ogden_g_c

=Evaluation of Sources (250-400 words) Tips]=

For my first source I am going to use the ‘Cellar of Skeletons’. Of course we know that it is accurate because it was a real natural disaster, there were 54 people who took refuge inside a cellar but didn’t manage to survive. The remains of their bones are still there, with their diet, health, ethnicity, and sex all being distinguished by forensic scientists. However, I have only got this information from two different documentaries. One of those is a BBC documentary called “Pompeii-Life and Death in a Roman Town”. The other documentary is a video on the Discovery Channel website called “Pompeii: back from the dead”. Although my information comes solely from documentaries and what other people have seen, both BBC and the Discovery Channel are very highly-respected, well-known channels so their reliability is certain. The purpose of both documentaries isn’t to influence or convince their audience, but simply to inform. My source is highly reliable, although its limitations are that an audience has to trust what is being told and shown to them by this documentary. There is no real proof which shows the forensic scientists testing the bones, but rather just giving us the results. As my second source I am going to use the ancient Roman markings on the walls of Pompeii. Personally, I haven’t visited the site of Pompeii, so my sole evidence can come from photos and articles. These markings are very useful to a historian assessing what life was really like. It is a form of expression that allows us to read what these people were feeling, thinking and expressing, just as useful as artwork or literature. This is a very high value source, however there are certain limitations. . The markings on the walls were written to be read by people, which means we cannot be 100% sure that all what is said is true. If it were thoughts of peoples diary’s it would be a lot more reliable, but it is almost like the internet today, as in we know everything displayed is going to be read.
 * An example of political graffiti from Pompeii  ||