THE WAYS AND CONCEPTS FOR STUDYING ANCIENT HISTORY

Abstract

There are many articles about the methods and concepts used to study ancient history in the Thai language. This article was inspired by Theories, Models and Concepts in Ancient History, written by Professor Neville Morley. Even though this article is from the Western perspective, I have adapted the Thai history cases studies and others to compare with his study of Makingit to make it easier to understand.

This article is divided into 6 parts. The first part of the paper explains the problems with historical theories; including the use of theories or models, the weakness of the historical model, the problem of historical terms, and the argument between materialism and idealism. The second part of the paper considers the need for studying the ancient economy, social status and class, which is related to political power. The third part of the paper examines the relationship between people and the environment including the La lounguedurie approach and ecology. The forth part of the paper examines human health including food, disease, and demography. The fifth part of the paper considers sex, gender, race and ethnicity in ancient history. Finally, the paper demonstrates the use of psychology for studying ancient myths. The paper concludes that the theories and concepts for studying ancient history have developed vastly but that there is a general lack of applications related to ancient history and archaeological evidence.