Archaeological sources
Archaeological sources are basically the material evidence like historical buildings, coins, inscriptions and other remains that gives important and detailed information pertaining to a particular period.
It provides us with more unbiased information. These sources are divided into two main groups. They are Archaeological and Literary.
The Archaeological Source can again be divided into three groups, namely, Archaeological Remains and Monuments, Inscriptions and Coins.
Every trace of past human activity is an archaeological resource. These non-renewable resources are often the only tangible evidence of the passage or occupation of human groups that have disappeared or been displaced.
Source literature is a term with different meanings. Literature (understood as printed texts) is one kind of information source.
In a way, all literature is a kind of source literature. It might, for example, be cited and used as source in academic writings. The meaning of “source literature” is relative.
Archaeological sources include all physical evidence of past cultures. So at one end you might have large monumental construction, such as Stone Henge or Castles, at the other end you have soil micromorphology, which can tell you about ancient ecosystems, or micro scanning of rocks and tools which can reveal marks invisible to the naked eye, or indeed paleao DNA analysis.
i.Archaeology is the study of human culture in historic as well as pre-historic times, by examining the material remains of early human settlements.
ii. These material remains may range from human or plant fossils to excavated artifacts or ruins of an old building. A broad study of human culture, archaeology is often regarded as a subset of anthropology.
iii. Archaeology is an elaborated process, which starts with a detailed study and surveying of a particular area to ascertain sites, with possible human settlements in the past.
iv. The site is then excavated to recover material remains. After classification, this unearthed matter is analyzed and interpreted to reconstruct historical events.
The archaeologist has to be very careful with the handling aspect of the ‘unearthed matter’. Its documentation is of great importance, as the amount of information derived from it can be beneficial in terms of quality as well as quantity.
v. It throws light on the cultural history of various countries and answers various questions about the lifestyles of people who lived in that part of the world. It has also helped to ascertain the chronology of the pre-historic times.
vi. The excavations, which started in 1920, opened the door to a human settlement that was far more evolved and scientifically advanced; characterized by well-planned cities and a well-developed network of trade routes.
vii. The importance of archaeology has led to its categorization into various sub-divisions. While historical archaeology includes the study of cultures,
underwater archaeology is a study of the remains of any human activity, found in the bed of a water body.
viii. The material remains of this era included carvings on the walls of caves, artifacts like pottery, weapons used to hunt animals for food etc.
Even after writing was developed, written records which were maintained were highly biased and largely based on assumptions.
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