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 Wthe 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.

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DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 41 8/6/07 12:41:54 2.9 The Pyramids n 2648 bc, the pharaoh was buried in a new spectacular kind Which is the of tomb, a pyramid. The pyramid was at , near the capital city Iof 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, . 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 of King Djoser (behind) and the Pyramid of (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 (2503bc ), then Khafra (2532 bc) then Khufu (2566 bc).

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DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 43 8/6/07 12:42:05 SOURCE A 8/6/07 12:42:38 with any grave goods left was that of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun. left goods grave with any was that of built were Valleyof the Kings area in the The tombs large so they are for most important the people, Deir A special village, and beautifully decorated. el-Medina (often just called was built for Deir) Deir is one the tombs. on the people who worked of the few ancient Egyptian can villages we study. several times. and re-built built Most villages were Deir was left because alone not on it was However, near the desert, It was in Nile. the River farmland by organised workers chief workmen Two the tombs. They carve and decorate the tombs. to dig out, all the grave who made also organised the workers deep dark, in the worked painters The tomb goods. such did they to produce How manage underground. detailed paintings? beautiful, yramids were hard to get into, but still grave into, to get hard yramids were goods valuable grave The succeeded. robbers made it worth the dangers involved. So from 1550 it worth involved. made the dangers tombs used a new burial the pharaohs system: bc, Valley of the Kings. cliffsdug into the rocky in the the buried in the next valley, were Their families buried Important were officials of the Queens. Valley in the hill these valleys. between paintings The beautifullyAll were painted. the tombs or living a the gods, with owner the tomb show also filled were They of Iaru. perfect life in the Fields Soldiers too. goods valuable grave with beautiful, Most to guard. but it was hard the area, guarded Only the in ancient times. robbed were tombs tomb onlyThe pharaoh’s still there. paintings are Part of the tomb of an official called Sennefer, built on the hill overlooking the Valley of the Kings. the built on the hilloverlooking of of an official the tomb called Sennefer, Part P 2.10 The Valley of the Kings the of Valley The 2.10 44 DutchHistoryUnit2.indd 44 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. They are corrected in black. The black outline is carved out, then the wall is covered with a chalk and water mix to paint on.

SOURCE D

Written so the pharaoh can order the governor of Thebes to send everything we need to continue work on the tomb: yellow ochre gum [to mix the colours, which were mostly made from ground-up rock] orpiment [a different yellow] red ochre realger [a different red] blue frit green frit fat for burning old cloth for wicks.

Part of a letter from one of the chief workmen, asking for more supplies.

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