The Nature of Sources and Evidence

A term to know …

• Historiography – The study of how archaeologists and historians

reconstruct the past, the sources they use and the way in which they use them.

Focuses on the methodology used by historians to construct history.

The relationship between sources and evidence

• A source is anything that has survived from the past – written or archaeological

• All sources provide information• Not all information is relevant – depends on the

investigation question• Some sources are incomplete• Sources are analysed for the information they contain• That information becomes evidence when it helps to

answer the question

Two Types of Sources

• Archaeological – physical remains of past cultures - artifacts

• Written – any materials or objects that have been written on

Dilemma

• How do you classify the following:

2 Thus rode forth Xerxes from Sardis- but he was accustomed every now and then, when the fancy took him, to alight from his chariot and travel in a litter. Immediately behind the king there followed a body of a thousand spearmen, the noblest and bravest of the Persians, holding their lances in the usual manner- then came a thousand Persian horse, picked men- then ten thousand, picked also after the rest, and serving on foot. Of these last one thousand carried spears with golden pomegranates at their lower end instead of spikes; and these encircled the other nine thousand, who bore on their spears pomegranates of silver. The spearmen too who pointed their lances towards the ground had golden pomegranates; and the thousand Persians who followed close after Xerxes had golden apples. Behind the ten thousand footmen came a body of Persian cavalry, likewise ten thousand; after which there was again a void space for as much as two furlongs; and then the rest of the army followed in a confused crowd.

Herodotus, Istoria, VII

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The contribution of each• Archaeological sources give details of everyday

life often missing from written records)• Ancient written sources represent the views of

a small, educated elite (mostly men)• Ancient written sources deal with public rather

than private life: official documents, accounts of warfare, contracts etc

• Ancient literature (poetry, plays) mostly written by men – some insight into daily life

Activity

• P.18 Antiquity 1 – review the table/ figure

• P.19 Activity: Types of Sources