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Historiography: Primary Sources and Bias

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Historiography: Primary Sources and Bias HISTORIOGRAPHY: PRIMARY SOURCES AND BIAS THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMIDS History is filled with unsolved mysteries. Your task in this research project is to compare theories on the construction of the pyramids to explain how they were built, and who built them. You have been provided with a cache of primary source materials that contain clues you can use to support your conclusion. Follow the below steps to gain a feel for how historical research with primary sources is done. Analyze the sources by following the steps below, and bring your analysis with you to class to participate in this discussion. Steps: 1. In most cases, you would find a subject that you are curious about, a mystery, so to say. In this instance, I have provided that for you; the Pyramids of Egypt. 2. Now, we must turn our subject into a question that we can analyze. Again, I have provided this step for you, Who constructed the Pyramids of Egypt? 3. Now, look at the assortment of primary source information I have provided you to start your research. In historical research, we always begin with the historiography, which means examining the secondary sources related to your subject first. However, this unit presents an excellent opportunity to look at primary sources first. We normally look at the secondary sources to see what competing theses there are regarding our subject, and how other historians are looking at the primary source materials, and the differing conclusions they are drawing. I have filled in in this instance, and have provided you with some competing theories. A. The Pyramids were built by slaves B. The Pyramids were built by volunteers C. The Pyramids were built by paid employees D. The Pyramids were built by aliens E. The Pyramids were built by atypical black skinned Africans F. The Pyramids were built by people of European or Middle Eastern descent Use the guidelines below to evaluate these sources: Question: Who Constructed the Pyramids of Egypt? Source Name: An identifier of the source, such as (Graffiti in Great Pyramid One) Source Description: A sentence to a paragraph describing the source, such as (Graffiti mentioning the Pharaoh Khufu) An analysis of what evidence or clue the source reveals to you, and where it fits into your thesis. An analysis of the evidence, to include: o Who made the source? o When did they make it? o Why was it made? o What historical events contributed to its making? o What does it tell us? o What was the creator’s goal in making this? o What does it tell us about the historical era? o Do other documents or relics confirm or contest what this resource tells us? o What discrepancies, if any, are there? Finally, we need to ask what questions this source raise? Once we have examined the sources, we will use them to apply to testing our hypothesis by asking the following questions of our analysis: What theory is most plausible? What evidence can you present to support this theory? What alternate theory is most likely to contend with the theory you support? What evidence may support that alternative theory? Why did you choose not to support it instead? What did you learn about this historical period from your investigations? Why was your investigation an important undertaking, or, in other words, why should it matter to the rest of us? From this analysis you should be prepared to engage in a roundtable discussion of the nature of primary source analysis, why it can lead to controversy, and its proper use. Be able to cite passages that you have effectively analyzed to support your contentions in the debate. You will be graded based on your participation in the discussion, your degree of thoughtfulness, and consideration of the text’s deeper meanings utilizing your analysis. # 1 Recently in Egypt, near the Great Pyramid, a series of modest nine-foot-deep shafts held a dozen skeletons of pyramid builders, perfectly preserved by dry desert sand along with jars that once contained beer and bread meant for the workers' afterlife.- The tombs contained no gold or valuables, which safeguarded them from tomb-raiders throughout antiquity, and the bodies were not mummified. The skeletons were found buried in a fetal position — the head pointing to the West and the feet to the East according to ancient Egyptian beliefs, surrounded by the jars once filled with supplies for afterlife. Their skeletons have signs of arthritis, and their lower vertebrae point to a life passed in difficulty The largest bakery in Egypt was found where it was theorized a large city that must have housed the workers who built the pyramids would be. Inside, archaeologists found a cache of bread pots, easily recognizable from tomb scenes that document the bread-making process. Also found at the site were tremendous quantities of cattle, sheep, and goat bone, "enough to feed several thousand people, even if they ate meat every day," A faunal expert, who has worked at archaeological sites all over the Middle East, "was astounded by the amount of cattle bone he was finding," He could identify much of it as "young, under two years of age, and it tended to be male." Here was evidence of many people—feasting on prime beef, the best meat available. Harvard's George Reisner found workers' graffiti early in the twentieth century that revealed that the pyramid builders were organized into labor units with names like "Friends of Khufu" or "Drunkards of Menkaure." Within these units were five divisions (their roles still unknown)—the same groupings, according to papyrus scrolls of a later period, that served in the pyramid temples. We do know based on papyrus records, that service in these temples was rendered by a special class of people on a rotating basis determined by those five divisions. We also know from records that Egyptian society was organized somewhat like a feudal system, in which almost everyone owed service to a lord. The Egyptians called this "bak." Everybody owed bak of some kind to people above them in the social hierarchy. "Even the highest officials owed bak." # 2 It’s estimated that it took 20,000 workers about 20 years to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu. At first that might sound about right, until you realize that there are about 2.5 million blocks in the pyramid, which means, if crews worked 10 hours per day, a block had to be put in place every couple of minutes. That’s not considering moving ramps around and all the other stuff that must have gone into building. The Great Pyramid of Khufu was built to very precise alignments. It is said the pyramid is aligned to true north to an accuracy of 3/60th of a degree. And, at the time it was built, it was likely aligned exactly to true north, as true north shifts over time. There is no evidence the Egyptians had anything near a compass, which was not discovered until some 5,000 years later. There is no evidence the Egyptians knew of, or had use of the wheel The monolith blocks which were used to build the pyramids weight 2 tons each, with some of them weighing as high as 50 ton as well. The perimeter of the Great Pyramid when divided by two times the height of the monument gives a number which exactly equal to pi, and it is matching till the 15th decimal place. The height of the Great Pyramid is 481 feet. This height is absolutely 1/1,000,000,000th of the distance between the earth and the sun. Going by the longitudinal and latitudinal positioning of the Great pyramid, it is believed to be at the absolute center of the land mass of the planet. # 3 Some researchers say the three largest pyramids reflect the alignment of the stars in Orion’s belt. According to the Orion Constellation Theory, the entire layout of the pyramid region, the Nile River included, was intended to match the alignment of the Milky Way Galaxy. But here’s the kicker: When researchers look back at the constellations and how they would have appeared to earthly observers over centuries past, the age of the pyramid region appears to date back to around 10,500 BC! # 4 There are hieroglyphs present in the wall carvings in the Temple of Seti I at Abydos that resembles the helicopter exactly. There are cravings of other modern day vehicles on the same wall carving as well. The hieroglyphic carving includes a submarine, and a spaceship. The walls of the underground crypt at the temple of Dendera have reliefs that looks exactly like light bulbs. # 5 The structural similarities between the pyramids of Egypt and the Mayan Pyramids which were built at a difference of many thousand years point to the fact that it was one source of knowledge which had allowed the ancient Egyptians and then the Mayans to build such colossal structures. While the mainstream scientists and Egyptologists claim that the Great pyramid was commissioned by Pharaoh Khufu, there is no documentation of the same. Ancient Egyptians were good at record keeping hence it is very mysterious why they would not keep the records of the individual who would have built such a magnificent and massive structure # 6 Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) did many studies into the origins of the Egyptian people. Diop concluded that most of the skeletons and skulls of the ancient Egyptians clearly indicate they were Negroid people with features very similar to those of modern Black Nubians and other people of the Upper Nile and East Africa.
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