HOW DO HISTORIANS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND OUT ABOUT THE PAST?
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Which of the following are primary sources and which are secondary sources? Explain your answers. 1. A Roman general, who wrote an account of his life when he was old. 2. The clothes you are wearing. 3. The desk you are sitting at. 4. Your teacher tells you a story about his/her grandparents’ childhood. 5. A news story on Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat. 6. A video of a concert, shot on a smartphone. 7. An old person, living in the last century, who was interviewed about memories of his/her childhood. 8. An Irish person, who lived in Ireland all his/her life, tells the story about the sinking of the Titanic.
Look at the pictures below. Which of these are primary sources and which are secondary? A
C D B
F E G H
J I K
L
❰●p. 5 Group these sources
under headings.
How do historians use sources? Historians use information (evidence) from sources to tell the story of the past. Historians must distinguish between fact (what happened) and opinion (what people think about what happened).
