Documented
Directly supported by an identifiable primary text, artifact, inscription, measurement, excavation record, photograph, or other traceable evidence.
Research Library
Museum
Source Standards
HOW THE MUSEUM CLASSIFIES EVIDENCE
The museum’s reference guide for distinguishing documented evidence, circumstantial evidence, interpretation, under continued study accounts, and proposal.
Museum Research Guide
How Evidence Is Rated
The museum does not treat every statement, artifact, tradition, newspaper report, archaeological interpretation, or ancient text as though it carries the same evidentiary weight. Each account should be presented according to what the surviving source actually establishes. The purpose of these ratings is not to silence unusual evidence. It is to show the visitor exactly where the evidence ends and interpretation begins.
Core rule: A source may prove that a account was made without proving that the account itself is true. Likewise, an interpretation may be reasonable without being directly documented. The museum identifies both the source and the strength of the conclusion drawn from it.
Circumstantial
Several facts point toward a conclusion, but the surviving evidence does not directly state or demonstrate it.
Interpretation
A reasoned explanation of documented material. It must be labeled as interpretation rather than presented as the evidence itself.
under continued study
A account or reading for which meaningful disagreement, conflicting testimony, under study provenance, or competing explanations remain.
proposal
A possibility proposed for examination when direct and circumstantial support is presently insufficient for a stronger rating.
◆ Rating 1 · Strongest Classification
Documented Evidence
Documented evidence is tied to something a visitor can identify and, wherever practical, independently inspect: a manuscript passage, contemporary record, inscription, artifact, excavation report, measured feature, dated photograph, map, archival clipping, or other preserved record.
Qualifies when
- The source can be identified by title, author or issuing body, date, collection, publication, or catalog reference.
- The quoted or summarized statement is actually present in that source.
- An archaeological account can be traced to a documented object, site, context, measurement, or excavation record.
- The museum can distinguish the observation from later explanation.
Does not automatically establish
A historical newspaper article documenting a reported discovery proves that the report existed. It does not by itself prove every detail of the reported discovery. An ancient author documenting a tradition proves the tradition was recorded by that author. Additional evidence may be needed to establish the underlying event.
◈ Rating 2 · Converging Indicators
Circumstantial Evidence
Circumstantial evidence consists of documented facts whose relationship may reasonably point toward a conclusion even though no surviving source directly demonstrates that conclusion.
Use with precision
Multiple independent observations may strengthen a circumstantial case. Similar architecture, unusual measurements, geographic clustering, recurring terminology, or parallel traditions may be relevant. Similarity alone, however, does not prove common origin, direct contact, a specific builder, or a particular biblical identification.
◇ Rating 3 · Reasoned Explanation
Interpretation
Interpretation is the attempt to explain what documented or circumstantial evidence may mean. Archaeologists, historians, translators, biblical scholars, ancient writers, and the museum itself can offer interpretations. They must remain visibly distinct from the underlying evidence.
| Evidence | Interpretation | Museum wording |
|---|---|---|
| A structure has a measured astronomical orientation. | The builders intentionally designed it for astronomical observation. | State the measured alignment first. Present intentional astronomical use as an interpretation unless independently established. |
| An ancient text describes unusually powerful or large people. | The text describes the same population named in another tradition. | Present the textual descriptions separately, then identify the proposed connection as comparative interpretation. |
| A very large skeletal measurement appears in a period report. | The remains belonged to a race of giants. | Document the report and measurement, then evaluate provenance, preservation, corroboration, and competing explanations before drawing a broader conclusion. |
△ Rating 4 · Active Disagreement
under continued study accounts
A under continued study classification is used when a account has a traceable basis but important parts of the evidence, provenance, translation, identification, dating, reconstruction, or interpretation are contested.
under continued study does not mean disproved
The label tells the visitor that a genuine question remains. The museum should identify the strongest supporting evidence, the strongest objection, and what evidence would be needed to resolve the difference.
○ Rating 5 · Exploratory
proposal
proposal is a proposed possibility that goes beyond what the presently available evidence can establish. It may be worth asking, especially when it suggests a testable research question, but it must never be disguised as a conclusion.
Question before conclusion
Where the museum explores a possibility, wording such as “could,” “may,” “has been proposed,” or a direct research question should be used. A proposal can be upgraded only when new evidence justifies a stronger classification.
Source Weight
Source Hierarchy
| Source class | Examples | What it can establish | Primary caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary textual record | Biblical text, inscription, contemporary letter, official record, firsthand publication | What the source itself states | Translation, genre, textual history, authorship, date, and context still matter |
| Material record | Artifact, architecture, burial, inscription, stratigraphy, measured alignment | Physical existence, context, dimensions, material, and associations where provenance is secure | Function and identity may still require interpretation |
| Near-contemporary historical witness | Ancient historians and chroniclers | What a writer knew, reported, or believed within his historical setting | The writer may rely on earlier sources, hearsay, rhetoric, or tradition |
| Later tradition | Medieval chronicles, oral traditions recorded centuries later, later legendary expansions | The existence and form of the later tradition | Chronological distance from the event must be stated |
| Modern secondary analysis | Peer-reviewed scholarship, excavation synthesis, academic monographs, technical reports | Modern analysis and scholarly arguments | Consensus and interpretation are not identical to primary evidence |
| Popular or internet account | Unreferenced websites, reposted images, social media, unattributed quotations | Usually only that a modern account circulates | Must be traced backward before use as historical evidence |
Textual Witnesses
Ancient Texts & Traditions
The museum’s biblical framework uses the KJV as its standard Scripture text. Enoch, Jubilees, and Jasher may be examined as ancient or traditional witnesses, but they are not presented as books of the biblical canon. Josephus and other ancient historians are historical witnesses whose testimony must be evaluated according to date, sources, purpose, and proximity to the events described.
Scripture
Quote accurately, identify book, chapter, and verse, and distinguish what the passage explicitly says from conclusions inferred from it.
Enoch, Jubilees & Jasher
Identify the work and passage when possible. Mark non-canonical status and avoid treating later textual traditions as though they carry the same evidentiary category as the biblical text.
Josephus & ancient historians
Use them as named historical witnesses. Their testimony can preserve valuable historical memory, but their statements still require source criticism and comparison with other evidence.
Oral tradition
Name the people or culture, identify the earliest traceable recording where possible, and distinguish a documented tradition from a modern interpretation of that tradition.
Material Record
Archaeology & Material Evidence
Archaeological presentation should separate what was physically observed from what has been reconstructed. Site name, location, dimensions, material, orientation, excavation history, dating method, provenance, and published interpretation should be identified whenever relevant.
⌖ LOCATION↗ ORIENTATION▣ MEASUREMENT◫ STRATIGRAPHY✦ ARTIFACT◷ DATE◎ PROVENANCE
Orientation standard
When an archaeological structure has a known or proposed solar, lunar, cardinal, astronomical, geographic, or landscape alignment, the museum records the alignment and identifies whether it is measured, proposed, or under continued study.
Museum Rating Procedure
How a Determination Is Made
| Step | Question | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Can the original or earliest available source be identified? | If no, the account remains weak until provenance is established. |
| 2 | Does the source actually say or show what is accounted? | If yes, the existence of that statement or observation can be documented. |
| 3 | Is the evidence independent, contemporary, measured, or physically preserved? | Independent corroboration can strengthen the classification. |
| 4 | Does the conclusion require an inferential step? | If yes, identify it as circumstantial evidence or interpretation. |
| 5 | Are provenance, translation, dating, identification, or interpretation meaningfully contested? | Apply the under continued study symbol and explain the disagreement. |
| 6 | Does the proposal extend beyond available support? | Classify it as proposal and phrase it as a possibility or research question. |
Traceability
Citation Practice
Visitors should be able to tell where a account came from. Whenever practical, exhibit references should provide enough information to locate the source again.
- Bible: book, chapter, verse, KJV.
- Ancient work: author or work, book/chapter/section where applicable, and translation or edition when material to the wording.
- Book or journal: author, title, publication information, date, and relevant page or section.
- Newspaper: publication, date, page when known, article headline, and archive or scan provenance.
- Artifact or museum object: institution, collection or accession number when available, provenance, and catalog description.
- Archaeological report: excavation/project, investigator or issuing body, publication/report, date, context, and relevant figure/table/page.
- Image: creator or holding institution, date, collection, and whether the image is documentary, reconstructed, or illustrative.
Reference Guide
Core Reference Types Used by the Museum
- KJV Bible, the museum’s standard Scripture text.
- 1 Enoch, cited as a non-canonical ancient Jewish work.
- Jubilees, cited as a non-canonical ancient Jewish work.
- Jasher traditions, identified by edition and textual tradition where used.
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War, as ancient historical testimony.
- Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran texts where a specific manuscript is relevant.
- Ancient Near Eastern inscriptions, king lists, chronicles, and monumental texts.
- Classical Greek and Roman historians and geographers where relevant.
- Excavation reports, archaeological surveys, site plans, measurements, and technical publications.
- Museum and institutional object catalogs with accession and provenance data.
- Historical newspapers and periodicals, preferably from original page images or archival scans.
- Historical maps, expedition records, field notes, photographs, and correspondence.
- Peer-reviewed scholarship and academic reference works for modern analysis.
- Named oral traditions with the earliest traceable recording and cultural context available.
Curatorial standard
The museum may investigate difficult, neglected, or widely discussed subjects. The standard does not require a conventional conclusion. It requires an honest label. Facts remain facts, interpretations remain interpretations, traditions remain traditions, and unanswered questions remain open until the evidence warrants more.