Material traces
Artifacts, layers, structures, and their recorded excavation context.
The evidence guide
Follow a connection. Ask why.
A relationship between people, places, or ideas needs more than visual proximity. This guide shows the source families an investigation may use and the questions that help test a link.
Four useful source families
What can support a claim?
Written records
Texts and archives read with attention to author, date, and purpose.
Time and place
Chronology and geography that make a proposed connection possible or unlikely.
Alternatives
Competing explanations and counter-evidence that could change the reading.
Put the questions to work
See the evidence in a real example.
A text you can compare.
What does a parallel inscription help explain, and what does it leave unresolved?
Read the Rosetta guideA place in context.
How do a site's material features and dating evidence work together?
Read the Caral guideA proposed reconstruction.
Which parts survive, and where does a model add an interpretation?
Read the Antikythera guideRead the relationship
Every meaningful link needs context.
Lines in a diagram are useful for orientation, but they do not certify causation or contact. Open the source guide, then inspect the original record and the reasoning it describes. If evidence is missing, the uncertainty should remain visible.