Question

What are literary and archaeological sources? Explain with examples.

Answer 1

Instructions:

This is a 5 marks question. There should be at least 5 points here. Break this question into two separate parts.

First, talk about Literary Sources. Talk about what they are and how they are broken into two categories. Discuss literary sources first, then oral sources, with examples.

After this, move on to the second part of the question- archaeological sources. Explain what they are, how they can be obtained (through excavation) and conclude by giving examples.

Solution:

Literary Sources-

• Literary sources are ones that are in oral or written form. Written literary sources are records of events on stone tablets, cave walls or paper.
• The second category of Oral literature comprises Folk songs, stories, ballads, myths and legends that were generally composed and created by ordinary people.

Archaeological Sources-

• The physical remains or ruins of the things used or the constructed structures in the past are called archaeological sources.
• The remains that have been buried in the Earth are removed through the process of excavation - which is the scientific process involved in digging the Earth to obtain the ancient remains or fossils of our ancestors.
• The historical evidence includes coins, inscriptions, monuments, pieces of pots and other artefacts.