Historians utilize various methods to date historical documents, such as comparing an object or photograph with one known to have an exact date, or using scientific techniques like radiocarbon dating.
An effective historian needs both a compelling central thesis and convincing evidence, presented clearly and persuasively.
Archaeological evidence
Historians employ various tools to examine archaeological evidence. They utilize fossils and artifacts to date objects and people as well as using linguistics to investigate possible connections or migrations based on similarities found among contemporary languages.
Archaeological materials can be divided into four distinct categories: artifacts, ecofacts, structures and features. Artifacts and ecofacts can be taken out of the ground to be examined by scientists; structures and features must instead be sampled and surveyed to be studied thoroughly.
Most of the historical evidence used by historians comes from excavations. Most were carried out during the Great Depression to provide employment, with workers often disposing of charcoal and animal bones as “trash”. Historians can now carbon-date these items to understand how ancient people utilized the environment; furthermore they can compare this evidence with other records from history.
Oral accounts
Oral history involves gathering first-person accounts of historical events through interviews conducted by scholars or by laypeople. According to Donald Ritchie’s book Doing Oral History, oral history “is open to both academics and laypersons alike; its barriers of entry are low; with training, anyone can conduct interviews.”
Popularity of oral histories stems from their ability to provide an alternative view of history that cannot be found through written sources alone. Historians frequently employ oral histories as an additional resource when filling in gaps in existing historical narratives; however, oral historians must be wary of slanting their narrative so as to remain objective and remain impartial in order to remain effective historians.
Anthropologists began recording folklore onto phonograph cylinders during the late 19th century, while Federal Writers Project, an agency of New Deal Works Progress Administration, sent interviewers out in the 1930s and 1940s to record thousands of life histories – some were narrower in focus such as one person’s experience during wartime while others covered all areas of their lives.
Geological evidence
Geological evidence refers to data, observations and interpretations gathered from rocks, minerals, fossils and sediments that allow geologists to reconstruct past environments, climate changes, tectonic activities and evolutionary events as well as create timelines of Earth history.
Alfred Wegener presented evidence supporting his claim by using geological coincidence. Wegener found that mountain ranges across continents shared similar formation ages – for example, North American Appalachians fit perfectly with Scottish Highlands formation ages, leading him to conclude they once made up one continental unit.
Although geological evidence for the Genesis Flood may exist, many people still have difficulty accepting it due to their belief that present-day processes are the key to understanding past events. Unfortunately, this misconception is unsupported by science; indeed, evidence supports both Noah’s Flood as described by Scripture and rapid formation of rock strata and fossils during this catastrophic global event. Below are six geological proofs which demonstrate this disruption of Earth history by catastrophic global events.
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon-14 dating) is an age estimation technique developed in the late 1940s by Willard Libby at the University of Chicago. Radioactivity arises when atmospheric nitrogen is bombarded by cosmic rays, reacting with oxygen in the air to form radiocarbon dioxide which plants absorb before animals consume it.
Carbon-14 atoms gradually break down back to regular carbon with energy released, producing radioactive decay products which can be counted to determine an estimated date for “radiocarbon age”.
Calibration methods like dendrochronology may also be employed to account for variations in carbon levels throughout history and remove some uncertainty from radiocarbon dates obtained through measurement, making accurate calibration essential when interpreting archaeological finds.
