---
title: "Evidence, sources, and time"
description: "How source lineage, freshness, and independence affect what can be supported."
updated: "27 August 2026"
candidate_route: "/docs/harbinger/foundations/evidence-time"
---

# Evidence, sources, and time

How source lineage, freshness, and independence affect what can be supported.

## Keep each result linked to its source

- Source and observation coordinates
- Receipt or observation time
- Integrity reference
- Correction, withdrawal, and counter-evidence state

## Freshness is inquiry-specific

Old evidence is not automatically false. It may still be insufficient for a question that requires a current state.

## Copies are not independent corroboration

Multiple publications derived from the same origin should not be counted as multiple independent sources.

---

Published route: /docs/harbinger/foundations/evidence-time