Historical source is an original source that contains important historical information. These sources are something that inform us about history at the most basic level, and are used as clues in order to study history. Historical sources can include coins, artefacts, monuments, literary sources,

documents A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" or ...

, artifacts, archaeological sites,

features Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software ite ...

, oral transmissions, stone inscriptions, paintings, recorded sounds, images and oral history. Even ancient

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s and

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

, broadly speaking, are historical sources. The types of sources include primary sources, secondary sources and tertiary sources.

Types

Primary source

The natural morphological characters, the orographic and hydrographic structures, human interventions, buildings, infrastructures,

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

finds, are "material sources that illustrate the uses and

settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

forms of the

past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...

. The literary descriptions, the artistic images, the cartographic testimonies, are verbal or iconic sources able to provide other information, dictated by the historical subject who produced them. The historiographic synthesis project should bring together the different categories of sources, in the effort of a

multidisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

investigation".

Secondary source

This type of source generally includes evaluations of primary sources.

Tertiary source

This type of source is an index or textual consolidation of already published

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works ...

and

secondary source In scholarship, a secondary sourcePrimary, secondary and tertiary sources
. ...

sPrimary, secondary and tertiary sources.
". University Libraries, University of Maryland. Retrieve 07/26/2013

External links

What are Historical Sources? - University of Cambridge Faculty of History

References