MCQ
school-lecturer-p2-history-t13 MCQ - Practice Questions with Answers
Solve 30 school-lecturer-p2-history-t13 questions for RAS/RPSC preparation.
Practice questions
Q1Which pairing is correct for the breakthrough that opened early Indian epigraphy to systematic historical use?
James Prinsep deciphered Ashokan Brahmi in 1837, a turning point for the use of inscriptions in early Indian history. Cunningham's 1861 role concerns the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Wheeler's importance lies in stratigraphic excavation.
Q2Which chronological arrangement of developments in Indian archaeology and source-criticism is correct?
Prinsep's decipherment of Ashokan Brahmi came in 1837; the Archaeological Survey of India was founded in 1861 under Alexander Cunningham. Mortimer Wheeler's introduction of rigorous stratigraphic excavation belongs to a later phase, so any order placing Wheeler first or ASI before Prinsep is chronologically wrong.
Q3In the usual classification of historical sources, which set contains only archaeological sources?
Inscriptions, coins, monuments and artefacts are archaeological sources because they are material remains. Religious and secular texts, foreign accounts and later interpretations belong to different evidentiary categories.
Q4Which statements correctly describe Leopold von Ranke's positivist approach to history? 1. It demanded an objective, document-based reconstruction of the past. 2. It is associated with the maxim that history should show the past as it actually was. 3. It rejected source criticism in favour of moral and patriotic narration.
Leopold von Ranke founded modern scientific or positivist history by insisting on objective reconstruction from documents and on presenting the past as it actually was. The third statement is a trap because Rankean method strengthened source criticism rather than replacing it with moral or patriotic narration.
Q5Which traveller-work pairing is correctly matched for using foreign accounts as historical sources?
Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind is a vital foreign account for reconstructing Indian history. The other options interchange well-known pairings: Megasthenes is linked with Indica, and Ibn Battuta with Rihla.
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More questions
6In historical method, which statement correctly distinguishes external criticism from internal criticism?
7Which set correctly matches modern historiographical schools with representative historians?
8Arrange the following developments in the study of Indian historical sources in chronological order: 1. Founding of the Archaeological Survey of India under Alexander Cunningham 2. James Prinsep's decipherment of Ashokan Brahmi 3. Mortimer Wheeler's introduction of rigorous stratigraphic excavation in India 4. Use of radiocarbon dating for fixing chronology
9Arrange the following stages of historical method in their usual order: external and internal criticism, exposition, heuristics, synthesis.
10Which set consists only of archaeological sources rather than literary sources?
11Which pairing of historiographical school or scholar with its core idea is incorrect?
12Which periodisation is specifically associated with James Mill's colonial interpretation of Indian history?
13Consider the following statements about auxiliary sciences and archaeological chronology. Which statements are correct? I. Epigraphy studies inscriptions as historical sources. II. Numismatics studies coins and currency as historical evidence. III. Radiocarbon dating was introduced by Ranajit Guha to interpret peasant insurgency. IV. Mortimer Wheeler is associated with rigorous stratigraphic excavation.
14Which sequence correctly represents the standard stages of historical method?
15Which option best defines historiography as a discipline?