Question

how did the source material help us
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Answer 1

How does an archaeological source material help in learning about our past?

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First thing to understand is that the archaeological remains that we find at a site could be there for innumerable reasons- discards, social purpose, cultural purpose, etc. Secondly, it has to be understood within its context- knowing the layer from which the particular remain has come from and then associating it with other cultural remains alonside it. For example, you can find some shells- determining first if they are from which layer, riverine or sea, and then understanding if the site is inland, can tell you that either this came from the nearby river which they fished from, or from another riverine source further upstream or even further could talk about exchange of commodities etc- similar with pottery- if the analysis of the soil from which the pottery is made is not local, then it gives us insight into how exchanges were done etc. All this helps us understand how humans interacted, how they used the landscape to satisfy their needs and what lacked for they got and interacted with different communities from nearby. It helps us understand the distances they covered, what technologies they could have employed, what they ate, how if they contributed to the change in environment due to overuse of some material, etc. Like in hunting and fishing- animals rom similar environ or elswhere depending on what kind of animal bones could be found at the site, etc.

Answer 2

Historical source (also known as historical material or historical data) is original source that contain important historical information. These sources are something that inform us about history at the most basic level, and these sources used as clues in order to study historyHistorical sources include documents, artifacts, archaeological sites, features. oral transmissions, stone inscriptions, paintings, recorded sounds, images (photographs, motion picture), and oral history. Even ancient relics and ruins, broadly speaking, are historical sources.