The book your group has been assigned is an example of a Secondary Source, meaning it was written by a historian who was not around when the events they are analyzing were happening. Since the author wasn't there to experience the events discussed, they use Primary Sources to learn about what happened and what people at the time were thinking. Primary sources include first-hand accounts, accounts from those who had a direct connection to events, and documents created in the process of an event or around the same time.
Take a look at some of the primary sources the author of your assigned book references. They might include historical chronicles, legal documents, and ephemera like letters and informal notes. All kinds of documents could constitute a primary source: letters, diaries, poems, pamphlets, wills, mortgages, official proclamations, a recipe written on scrap paper — all these are possible primary sources. The physical or material condition of the primary source object itself — a 500-year-old book, a painting, a folded up letter — can also be a potential source of information.
The boxes below will show available Print and Digital Resources for accessing primary sources.
Option A: Retrace Your Author's Steps
Option B: Find primary sources from a similar time, place, and subject
Diary; the record of a pilgrimage to China in search of the law by Cathay and the way thither : being a collection of medieval notices of China by 
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness by The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela by 
The Babur Nama by 
The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires by ARTstor offers you access to digital scans of art works from across the centuries, including medieval and ancient Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
The British LibraryThe Museum’s collection online offers everyone unparalleled access to objects in the collection. This innovative database is one of the earliest and most extensive online museum search platforms in the world. There are currently 2,335,338 records available, which represent more than 4,000,000 objects. 1,018,471 records have one or more images.
The World of Khubilai Khan : Chinese art in the Yuan Dynasty by 
Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings : architecture and asceticism in medieval India by 
Cave Temples of Dunhuang : Buddhist art on China's Silk road by An Account of Monsieur de la Salle's last expedition and discoveries in North America presented to the French king, and published by the Chevalier Tonti, Governour of Fort St. Louis, in the province of Illinois ; made English from the Paris originals by History and general description of New France. by ARTstor offers you access to digital scans of art works from across the centuries, including medieval and ancient Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
The Cahokia chiefdom : the archaeology of a Mississippian society by 
Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms : interpretations of Mississippian iconography by 
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand by 
The list of primary source texts available from ancient Greece and Rome is extensive. An overview of these primary source resources can be found in the Primary Source Materials page to the Guide to Classics LibGuide.
Here, however, are two primary sources cited by Adrienne Mayor in The First Fossil Hunters:
Guide to Greece by 
Empedocles : The Extant Framents by The Beazley Archive Pottery Database contains the world's biggest photographic archive devoted to ancient Greek figure-decorated pottery.
ARTstorARTstor offers you access to digital scans of art works from across the centuries, including medieval and ancient Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
The British LibraryThe Museum’s collection online offers everyone unparalleled access to objects in the collection. This innovative database is one of the earliest and most extensive online museum search platforms in the world. There are currently 2,335,338 records available, which represent more than 4,000,000 objects. 1,018,471 records have one or more images.
Early Greek Portraiture : monuments and histories by 
Herculaneum : art of a buried city by 
Persia and the West : an archaeological investigation of the genesis of Achaemenid art by 
Documents of the African Past by The African past : chronicles from antiquity to modern times by 
Women Writing Africa, v. 2: West Africa and the Sahel by For an extensive listing of primary and secondary sources on Medieval West Africa, see the "Select Bibliography", pp. 469-477 in Michael A. Gomez, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa.
ARTstor offers you access to digital scans of art works from across the centuries, including medieval and ancient Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Mande Potters and Leatherworkers : art and heritage in West Africa by 
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time : art, culture, and exchange across medieval Saharan Africa by 
Dagara Verbal Art : an African tradition by 
Royal Commentaries of the Incas; and General History of Peru by 
Natural and Moral History of the Indies by 
The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by 
The History of the Incas by A Narrative of the Vice-Regal Embassy to Vilcabamba, 1571, and of the Execution of the Inca Tupac Amaru, Dec. 1571 by 
1492: Discovery, Invasion, Encounter : sources and interpretations by 
The Tupac Amaru and Catarista Rebellions : an anthology of sources by ARTstor offers you access to digital scans of art works from across the centuries, including medieval and ancient Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Golden Kingdoms - Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas by 
Pre-Columbian Art by 
Narrative Threads : accounting and recounting in Andean Khipu by This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
