To what extent is the study of the past driven by intellectual developments in academic
disciplines beyond history?
From 1949 to 2008, the number of teachers of history in British higher education has increased
from 548 to 2,961.1 Consequently, intersections between academic disciplines became more
prominent as the scope of historical inquiry was enlarged. This is evident when looking at
publication records, for example, the number of articles in relation to medical history have
grown from two in 1917 to 5,453 in 2017.2 It is the aim of this essay to investigate this
increasingly topical relationship between history and other disciplines by considering case
studies in the fields of environmental, medical, cultural and social history. This essay will argue
that, to an extent, the study of the past has been, and continues to be, driven by intellectual
developments beyond history. However, only focusing on the input from other disciplines
undermines the significance of developments originating from within the field of history itself.
Furthermore, as the relationship between academic disciplines becomes more dynamic, this
calls into question the value of retaining this distinction. It will argue this by considering the
following three areas of development within history. Firstly, the application of science and
information technology to sources of historical significance. Secondly, the methods and
theories employed to better understand primary sources. Lastly, areas of interdisciplinary
cooperation between academic disciplines and the necessity of a transdisciplinary approach.
Considering these three areas is intended to provide a basis, or even a point of contrast, for
considering and developing ways to drive the study of the past into the future.
1
‘Teachers of History Numbers’ https://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/statistics/teachers.html
[accessed 17 December 2018]
2
‘Web of Science’
http://apps.webofknowledge.com/RAMore.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&SID=F3B97urkU
6aQjOnHwc5&qid=7&ra_mode=more&ra_name=PublicationYear&colName=WOS&viewType=raMore
[accessed 20 December 2018]
1
, Technological Advances
Intellectual advances in science and information
technology have been successfully applied to
drive the study of the past. For example, in
October 2018 the contents of this sixteenth-
Figure. 1 ‘Cardiff University's new
century scroll (see Figure. 1) were revealed by x-ray method reveals ancient scroll’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
combining a 3D x-ray scan with computer wales-45734251
algorithms. The contents of this document may be of particular value to social historians as it
details information about local communities, including disturbances of the peace, names of
jurors and land transactions.3 However, the implications of this technology transcend any
singular historical field- it has the potential to be applied throughout history to many different
types of sources. Thus, technology has the possibility to deepen and drive our understanding of
the past in unprecedented ways by overcoming the often-fragile materiality of historical
sources.
The evidence generated by technology has been applied to historical debates. Analysis of the
DNA of fish bones has provided compelling evidence in support of the medieval sea fishing
revolution theory, which proposes an environmental shift in consumption from freshwater to
marine fish.4 Whilst these scientific findings bolster the validity of the theory, it simultaneously
found that the shift was not as universally rapid as previously believed. On the one hand, this
could have hindered the study of the past as to an extent it undermines the prevailing theory
within this area of history. However, in this case, the scientific findings do not invalidate the
3
Cardiff University, “Scientists 'virtually unravel' burnt 16th century scroll” https://phys.org/news/2018-10-
scientists-virtually-unravel-burnt-16th.html [accessed 11 December 2018]
4
F. Worley., Animal Bones and Archaeology: Guidelines for best practice (London: English Heritage, 2014)
pp.51.
2
