Definition: Wilhelm Dörpfeld (Dec. 26, 1853 - April 25, 1940) excavated Pergamon from 1878-86. He helped Heinrich Schliemann excavate Troy in 1882 and then Tiryns from 1884-5. He also helped in excavations of the Acropolis and Agora of Athens. It was Dorpfeld who labelled the areas excavated by Schliemann as
Troy I-IX (I-VII Bronze Age, VIII Greek, IX Roman). Dörpfeld also identified Mycenaean pottery in the Troy VI levels. Dörpfeld suggested that Troy VIh was the level of the city of the Homeric epics, but Carl Blegen preferred Troy VIIA.
Dörpfeld died on Leukas, the island he believed was Homer's Ithaca.
Sources:
Mark J. Rose "Troy" The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
Neil Asher Silberman, Cyprian Broodbank, Alan A. D. Peatfield, James C. Wright, Elizabeth B. French "Aegean Cultures" The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
Dictionary of Art Historians
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Before radio-carbon dating, Dörpfeld developed an archaeological method of dating based on the strata in which objects were found.