What is the historical value of archaeological documents?

The study of China's history is inseparable from literature, because China has a very long and excellent historical tradition. However, documents and materials are not first-hand materials. After manual editing and revision, it is inevitable that there will be mistakes and fabrications, which can only be used as an important reference and cannot be fully believed.

Archaeological materials are first-hand materials with definite evidential force, which should be used as the basis for the development of historical clues logically. However, the simple archaeological evidence lacks the content of establishing this systematic connection and needs to be verified by literature.

Important archaeological documents include: Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, Qin and Han bamboo slips, inscriptions in Wei and Jin Dynasties, grottoes in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties and Dunhuang manuscripts.

Recommended reading: Wang Shumin's History of Chinese Historiography.