Sources to Study History – Archeological Sources of History

History sources by Harsh Kumar

History is a very interesting subject to study there are number of stories and different important facts that will amaze you. There are various sources to study history but they can be broadly divided into two categories i.e., primary sources and secondary sources of history.

Primary sources include the first-hand sources. Archeological evidences are the typical example of the primary sources. Most of the literary sources are also came under the category of primary sources of history. There are also second-hand resources, as they written later from that age, that are secondary sources like Rajatarangini of Kalhana. Rajatarangini consists the history from the Mahabharat era to early 12^th century AD. There are also some advantages, limitations and various importance of these sources. We will be going to discuss these in details. In this blog we will going to study about the archeological sources of history in detail.

Archeological Sources of History

Archeological sources are mostly come under the primary sources but there are some examples like Junagarh Inscription of Rudradaman that came under the category of secondary category because it contains the historiography of the Mauryan time. Inscription said that the Sudarshan Lake was constructed during the age of Chandragupta Maurya and it was later repaired during the age of Ashoka.

Different types of Archeological Sources

There are various types of archeological sources that help us to understand our past.

1. Inscriptions

Inscriptions are the most important sources to study about your past. They are basically the writings that were inscribed on the pillars, stones, walls, coins etc. For example, the Allahabad inscription contains the history of Gupta age and provide details about the military expeditions of Samudra Gupta in detail, written under the guidance of Harisena.

• Monuments

Monuments are other important source of history that also came under the primary sources of history. They contain pillars, type of architecture, walls, halls, etc., that provides a basic knowledge about the history of that time. For example, Red Fort built during Mughal period provide details about the architecture knowledge of that time.

• Coins

Coins are other important source of history studying. Coins provides various inputs of a certain age. For example, the coins of Ashokan time found in Afghanistan inform us that the empire of Ashoka was extended to the Afghanistan in west. Coins also gave details about the economic conditions of a certain time. For example, the gold coins of Gupta age gave detail about the prosperity of the economy during the age.

• Other Archeological Sources of History studying

Other archeological sources include the pottery, seals, paintings, tools, jewellery, bones, other artifacts etc. These provide various detail about our past. For example, Bone tools of pre-historic age provide detail about tool making technology of that age. Paintings of Bhimbetka cave provide detail of culture of that age like they depicted the dancing and hunting scenes.

Advantages of Archeological sources

There are certain advantages of archeological sources that make these soucres very important to study history. These are as follows:

1. Epigraphy is of branch of knowledge that studies inscriptions. They throw light on the politico-administration, socio-culture, economic and religious life of people.
2. They help in understanding the material culture of the age. For example, Harappan used steatite (soft white stone) as a writing material. During Mauryan age copper and iron were used.
3. The place of discovery of an inscription helps in ascertaining the political boundary of a kingdom or empire. Maski edict of Mauryan age donates that Mauryan Empire was extended to Karnataka in south.
4. These help in understanding the language and script of the age like Ashokan edict were recorded in the Brahmi, Aramaic and Kharosthi script.
5. The socio-culture life of ancient age also reflected through these archeological sources and they also throw light on the religious life of ancient age. For example, Mora inscription throw light on Bhagvatism.
6. Inscription and coins are valuable sources of understanding economic life of ancient age. For example, Lumbini Pillar edict gave information that Ashoka reduced the rate of Land revenue for this village from ¼ to 1/8.
7. The welfare measure taken by rulers also depicted through these archeological evidences. For example, Ashokan edicts informed that trees were planted along the road, well were dug and rest houses were built for the benefits of travelers.
8. They provide details of war and battles. For example, 13^th major of edict by Ashoka informed that Kalinga was conquered by him in 9^th reginal year.
9. Numismatics is the study of coinage. Coins reflects the prosperity of that age. For example, the coins issued by Satvahanas donates the economic life of that empire.
10. The names of kings and dates found on coins helped in chorological reconstruction of early Indian history. For example, the chronology of Guptas is entirely depends on the coins.
11. The extent of coinage throw light on the level of trade and commerce. Paucity of coins reveals declined state of trade and commerce. It also helps in understanding the language and script of a particular time.
12. Archeological sources are free from challenges like interpolation and extrapolation because aby changes in content of inscriptions and coins can easily be identified, therefore are more reliable source of history studies.
13. Literature is completely silent for more than 99% of history of Indian subcontinent because no literary source available for pre-Vedic age.
14. They provide accurate exactly the same information as indicated by the monuments and coins circulated during a certain age. They were free personal bias as they written publicly.
15. They are free from any prejudice as these sources didn’t differentiate between commoner and elite class. They reveal true picture of that time.
16. Stratification analysis can only be possible in the case of archeological evidences that is beneficial for the comparative analysis of different phases of human life.

Apart from the so much advantages there are some limitations of archeological sources that limits their value.

Limitations of Archeological Sources

There are limitations like

1. There is certain possibility of misinterpretation of archeological sources. So, many of the sources are interpretated by Historians and Archeologists in many occasions.
2.  Archeological sources provide immense amount of data, so the careful examination of data and restoration is very complex task.
3. An excavation and exploration are time consuming task. It consumes so much time to develop picture of that phase on basis of archeological evidences.

Despite these limitations archeological sources are still the most relevant sources to study history because it gave us the picture of a certain age. Archeological didn’t lie but they were free from any biasness of the rulers of that time.