SOURCES OF HISTORY

 Sources of history is defined as the various ways through which historical evidences or information are discovered, preserved and transmitted from one generation to another generation.They are categorized into three namely: Primary sources, Secondary sources and Tertiary sources.

1.PRIMARY SOURCES:These  are historical materials that are original and contain undiluted information about any historical occurrence. It is first hand and usually accurate. Examples of primary sources of history are:

a. Eye witness/in person account: A person that is present on the scene of any event can give a detailed account orally  like oral tradition or in a written form like in letters, autobiographies,diaries or scrap books, by writing his or her experiences which can be used for future purposes, like for research or any educational purpose.

 b.Archeology: Archeology is also a primary source of history.Archaeology is another primary source for a historian, which is done through excavation  of materials or dug up materials. Archeology is the discovery of material culture in form of artifacts,relics, inscriptions( epigraphs)inscribed in stones and metals, or remains of ancient  cultural architectural landscapes or sites, which are modified and analyzed to acquire information about people that lived in the past or ancient civilization like Nok culture. An Archeologist evacuates, analyze, investigates, and documents archeological sites.There are types of archeologists:classical archeologists,underwater archeologists,prehistoric archeologists and so on.

 

These primary sources are highly informative, reliable and authentic, although they are sometimes expensive  and time consuming to obtain due to costs involved in sorting or finding them. Also, there might be challenges in translation of inscriptions especially when they are written in ancient languages which might look like noise . When first hand historical materials especially documents are not kept properly, they might be damaged by rain, disasters,or pest infestation.

SECONDARY SOURCES OF HISTORY: These are sources of history created out of a primary source. They discuss and interpret a first hand source of history and give new ideas from the primary source or discuss them on new angles/ topics. 

They can be found in textbooks, government publications, biographies, and internet. Secondary sources are easy to use, faster to obtain, and less expensive,but are biased, distorted or may contain some personal additions which are not necessary to the subject matter being interpreted. one can feel bored when faced with bulky data  to read/ collate just to make up a secondary source. 

TERTIARY SOURCE OF HISTORY: These are made up of supplementary materials for history, collected and organized to give a clear and concise understanding of the secondary and primary sources of history. They can be summaries of what is being discussed which may birth new theories or concepts, very available to use and easy to collect or analyze. Tertiary sources of history include:bibliography,Wikipedia,abstracts, students projects and so on.