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 An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

, features, 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 tang ...

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 In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

, 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 landscape ...

finds, are "material sources that illustrate the uses and settlement forms of the past. 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

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 Work ...

and secondary sourcesPrimary, 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