How we research

Every entry on Old Symbols says what a symbol means and where it came from, and shows where each of those statements comes from. This page explains how an entry gets there.

Living traditions

Many of these symbols belong to religions and cultures that are practised today. An entry gives what a symbol means to the people who use it now before it turns to history. Where communities read a symbol differently, or where a reading is recent, the entry says so rather than choosing one.

Entries about religious and cultural symbols get an extra check before they are published, for respectful framing and for any overlap with symbols used by hate groups. Legends are given as legends, and credited to the tradition that tells them. Hate and extremist symbols are not published here.

Sources first

Each page starts from published sources. For every statement on a page we record the passage that supports it, word for word, with the source, its publisher and where the passage appears. Two independent sources per symbol is the aim. Sources are listed at the foot of each page.

When a page’s research is prepared, a script fetches every source again and checks that each recorded passage appears in it. A statement no recorded passage supports is cut, however well known it seems.

Written with AI assistance, reviewed by a person

Research and first drafts are done with the help of an AI model, Anthropic’s Claude. It finds candidate sources, records the passages and proposes the text. It cannot publish anything.

A person then reads every page against its recorded passages before it goes live. Their name and the date of the review appear at the foot of the page, as “Last reviewed”.

Kept up to date

Every page is reviewed again at least once a year, and sooner when a standard it depends on changes. Each review updates the date on the page.

Corrections

Every symbol page has a “Report a problem” link. Reports go straight to the editor; corrections are made on the page and it is reviewed again. You don’t need to give an email address.

Advertising

The sites carry advertising. Advertisers have no say in what a page says. See Privacy for what the sites collect.