Heinrich Schliemann (; 6 January 1822 – 26 December 1890) was a
German businessman and a pioneer in the field of
archaeology. He was an
advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of
Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of
Hissarlik, now presumed to be the site of
Troy, along with the
Mycenaean sites
Mycenae and
Tiryns. His work lent weight to the idea that
Homer's
Iliad and
Virgil's
Aeneid reflect
historical events. Schliemann's excavation of nine levels of archaeological remains with dynamite has been criticized as destructive of significant historical artifacts, including the level that is believed to be the historical Troy.