Historical Method

Historical and Archeological Methods

Assess the importance of various historical and archeological methods used by historians and archaeologists to uncover and recreate the past.

In your answer refer to relevant case studies and/or examples of archaeological and historical methods in practice.

The past is uncovered and recreated through various methods that contribute to historical and archaeological findings. Historians use written text to study the information of the past including historical events, people, society and culture through historical method and written sources. Archeologists use physical evidence to study the past, about the people and how they lived through geographical surveying such as ground penetrating radar and aerial

Historical method is the technique used by historians to collect evidence through primary and secondary sources to research and form records of the past. It relies on the analysis of written sources such as letters, diary entries, religious writings, journals, books and mythology. Though this provides an insight of the past through written text, it also has a heavy well-educated, male bias. One major example of the advantageous effects of written historical sources is through the discovery of the ancient Grecian city of Troy, discovered by the archeologist and Heinrich Schliemann in 1870 that used ancient Grecian poet Homer who documented the city in his famous work, “The Iliad”. The site was first excavated in 1870, when Schiemann used Homer’s “myth” as fact, leading him to the location of Troy on the mound of Hisarlik, overlooking the plains along the Turkish Aegean coast. Historical method and written sources are vital for historians to gain a broader understanding of the past in order to uncover and recreate it

One method used in aerial surveying is satellite photography. It is one of the most valuable and frequently used methods in discovering archeological sites. Archeologists have used the photography of orbiting satellites of earth to assist in discovering potential archeological sites. It provides archeologists with a new perspective due to the satellite’s aerial view. This is somewhat advantageous, however the photographs may be produced in low resolution resulting in pixelated images whilst also being expensive and strenuous as a method based on chance. One significant example of the beneficial effects of satellite photography is the discovery of an ancient landscape in the Sahara Dessert, revealed through the satellite photography of US space shuttle flights in the 1980’s and 1990’s that were carrying remote sensing equipment. When this landscape was excavated, a variety of ancient Paleolithic tools were unearthed. Another example of satellite photography is through the 2011 search for the ancient city of Atlantis. Archeologists used satellite photography to observe patterns in Doñana National Park in Spain just opposite the straits of Gibraltar. The archeologists later used aerial photography to gain access to photos of these patterns in higher resolution. Overall, satellite photography is one of the most favoured archeological methods as it provides a greater