The detective story is one of the most popular literary genres throughout the history of literature. The character created by English writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, is undoubtedly the most popular among criminal investigation stories. Variations of this genre of story in the realm of cinema and television have also conquered many viewers for some time now. Well, did you know that, to a large extent, the work of the historian also resembles that of the investigating police officer?
The police, especially those in charge of solving crimes of death, or homicides, establish their investigation criteria to from the evaluation of the reports of witnesses who witnessed the crime and, mainly, through the traces that the crime has left. The very word “investigation” means “to go to the traces”, to launch oneself on the signs left behind.
Likewise, the historian, to study the past and understand it satisfactorily, needs to deal with an enormous multiplicity of fragments, of vestiges, that civilizations produced throughout their history. The difference is that, unlike crimes, historical investigation encompasses all aspects of human action, from the way people from Ancient Greece dressed to the type of surgery that was performed in Brazil in the century XVIII.
A simple example can make it easier to understand: imagine that you are walking in the interior of the Italian Peninsula and, suddenly, you come across a stone with the carved inscription: “LEG X FLO”. The appearance indicates that the stone was not recently carved, on the contrary, it seems that what is read there was written over a thousand years ago. Well then, a historian specializing in the history of ancient Roman civilization, when faced with a stone like this, immediately you will know that it is a demarcation of territory, in Latin, of the former Legion (LEG) Tenth (X) of General Floro (FLO), of the former Empire Roman. Note that, in the eyes of someone unfamiliar with techniques of historical investigation, such a stone is just an ancient object with a strange inscription; in the eyes of an expert, it becomes a most precious historical find.
There are some historians who, in an effort to understand his work, the nature of his science, often draw this comparison between historical investigation and criminal investigation. One of the most notable is the Italian Carlo Ginzburg, whose books eventually became bestsellers among the non-specialized public. history, because its narrative has a close connection with the narratives of police stories, such as the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Historical investigation, therefore, when compared to the work of the criminal investigator, emphasizes the importance and consistency of the methods used by the historian. Like the policeman, the historian cannot compromise the vestiges of the past or hide sources that are decisive for his work. Historical investigation essentially consists of dealing with the vestiges of past human action and presenting them to present viewers in a responsible, clear and interesting way.
*Image credit: Shutterstock and Olga Papova
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
