A treasury of golden ornaments has been found
in the lowest stratum of debris left by the success-
ive habitations at Hisserlik. This indicates that
in the third millennium before Christ, when the
inhabitants of Troy lived in the stone age and
when bronze was still a rarity, the art of the gold-
smith had very far advanced.
During the second thousand years before our
era, Mycenae was a rich and strong city, ^^ithin
the royal tombs cut vertically into the rock, re-
maining untouched by the hand of man since the
last corpses were placed in them, some of the faces
of the men were covered with gold masks, and the
heads of the women were decked with gold, dia-
dems. The ornaments which have been found in
the royal tombs show that the queens of Mycenaa
appeared in glittering gold array.*' From the
sepulchres of Mycenae alone about one hundred
pounds Troy of the metal have been disinterred.
