Talk:History/Archive 12

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History is not "the study of the past"

History is the study of written records. Paleontology, geology, planetary science, astronomy and cosmology also study the past. Are astrophysicists historians? Serendi^podous 20:08, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

That is an interesting point, but actually, yes, astronomers talk about the history of the solar system, geologists talk about the history of the planet Earth. You, I gather, would have history being with the earliest human artifacts, or maybe the earliest written word, but history is more than that. Rick Norwood (talk) 20:27, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

So if they're all studying history, what do historians do? Serendi^podous 20:31, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Not just written records. I’d also argue that art and artifacts and things of the sort are crucial for studying history, especially for cultures with little written records.

2603:6010:11F0:3C0:59D7:1B61:7A60:4C30 (talk) 23:57, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Certainly, the vast majority of historians study human activity since the introduction of writing. That is and should be, the main focus of this page. But history is not limited to what historians do, any more that mathematics is limited to what mathematicians do.Rick Norwood (talk) 10:53, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Except all non-mathematcians employing math are using math invented by mathematicians. That's why they call it applied mathematics. Paleontology is not applied history. Serendi^podous 13:04, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

"...the vast majority of historians study human activity since the introduction of writing." That creates issues in places like Australia, where Aboriginal Australians did not have a written language. It implies that no history occurred in Australia before 250 years ago when James Cook bumped into the place. Such a view leads some of the more racist people in Australia to further denigrate the Aboriginal people as only being part of PRE-history, and hence be less important, despite having lived successfully on the one continent for 70,000 years, and having a very complex culture. HiLo48 (talk) 23:15, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Aborigines have an oral history which is now, I hope recorded. These oral records can now be read historically. Serendi^podous 23:46, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

True, but sadly, not enough was recorded before much of it was lost. HiLo48 (talk) 02:53, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

And that's sad, but historical loss is hardly confined to oral tradition. We still can't read the Minoan script, for instance. Serendi^podous 09:11, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

This is simple. History != Historiography. History = Archeology + and or Historiography + and or something else. 109.245.37.173 (talk) 12:05, 22 June 2022 (UTC)