Question

Why are material sources, written sources and oral sources of history are collected and thoroughly examined?

Answer 1

Hint:
They contain important historical information.
Data available in the past was not uniform, systematic or organized.
They are clues to examine historical events in detail.

Complete answer:
Historical source is the original source of important historical information. These sources are something that informs us about history, and these sources are used as clues to study history.

Historical sources include documents, artefacts, archaeological sites, features. Oral transmissions, paintings, inscriptions on stone, paintings, images including photographs, motion pictures and oral history. Even ancient relics and ruins are a source of history.

Material Sources: Natural morphological characters, human interventions, orographic and hydrographic structures, buildings, infrastructures, archaeological finds, are 'material sources all which demonstrate the uses as well as the forms of settlement of the past. Literary descriptions, artistic images, cartographic testimonies, are verbal or iconic sources capable of providing further information, dictated by historical data.

Written Sources: These include contemporary letters, eyewitness accounts, official records, political declarations and decrees, administrative texts, and histories and biographies written during the time to be studied. Historians may use any of these written documents to find out about the past. They may not have been created for that reason, but they are still very useful.

Oral Sources: Oral history is the compilation and analysis of historical details about people, families, significant events or daily life through audiotapes, videotapes or transcripts of scheduled interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who have participated in or witnessed past events and whose memories and impressions of past events are to be preserved as an aural archive for future generations. Oral history attempts to gather knowledge from a range of viewpoints, much of which cannot be found in written documents. Oral history often applies to information collected in this way and to written work published or unpublished) on the basis of such records, mostly held in archives and large libraries.

Owing to the lack of adequate record keeping in the past, there is no single credible source of knowledge. Therefore to assess the reliability of the details, material sources, written sources and oral sources of history are gathered and thoroughly checked.

They have detailed details on previous events.

Note:
Literary and archaeological documents are the two major groups that provide evidence of ancient Indian history.
Literary sources include Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and other literature, along with other foreign accounts.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are epics of immense historical significance.
Puranic and Epic literature is known to be Indian history, but it does not include any specific dates for events and kingdoms.