People who record written materials are generally later than those who describe things. People will have subjective or objective limitations, and recorded things may have deviations and fallacies. Physical data can prove the correct literature and correct the wrong literature here.
Most of the ancient historical materials come from the records of historians, but what historians record is generally related to state affairs. We can't understand all aspects of people's lives through this historical material, so the physical materials can supplement history here.
Humans have been active since the Paleolithic Age, but it was not until the Shang Dynasty that the earliest Oracle Bone Inscriptions appeared in China. Before writing appeared, there was no literature. Physical data can write history here.