Text 2. How do We Know?

Read the text and decide which of the following headings should go before each of the paragraphs in the text. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.

1. Written records.

2. The evaluation of sources.

3. Learning from other cultures.

4. Scientific instruments.

5. Ancient maps.

6. Nonwritten sources.

The story of the past is hidden all around us in the world of the present. Where does information about the past come from? What are the secrets of how to find it? How do we learn about the things that happened centuries ago or continents away?

A.People have been making maps for thousands of years. One of the oldest existing maps is a clay map found in northern Iraq. It dates to around 2300 BC, and shows rivers, hills and settlements with measurements of farm plots. Ancient mapmakers were able to make fairly accurate maps of areas they knew well. When dealing with unknown lands, however they often left unexplored areas blank or filled them in with their imaginations.

In his map of the world, Claudius Ptolemy showed Asia much closer to Europe than it actually is. This mistake led Christopher Columbus to attempt to reach Asia by sailing West from the coast of Spain in 1492. Columbus never reached Asia. Instead, he landed in the “New World” of the Americas.

B. Ancient people also learned how to use the planets and stars to help them determine location and distance on the earth. Two early scientific instruments that helped them were the astrolabe and the gnomon. An astrolabe is a disk with marks around its edge like a ruler. Scholars and sailors used the astrolabe to sight the positions of the sun and stars and figure out their height in the sky. This information aided them in determining latitude. A gnomon is the blade that stands upright in the center of a sundial. When the sun shines, the gnomon casts a shadow, pointing to the hour. Early scholars learned they could use gnomons to find the height of the sun at different times during the day. Then they used this information to help them figure out the distance between two points. Today’s cartographers rely on space-age technology. Like the ancient sailing ships, satellites now circle the earth, sending back information and adding to our knowledge of the world. Computers and radar also make the mapmaker’s job easier.

C. As people traveled and learned about the world, they recorded their knowledge in writing, as well as on maps. Ancient historians also noted geographic information when recording events. In the 400 BC. Herodotus included geographic descriptions to his history of the world.

We know about ancient trade partly from written records. Early explorers and traders knew the importance of keeping careful records of their journeys so that more accurate maps might be made. In some cases, they took along historians and geographers to help them keep track of their travels. The oldest remaining record of a voyage refers to an Egyptian trading mission. According to the record, around 3200 BC, Egyptian traders sailed, forty ships of one hundred cubits with cedar wood from Byblos, one of Phoenicia’s cities. Some early maps were based on records made during the conquests of Alexander the Great, one of history’s most famous military leaders Alexander ruled Macedonia, a kingdom that lay to the north of Greece. He had maps made as his huge army battled to victory from Egypt to India between 334 and 326 BC. On his marches Alexander took geographers, a historian, and astronomers. He also took “steppers,” who measured distance by the steps they took. This army of soldiers and scholars covered 20.000 miles, fighting and conquering, but also recording and mapping.

To most people written sources mean books. But to historians written sources might also be letters, diaries, speeches, popular songs, poems, business records or campaign slogans. They could be the marks of ancient tombs or old calendars and maps – anything with writing on it. Anything written down can give historians clues about the people and events of the past. However, written sources only go back t about 3.000 BC. That’s when writing developed in Mesopotamia, an ancient country in what is now the Middle East.

D. History before the development of writing is called prehistory. To learn about prehistoric times historians must rely completely on nonwritten sources. Nonwritten sources include fossils – the remains or imprints of once-living plants or animals. Dinosaur fossils can tell about the kinds of dinosaurs that lived in a certain time and place.

Other nonwritten sources are artifacts, or objects made by humans. Ancient jewelry, tools, coins, and toys teach about the customs and beliefs of people of the past. Still other nonwritten sources are tombs, monuments and even entire cities. The streets and buildings of Pompeii, preserved beneath the ashes, give a picture of life as it was in A.D. 79.

Another important nonwritten source is a culture’s oral tradition, the legends, myths and beliefs passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. Over time many myths and legends have been written down. For example, the legend of King Odysseus was part of the ancient Greek oral tradition. It was finally written down by the Greek poet Homer between 800 and 700 B.C., and it is Homer’s version that is known today.

Once something is written down it remains in that form without changing. An oral tradition, on the other hand, may change constantly from generation to generation. It changes as the interests, opinions, fears and needs of each generation change. How useful is oral tradition to historians if accounts told by word of mouth change and become inaccurate? Historians can’t be sure that an oral tradition portrays events from long ago accurately. However, oral traditions do tell about he kinds of things that were important to people of the times. Through oral traditions the elders taught the younger members of the society about their culture. This is why historians are interested in ancient oral traditions. Historians must be careful when interpreting oral tradition. Nevertheless, oral tradition can be a useful source for information about people of the past.

E. Historians must keep in mind that everyone has his or her own point of view. Whether or not the author of a source is a man or a woman, rich or poor, or young or old will affect the way he or she sees and describes an event. Historians ask questions about a source to determine how accurate and useful it is. Different kinds of sources offer different kind of information. Letters and diaries may tell a great deal about people’s daily lives. Political speeches, on the other hand, might help-explain a government’s policies.

People learn about the past in many ways. Written records, fossils, artifacts and oral traditions are all keys to understanding the past. By gathering and evaluating these sources, historians form their ideas about past events. As you study the past you also need to evaluate historical evidence. To do this you must be able to tell the difference between facts, reasoned judgments and opinions. A fact is a statement that can be proved. There are many forms of proof. The findings of archaeologists can be proof, or proof can come from written sources or direct observation. A reasoned judgment is a statement that is based on fact but has not been proved. An opinion is a statement of personal preference, feelings or ideas. An interpretation that depends on facts and reasoned judgments is likely to be correct. An explanation that offers only opinions has little value.