Due to the large number of excavators, combined with Liang En's use of extraordinary powers to alter part of the underground environment to facilitate the work, they had reached a depth of over five meters and discovered the ruins of the city wall after more than 20 days of digging.
The excavation was relatively slow because, as a professional archaeological team, they needed to carefully clean and record each layer before moving on to the next.
After lunch that day, Liang En and Joan of Arc each picked up a metal detector and jumped into the newly excavated layer to begin their exploration.
Since Liang En only had fragmented memories of the location, he could only search bit by bit using a slow method. However, compared to Schliemann, at least he had a metal detector, so his efficiency was much higher.
"Let's start by checking along the base of the city wall ruins." Liang En pointed to one side of the ten-meter-long work area and said to Joan, "We'll each take one side."
Soon, Liang En and Joan each began exploring along the corners of the city wall. To their surprise, after only three steps, Liang En heard a beeping sound in his headphones.
"Could we really be this lucky?" Liang En repeatedly swept the metal detector over the area, a thought rising in his mind because the situation seemed too coincidental.
Earlier, Liang En and the archaeological team from China had already agreed that everyone would take turns using the metal detector to explore. Each person would have an equal amount of time, and they would rotate in shifts.
This arrangement was made to distribute the work, allowing everyone to relax a bit, while also giving everyone a fair chance to gain the honor of discovering treasures.
After all, for Liang En, leading this excavation already brought him enough honor, so it didn't matter to him who actually unearthed the treasure.
Since this was just a small part of the overall excavation and not the entire ruins of Troy, there was no need to monopolize every opportunity.
However, sometimes luck arrives uninvited and cannot be stopped. After a brief inspection, they were almost certain that there were indeed many valuable metal items buried in that area.
After confirming the location of the unknown treasure, Liang En and his team immediately used the radio to call the nearby Chinese archaeological team, mobilizing everyone to start clearing the site.
Half an hour later, someone finally hit something hard with their shovel. Following that, they began to clean up the area, and soon, a large section of soil mixed with golden light appeared before them.
"These items must have been placed in a box and then buried in the soil." Looking at the neatly piled gold ornaments, Liang En whispered to Joan.
"We can tell from the way these things are arranged that they were stored in a box, which slowly decayed over time, leaving the items inside arranged so neatly when they were unearthed."
However, the items were not in a perfectly square shape, mainly because the long passage of time had caused some changes to the objects, even within the soil, making them appear less organized.
"What should we do next?" Professor Liu, the leader of the Chinese archaeological team, walked up to Liang En and asked as he looked at the gradually unearthed items. "Should we clean them up on-site or—"
"Lift the entire thing out and move it to the nearby lab for careful cleaning." Liang En glanced at the other archaeologists who had gathered around to watch and said.
"I noticed that most of the artifacts buried here are jewelry, and they are top-tier ancient jewelry, so they likely contain many delicate and intricate components."
"If we excavate them here, I'm worried that some items might be lost due to negligence. So, the best approach is to clean them in the lab."
"Besides, another important reason is that these items are not large or heavy, so we can easily transport them along with the surrounding soil."
"You're right, let's do it that way." After Liang En finished his suggestion, Professor Liu nodded in agreement and began setting up the scaffolding, boxes, and winch equipment.
However, because this was a meticulous task, even with a clear target for excavation, they worked until the early hours of the morning before finally moving the glowing soil block into the temporary lab.
It was already 2 a.m. when they transported the item, but everyone was still in a state of excitement. Even other scholars came to watch after hearing the news.
Unfortunately, for those onlookers, it was a bit disappointing because, to prevent any loss, the entire soil block was wrapped in thick canvas, making it impossible to see what was inside.
So, the next day, a large group of scholars gathered in the temporary lab to begin the cleaning work.
The team welcomed these additional helping hands, and with the gradual removal of soil from the block, their excavation progress increased significantly, revealing more and more items.
As they had suspected, the box was filled with exquisitely crafted jewelry, and such craftsmanship often meant that the jewelry contained many small components.
Especially after such a long time, some items inevitably became twisted, deformed, broken, or detached, mixing with the surrounding soil.
In the following days, they even used fine mesh sieves, typically used for sifting flour, to extract small gold beads and threads from the soil.
Moreover, they also uncovered a series of gemstones and semi-precious stones that were originally set in the jewelry. However, due to the long passage of time, the surfaces of these stones had oxidized and corroded.
This made the stones resemble the surrounding rubble fragments, so it was necessary to have professionals carefully identify each piece to ensure that no gemstones were missed.
Fortunately, there were many scholars present, so after this discovery, several experts volunteered to help with the cleaning work.
Thanks to everyone's combined efforts, they completed the entire cleaning process in just one week and then roughly categorized the treasure.
"This is indeed a great treasure." Looking at the dazzling array of treasures in the cabinet before him, the Turkish archaeologist who had accompanied them throughout the excavation said with a sense of awe.
"I know this isn't from the legendary ruins of Troy, but if you ask me, I think these treasures are worthy of the wealth and splendor described in the myths of Troy."
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