Was Hisarlik an interregional city with important harbor in the late Bronze Age?

During the last two decades a number of publications emerged concluding that Hisarlik in Western Turkey is the Troy of Homer. In this paper we discuss the scientific evidence available to support or dismiss the notion that Late Bronze Age Hisarlik was a large settlement with a harbor. The basic investigations in this re-spect have previously been published, but the findings have received little atten-tion and have not been fully integrated into any thorough analysis. In the present study based on those earlier investigations it is revealed that the plains around Hisarlik and the so-called lower city were marshland in the Bronze Age. Malaria will be considered as a new aspect of the question. Our new evaluation of the sci-entific results suggests that it is unlikely that Late Bronze Age Hisarlik was a large settlement with a harbor.