Recorded history can be defined as history that has been written down or recorded by the use of language, whereas history is a more general term referring to any information about the past.[1] It starts in the 4th millennium BC, with the invention of writing. The period before this is known as prehistory.
Archaeology is the excavation and study of artifacts in an effort to interpret and reconstruct past human behavior.[2][3][4][5] In the study of ancient history, archaeologists excavate the ruins of ancient cities looking for clues as to how the people of the time period lived. Perhaps most of what is known of the ancient world comes from the accounts of antiquity's own historians. Although it is important to take into account the bias of each ancient author, their accounts, are the basis for our understanding of the ancient past. Some of the more notable ancient writers include: Manetho, Valmiki, Vatsyayana, Vyasa, Kalidasa, Chanakya, Sun Tzu, Herodotus, Josephus, Livy, Polybius, Sallust, Suetonius, Tacitus, Thucydides, and Sima Qian.
Primary sources are firsthand written evidence of history made at the time of the event by someone who was present. They have been described as those sources closest to the origin of the information or idea under study.[6][7] These types of sources have been said to provide researchers with "direct, unmediated information about the object of study."[8] Secondary sources are written accounts of history based upon the evidence from primary sources. These are sources which, usually, are accounts, works, or research that analyze, assimilate, evaluate, interpret, and/or synthesize primary sources. Tertiary sources are compilations based upon primary and secondary sources.[9][10][11] These are sources which, on average, do not fall into the above two levels.
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