The sources that historians use to understand the developments between Sixth century BCE to Sixth century CE include:
(A) Inscriptions and texts
(B) Coins
(C) Sculpture and visual art
(D) Oral history and Mentalities
(E) Newspapers and Government records
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (A), (B) and (C) only
(A) Inscriptions and texts Correct. Historians draw on a range of sources for this period: inscriptions, texts, coins and visual material.
(B) Coins Correct. Coins are one of these four kinds of sources.
(C) Sculpture and visual art Correct. Sculpture is part of the visual material historians use.
(D) Oral history and Mentalities Incorrect. Oral history is recorded from the memories of living people, so it serves recent history; no such memories survive for a period that ended about 1,400 years ago.
(E) Newspapers and Government records Incorrect. Newspapers and government records are sources of modern history, such as the colonial period and the national movement; there were no newspapers between the sixth century BCE and the sixth century CE.
NCERT (2026-27): “…Perhaps the most visible was the emergence of early states, empires and kingdoms. Underlying these political processes were other changes, evident in the ways in which agricultural production was organised. Simultaneously, new towns appeared almost throughout the subcontinent. Historians attempt to understand these developments by drawing on a range of sources – inscriptions, texts, coins and visual material. As we will see, this is a complex process. You will also notice that these sources do not tell the entire story.” |