Snakes I hate snakes.

The location I'm going to choose is Jerimalai Cave region in East Timor. I'm choosing this location because:

1) Given that this was during an ice age, the location of East Timor in the Pacific seems less cold than say, Doggerland, where I also would have liked to have visited in 45,984 BC.
2) They totally ignored and segregated the hobbit-like species from the nearby island of Flores. Only in Middle Earth were hobbits viewed favorably, and these inhabitants of Jerimalai were no different. Nobody wants their kind here.
3) They are thought to be the first people to utilize deep-sea fishing methods. This is what I will try to document. Who wouldn't want to spend all day documenting the discovery of deep-sea fishing, lounging on a boat in the middle of the ocean?

Yes, please.

I bet your lawyering skills will serve you well in ... um ... 18175 BC.

Does law skill include any courses in working flint or sharpening spears?

446 AD is your research assignment. I bet there's a lot of good Roman debauchery then.

Oh, I'm really curious about those hobbit people. That's a great choice. I hope Kimodo Island was still connected to Flores Island at that point so you can see hobbits fighting dragons.

Weren't the Crusades going on then? That might be an option.

I'm assuming if you die in the past, you're dead in your own time? We can't alter the timeline though. If I were to die while on assignment it would alter the timeline of everyone I've ever interacted with. My head hurts. Maybe they can drill a hole in my head in 1146 and relieve the pressure?

Assyria and Egypt were beating the hell of out each other then. The Scythians invented the saddle (without stirrups) in 700 BC. Can I move to Greece, add stirrups to the saddles and take over Babylon, Egypt and Assyria?

That would be amazing if adding "syrups" to a saddle helped you in your quest for domination. If you added pancakes, maybe.

ROFLROFLROFL Stirrups I meant!

Hmm..

War between Irish and Anglo-Saxons in Britain
War between Huns and Romans in Eastern Europe
Massacre of Buddhists in China

I think I'll take your advice and spend my year in a non-disputed part of the Roman empire. Let's say Naples.

Oh, yeah, it seems like you're in prime Crusade-watching season.

I'll assume that you can't die in the past. It's got something to do with how your cells transmogrify in the time travel process.

I wonder how long the saddle was around before stirrups were invented. It seems like it should be a fast transition, but I don't know how inventing worked back then.

Actually a lot of civilizations didn't make that logical leap for a long time. So I can please do it? ROFL

I'm looking at this timeline and you might want to have your stuff packed up to leave quickly before 447 comes around. Attila is on his way.

http://www.novaroma.org/camenaeum/RomanTimeline.txt