The Archaeological Sites In the Aegean

The archeological sites in the Aegean Sea, have tremendously impacted what we know. What we know today has been learned from Homer’s Illiad, the odyssey, and artifacts from the Aegean sites excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, and Sir Arthur Evens. These sites are what we believe of as the ruins of Troy, (now known as turkey) Knossos and mainland Greece. What we found in one of our sources was that "history, as an attempt to answer the questions of today, which rely on the past." Which really goes along with what we are trying to present in this content report.
The Palace of Knossos, was on of the least important sources, that we looked at. It talked about Knossos, its history, and when and how it was excavated. This source did not include any citations for us. Knossos was first excavated by the Minos Kalokairionos in 1878. Several people attempted to continue excavations. In 1898 Crete became an independent state with Prince George as a Governor General. A law was established that said all of ancient material of the island was property of the state. Therefor, in 1900 Sir Arthur Evens began further excavations.
A Brief Look at Ancient Greece, was another source we used. It says that in the late 1800’s Scholars thought Greek history could only be traced back to 776BC ( the first day of the Olympics.) In this we also found that "To understand ancient Greece, you have to understand the regional perspective, to the east are Egypt, Syria, Palestine, the lanRAB of Asia Minor, and the Mesopotamia valley." These areas do give us a understanding and show us the definite impact on Greece and the Aegean, but how much? That’s a questions that today historians haven’t quite figured out yet. This source also says that Schliemann, who believed that Homer was describing a real civilization. Schliemann found eight layers of Strata of the same city. He believed the Troy of Homer was in Strata, layer two. (later scholars thought it was in 7a &7b was the real Troy) This article says that Schliemann went to mainland Greece to look for the Trojan enemies, where he found the " death mask of Agamemnon." This described as " rich in gold." Also, Sir Arthur Evans who began excavating Knossos around, 1900.
A Tale of Ancient Troy, an internet site, talks about how Schliemann illicitly began excavation of Troy in 1870. He had his workers dig two trenches, from this small excavation he recovered coins, pottery, and other artifacts including a wall. In 1871 Schliemann was forced to get permission from the Turkish government. Once permission was obtained he continued to dig. Schliemann felt that the most important layer was the oldest. Thence he ended up destroying much of the newer cities. He found many treasures, and gold ornaments, to "protect," what he found he smuggled it out of the country.
" Turkish Government found this out, and demanded compensation. Schliemann paid the government about 15,000 dollars." The treasure on the other hand was worth about 80,000 dollars. The treasure was eventually bought and displayed at museums. This source was an okay, much of the information repeats what is said in our other sources on Troy and the German amateur Schliemann.
Our best source was the book, 100 great Archaeological Discoveries, by Paul G. Bahn. This book gives an assortment of articles and stories on different sites. These sites include Knossos, Troy, mycenea, Pylos, Athens, and a place on Thera. The information on Knossos, Troy, and Mycenea, say basically the same stuff as the other sources. But, the information on Pylos, Athens, and Thera was new. This was most helpful and interesting to learn about the different sites. Another fact is the discovery of the shaft from Schliemann. In 1880 he excavated a site where he investigated the Mycenaean to known as the "Treasury of Minyas". This said to be "one of the greatest wonders of the world". Finding more sites certainly would he continue his excavations at Troy but, he became ill and died.
The article on Thera explains how Spyridon Marinatos thought the eruption of Thera had wiped-out the Minoan civilization. After he had excavated at Akrotini, (which he started in 1976) he realized that the people must have known of the eruption and fled. He also found out that the eruption did not cause the Minoan civilization to collapse. Pylos was also another interesting site about king Nestor in the Southwest Peloponnese. The most interesting thing that we found out was the clay tablets would not have survived except for when the city was burned. The clay tablets were baked hard and preserved. The article about Athens talks about Agora and how it is conceived as a sacred place. Marked with stones which were inscribed "I am the marker of Agora". It also says how it was the heart of democracy. The reason this book was so helpful because it gave a lot of good information we didn’t get anywhere else.
The archaeological in Troy, Crete, and Mainland Greece Give us all our "real information". Homer’s Illiad, the oddysey also give us information, but we can’t say they’re fact or fiction. If we didn’t excavate these sites we wouldn’t have dicipher Liner B or know much on the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations. We wouldn’t have seen their architecture on there beautiful art and jewelry. We would only have Homer to rely on.