region of Anatolia and answer more of our questions, but until that time, it’s better to talk about the Luwian, Hittite, and context which we do know a great deal about, the treaties, wars, and kings that we do know about and leave the “Trojan War” as an extraordinary icon in the Western Tradition. The Trojan War was highly influential on our way of viewing ourselves and our history, but not quite “history” itself, but rather something greater and less
There are signs of burning and warfare at the appropriate level of Troy to correspond to the period in the Late Bronze Age when most plausibly a “Trojan War” would have occurred roughly about 1200 BCE or somewhat earlier. Despite those hints, there isn’t a clear archaeological level that was certainly destroyed by a big war that also looks like it would match the “Homeric” Troy. Certainly a 10 year large scale conflict seems quite unlikely, but raids/skirmishes involving the communities along the Western coast of Anatolia and the Mycenaean Greeks are documented in letters and treaties found at the Hittite capital of Hattusa. “My personal opinion is that the poems combine Near Eastern literary traditions, remembered historic events, various historic figures built into legendary heroes with a good deal of “add-on” to their portraits and deeds. So my answer, only one opinion and definitely not “evidence” is that at its core there is some history in the Iliad but to read it in some literal form is to go far astray from historical reality.” At some point another “library” of tablets may be uncovered in the western region of Anatolia and answer more of our questions, but until that time, it’s better to talk about the Luwian, Hittite, and context which we do know a great deal about, the treaties, wars, and kings that we do know about and leave the “Trojan War” as an extraordinary icon in the Western Tradition. The Trojan War was highly influential on our way of viewing ourselves and our history, but not quite “history” itself, but rather something greater and less