Key Terms – Social Sciences History

History Documentary Evidence Epigraphical Evidence Artifactal Evidence Literary Evidence Graphic Evidence Oral History Written History Time Frames Time Periods

What is History

History is the chronological story of the human race and its many civilizations.

Understanding history allows us to understand how different countries came to be, why different events occurred, and how different individuals may have impacted the course of world events

Historians study events in the past through many different types of evidence.

Documentary Evidence

Documentary evidence involves the written records of people.

For example, the United States Constitution is an example of documentary evidence.

Epigraphical Evidence

Epigraphical Evidence → inscriptions on monuments and buildings.

For example, Trajan's column, built at the height of the Roman Empire, is an example of epigraphical evidence

Artifactal Evidence

Artifactal Evidence → the artifacts or physical remains of people.

Can be their tools, weapons, clothes, money, and household goods

Literary Evidence

Literary evidence → the poetry, stories, myths and legends of a civilization or culture

Give insight into how people thought, what their beliefs were, and what they worshiped and valued

Graphic Evidence

Graphic Evidence → the art, architecture, sculpture, jewelry people used.

For example, the painting named “Across the Continent” gave insight into what people believed the impact of the railroads to be on the United States

Oral History

The passing down of information from person to person by word of mouth is considered to be oral history.

Oral history was crucial during periods of time when literacy rates were low (i.e. the Dark Ages) since written accounts were few and far between.

Oral histories are UNRELIABLE in many cases, since much like telephone, the messages being passed down can be changed and inaccurate.

Written History

Information that is written down and passed from generation to generation or preserved for future use can be considered written history.

Court documents, laws, letters, and bibles among many other pieces of written evidence can be considered written histories.

Written History is much more RELIABLE than oral history since it is written down and less likely to be changed.

Time Frames vs. Time Periods – Breaking Down History

Time frames are large blocks of time that are used to separate different crucial changes and shifts in history. These are typically defined as AGES. Examples

include the Stone Age, the Medieval Age, the First Global Age

Time periods are smaller blocks of time that are within time frames and are defined by changes within a time frame. These are typically defined as PERIODS.

Examples include the Paleolithic Period within the Stone Age.