Dobis 1

Joseph Dobis
Professor Errin Stegich
History 134
22 October 2014
Module 1 Assignment: Survival of the Fittest?
This story begins looking at a beautiful forest of deciduous trees in late October. The
nights are getting quite chilly. Tonight, it is going down to 36 degrees. A shelter will need to be
created. There has been no time to prepare for winter. First things first, tools need be created or
fashioned. From the learning module on Hominids, it was found that several primate species
even today are able to use tools, so it wouldn't be unheard of that one would be making tools.
One won't need tools to create a makeshift shelter. This will consist of piling sticks and logs, and
then piling plants and leaves on top. It won't be completely water-tight, but it will have to do.
One knows there is a creek nearby so one will always have a water source. It doesn't freeze
completely in the winter, and the ice can be broken easily enough with rocks.

Unfortunately,

there is no time to grow crops before winter sets in, so one would have to make the tools of
hunting. A young sapling seen in the woods can be fashioned into a bow, and one can braid the
young strips of bark into the string for the bow. One will have to sharpen straight sticks for
arrows, and maybe use leaves as a stabilizer on the back end so the arrow doesn't tumble until
one can find some feathers. Squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, and the occasional deer can be seen
in this area. They will provide a sustenance over the winter. One can rub sticks to make fire. It is
long and tedious, but it does work. Tedious doesn't matter when one has a stomach to fill. After
one gets their first deer, one can make clothing to keep warm in the winter. One is already using
pine boughs to sleep on. They insulate well. If someone were to make it through the winter, there
are several species of mushroom, and root crops that grow wild in this area that can be eaten in

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the spring. Hunting will have to continue as well. One will learn how to build a stronger shelter,
better tools and better hunting tools. One will learn how to hunt more successfully. Summer will
be an easier time for people as they won't have to contend with the bitter cold and dead plants
around.

Dobis 1
Joseph Dobis
History 134
Professor Errin Stegich
3 November 2014
Module 4: Journal Assignment
Sir Evans
March 1900: I and Sir Evans team have arrived in Crete to begin our work on
excavation. The restriction of the area by the Ottoman firman has been removed and we are free
to work. Sir Evans is the owner of the land now, and we will begin work on a small knoll at the
north of the Island. Dr. Duncan Mackenzie has also arrived, preceded by his work on the island
of Melos, and Mr. Fyfe from the British school of Athens. We have had a long trip from Britain,
and will begin our work in the morning.
1900: Evans has employed a large staff, mainly occupied by the locals. We only have Sir
Evans and Dr. Mackenzie to supervise perhaps 80 men. It will be no easy task. I will be working
to assist Sir Evans as well as Dr. Mackenzie. We have uncovered many ancient coins which
feature labyrinths, minotaurs, and sailing ships. We have also discovered rooms filled with clay
tablets, with a script unknown to us.
1900: We have uncovered many ancient coins which feature labyrinths, minotaurs, and
sailing ships. We have also discovered rooms filled with clay tablets, with a script unknown to
us. Sir Evans is bent on translating the script. Evans believes this site to be the origin of the
mythical king Minos, and the story of the minotaur. The Palace at Knossos, Evans believes to be
that famed labyrinth where the minotaur was banished to. I am not so sure.
1901: A throne room has been uncovered, with frescoes remarkably intact. They were
uncovered sometimes only inches below the surface, apparently intact after 3000 years? Very

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strange.
There seem to be more than a thousand passageways, and day by day I am beginning to think the
legend of the labyrinth is true. I am not so inclined to believe a minotaur roamed its halls,
however. Sir Evans is intrigued that there are no visible fortifications around this city. How
could a city in that time and place have no walls? Perhaps it has something to do with the close
proximity of the sea.
Heinrich Shliemann
August 1876: I, assistant to Heinrich Schliemann, will document our archaelogical digs.
We begin in the tholoi. Schliemann has begun at the Lion Gate and then inside the citadel walls.
Here he has found a double ring of slabs. I have a suspicion that it may be a ritualistic site, or
temple. We will find out when we uncover what lies beneath.
August 1876: We have discovered five shaft graves within the ring. 16 bodies have been
uncovered. More importantly however, large cache's of gold have been discovered in the center
of this burial chamber. Also artistic trinkets of ivory have been found. Schliemann believes he
has found the graves of someone important. He believes they are the graves of Agamemnon and
Clytemnestra. There is no talking him out of it.
August 1876: Schliemann has finally told me why he believes this to be the grave of
Agamemnon, the legendary king of Homer's The Iliad. He found a golden mask which adorned
the face of one of the bodies. He believes this is evidence that the Trojan war is real. The large
cache of gold, he believes, is indisputable evidence of this fact as Homer described Agamemnon
as being rich with gold beyond compare.
August 1876: Schlieman has sent a telegram to King George of Greece. He had some
more information that he hadn't told me yet. I was able to overhear his telegram and it is as best
I remember, With great joy I announce to Your Majesty that I have discovered the tombs which

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the tradition proclaimed by Pausanias indicates to be the graves of Agamemnon, Cassandra,
Eurymedon and their companions, all slain at a banquet by Clytemnestra and her lover
Aegisthos. . How could he truly have identified all of these people? I do wonder.

Works Cited
Our Learning Activities
http://www.athenapub.com/11evans.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/196901/Sir-Arthur-Evans
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/527668/Heinrich-Schliemann