So there you go. That's the gist of the story of the Palladium of Troy. We've now also learnt that Minnesota Jones is not merely the Schliemannian Chair of Archaeology at Oxford University, but was a student of Heinrich Schliemann himself, the guy who defied conventional wisdom of the time that the story of the Trojan War as recounted in the Iliad was complete fiction by actually finding Troy. So yep, Monty's grandad is an expert on Troy.

Schliemann actually excavated parts of Troy over two digging campaigns during the years 1871-1873 and 1878-1879. It's not quite clear from my research exactly when Schliemann "discovered" Troy, or rather became convinced that the bit of Turkey he'd been wandering over was Troy. Some sources say 1870, others 1871, yet others as early as 1868. I guess Minnesota Jones knows the truth, since he was there.