Enduring Vision
Chapter 1 (a)
The principal sources of evidence used by the historian who wrote the history of pre-Columbian North America were archaeological evidence, oral traditions retold through generations and not written down until the late nineteenth century, and cultural patterns. The sources used create pitfalls of the evidence given because of the guaranteed and not guaranteed accuracy. When writing history, the facts have to be accurate and the evidence must be accountable otherwise the information may not be correct.
The oral traditions that were passed down over the generations create some factual problems because they offer conflicting support for scientists’ theories. The oral traditions were past down by Native American tribes and are interpreted differently depending on what tribes they are from. Oral traditions can also change over periods of time and may include or leave out important information. Like the game Telephone, the story starts out one way but after being passed through generations they may end up very different. Information may be lost or changed and therefore, what is presented by oral traditions may not be completely accurate.
Archaeological evidence is key when learning about different cultures and peoples from the past. Archaeologists can use evidence found in many ways such as carbon dating to find out the time period the material they are dating is from. They can also use the finds to determine how advanced the people living there were, what kind of tools they used and what their structures may have looked like. The information gained from archaeological evidence opens a variety of doors that researchers can uncover. They can figure out what animals lived there, what the climate may have been, what religious beliefs did these people have and where different types of people where during different time periods. Archaeological evidence however, may not always correspond with the stories from oral traditions and...
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