2.8 Primary and Secondary Sources
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2.8 Primary and Secondary Sources e have compared the way a historian works to the way a detective SOURCE A works. The main difference between detectives and historians is The temple of Abu Simbel, built theW evidence they work with. Detectives look for witnesses and question by pharaoh Ramesses II between them. In history this is not often possible. You cannot talk to a witness of about 1285 BC and 1265 BC. William of Orange’s assassination in 1584 – they are all dead. Historians have to collect their information from clues that survive. They call these clues sources, and there are two main types. Primary sources come from the time the historian is studying. Some primary sources for the First World War would be: letters and diaries written by soldiers, their uniforms and their weapons. Even if a nurse in a hospital in France during the war wrote her memories of the war much later, they are still a primary source. Secondary sources do not come directly from the events they discuss. They are based on other sources. Books about the First World War by historians, or school textbooks about the First World War, are examples of secondary sources. Not all sources are written. Buildings, archaeological remains, paintings and objects are all valuable sources. There is more to knowing the difference between a primary and secondary source than knowing when it was made. Look at Source A. • It is a photograph of the Egyptian temple of Abu Simbel, taken in 2002. SOURCE B • In the 1960s the Egyptian government decided to build the Aswan High Dam to control the flooding of the Nile. The dam would create a A book first published in 1986. lake, Lake Nasser. Many Ancient Egyptian sites would be flooded. So the government moved some important monuments to places above the water level of Lake Nasser. Between 1964 and 1968 the temple of Abu Simbel was cut into thousands of stone blocks and moved 65m higher and 180m back from the old river. They built an artificial hill to set the temple in. So, in a way, Source A was ‘made’ in either 2002 (when the photo was taken) or 1968 (when the temple was moved). But the photograph is just a way of looking at the building: the building is the source. The rebuilt temple is not a copy of the original. It is the original – moved, and rebuilt exactly as it was. When we look at Source A, we are looking at a temple built by Ramesses II, finished about 1265 bc. It is a primary source for studying Ancient Egypt. It is also a primary source for a historian studying twentieth-century engineering. This is important. You have to know what you are studying before you can decide if a source is primary or secondary. 40 DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 40 8/6/07 12:41:39 SOURCE C SOURCE D A book first published in 1969. The ‘Bent’ Pyramid of Sneferu, so called because it changes angles about halfway up. Built some time between 2613 BC-2589 BC. SOURCE F An artist’s reconstruction from a school textbook. This is the ceremony called ‘the opening of the mouth’. It SOURCE E was performed on a mummy in its case outside the chapel by the tomb A school book first published in before burial. 2002. SOURCE E A painting from the tomb of Ramose, Governor of Thebes in about 1336 BC. Servants carry things into his tomb. 41 DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 41 8/6/07 12:41:54 2.9 The Pyramids n 2648 bc, the pharaoh Djoser was buried in a new spectacular kind Which is the of tomb, a pyramid. The pyramid was at Saqqara, near the capital city ofI Memphis (see map on page 26). It had been rising steadily from the tallest Giza ground for about 40 years. It was built in a series of ‘steps’. Soon, architects had worked out how to build smooth-sided pyramids. Until 1525 bc, pyramid? all pharaohs were buried in pyramids. Family members and important The tallest pyramid at Giza officials were buried nearby, and there were chapels to leave offerings to the is not, in fact, the pyramid pharaohs, too. The most powerful pharaohs had huge stone pyramids. The that looks the tallest. The least powerful pharaohs had small, mud brick pyramids, most of which have tallest pyramid is the one at not survived to today. the back is Source B. It was How were they built? built first, for the pharaoh First, priests studied the stars and chose a good place to build the pyramid. Khufu. The pyramid that looks the tallest was built Then they made sure the ground was perfectly flat. Stone had to be cut in for Khufu’s son, Khafre. He quarries and sailed up as close to the pyramid site as possible, often during had his pyramid built on the inundation. The workers moved the stones on sledges, dragged by slightly higher ground, so animals. They shaped the stones at the pyramid site with copper tools. They that it looked taller. built up the pyramid layer by layer. The workers used an earth ramp to work from once they were above ground level. The outside stones were limestone and were polished until they shone. Shining gold In most pyramids the pharaoh was buried underground. The pyramid itself The tops of the pyramids was a solid block on the top. The limestone blocks of stone on the outside were often covered with a were so perfectly carved that they fitted together exactly. Inside, the stones layer of gold. This shone were more roughly joined together. In places, there were large gaps in the brightly in the sun. It has led stones that were filled with sand or chipped stone. some historians to suggest that the shape of the pyramid is a symbol of the rays of the sun. We cannot know for sure. SOURCE A The Step Pyramid of King Djoser (behind) and the Pyramid of Userkaf (2487 BC). Userkaf ’s pyramid had its outer covering of stones taken away to be re- used. The inner core of the pyramid was not as well built as the outside. 42 DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 42 8/6/07 12:42:02 Pyramid facts • The biggest pyramid is the one built for Khufu • The most unusual pyramid is the ‘bent’ at Giza. It is 146 m high. pyramid, at Dahshur. It was one of two built for • It took about 20 years to build. the Old Kingdom pharaoh Sneferu. This was • The base of Khufu’s pyramid covered about an early smooth-sided pyramid. The builders 5.25 hectares (about 200 tennis courts joined miscalculated the angle they needed to build together). at. After about ten years they realised that the • It is an almost perfect square, and the ground sides were too steep. They were building at an is perfectly level. angle of just over 54°. If they kept on at the • Khufu’s pyramid was made from 2.3 million same angle, the pyramid would collapse. Rather stone blocks. The average weight of a block than waste all their years of work, the builders was 2.5 tons. There were some much bigger simply changed the angle to just over 43°. This blocks. Some weighed 15 tons. worked. The pyramid is still standing. SOURCE B The pyramids at Giza. The nearest is Menkaura (2503 BC), then Khafra (2532 BC) then Khufu (2566 BC). 43 DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 43 8/6/07 12:42:05 2.10 The Valley of the Kings yramids were hard to get into, but still grave with any grave goods left was that of Tutankhamun. robbers succeeded. The valuable grave goods The tombs in the Valley of the Kings area were built madeP it worth the dangers involved. So from 1550 for the most important people, so they are large bc, the pharaohs used a new burial system: tombs and beautifully decorated. A special village, Deir dug into the rocky cliffs in the Valley of the Kings. el-Medina (often just called Deir) was built for Their families were buried in the next valley, the the people who worked on the tombs. Deir is one Valley of the Queens. Important officials were buried of the few ancient Egyptian villages we can study. in the hill between these valleys. Most villages were built and re-built several times. However, Deir was left alone because it was not on All the tombs were beautifully painted. The paintings farmland by the River Nile. It was in the desert, near show the tomb owner with the gods, or living a the tombs. Two chief workmen organised workers perfect life in the Fields of Iaru. They were also filled to dig out, carve and decorate the tombs. They with beautiful, valuable grave goods too. Soldiers also organised the workers who made all the grave guarded the area, but it was hard to guard. Most goods. The tomb painters worked in the dark, deep tombs were robbed in ancient times. Only the underground. How did they manage to produce such paintings are still there. The only pharaoh’s tomb beautiful, detailed paintings? Part of the tomb of an official called Sennefer, built on the hill overlooking the Valley of the Kings. SOURCE A 44 DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 44 8/6/07 12:42:38 SOURCE B A modern artist’s reconstruction of tomb painters at work. SOURCE C This unfinished wall painting from the Tomb of Horemheb shows how the painters worked. The first sketches are in red.