From Hunting – Gathering to Growing Food

The Earliest People: Why Were They on the Move?

Hunter-gatherers

• The name comes from the way in which they got their food.
• Generally, they hunted wild animals, caught fish and birds, gathered fruits, roots, nuts, seeds, leaves, stalks and eggs.

→ They eaten up all the available plants and animals resources where they stay for the long time, for the search of food they have to move from place to place.

→ Some of the animals move from place to place in search for food that is why the hunters have to follow their movement.

→ Because of seasons change some of the plants and trees don’t bear fruits so people have to move place to place in search of different kinds of plants.

→ Plants, animals and people needs water, people need water during dry seasons that’s why they travelled on foot from place to place.

How Do We Know About These People?

• Archaeologists have found some of the things hunter-gatherers made and used.
• They likely made and used tools of stone, wood and bone, of which stone tools have survived best.

Choosing a Place to Live In

• Sites were often near water sources, like rivers and lakes.
• Places where stone was found and tools were made are factory sites.

→ Sometimes, people lived here for longer spells of time. These sites are called habitation-cum-factory sites.

Making Stone Tools

• Tools were made using two techniques: stone on stone and pressure flaking.

Finding Out About Fire

• One of the biggest discoveries made by man was fire.
• It could be used for light, roasting meat, and scaring away animals.

A Changing Environment

• Around 12,000 years ago, global temperatures increased.

→ This led to the development of grasslands and increased the number of deer, antelope, goat, sheep and cattle.

→ People began thinking about herding and rearing animals.

→ Fishing also became important.

The Beginnings of Farming and Herding

Domestication

• Domestication is the process of growing plants and protecting animals.
• Began around 12,000 years ago.
• Virtually all food today comes from domesticated species.

‘Storing’ Animals

• Animals provide milk and meat.
• They are used as a store of food.

Finding Out About the First Farmers and Herders

• Evidence found all over the subcontinent.
• Important areas: Kashmir, east and south India.
• Evidence includes burnt grains and animal bones.

→ These finds confirm the existence of many crop plants and animals in ancient India.

Towards a Settled Life

• Traces of many things have helped archaeologists understand ancient life.
• At Burzahom (Kashmir), pit-houses were built into the ground with steps.
• Cooking hearths found both inside and outside huts.
• Neolithic tools: polished stone tools, mortar and pestles.
• Tools from the Paleolithic age were still used.
• Farmers and herders lived in tribes.

Living and Dying in Mehrgarh

• Mehrgarh was in a fertile plain near the Bolan Pass.
• One of the first places where people grew barley and wheat, and reared sheep and goats.
• It is one of the earliest villages known.

MCQs – From Hunting–Gathering to Growing Food

1. _____ is the name given to the process in which people grow plants and look after animals.

(a) Domestication

(b) Plantation

(c) Flowering

(d) Agriculture

► (a) Domestication

2. The art of making pot is called

(a) Pottories

(b) Poetries

(c) Patys

(d) Pottery

► (d) Pottery

3. Place where many families choose to live together for mutual cooperation and better protection.

(a) State

(b) Block

(c) Village

(d) District

► (c) Village

4. Which art was learnt by Neolithic man made by hand and dried in sun and later wheel was used to make it

(a) Cart

(b) Wheel

(c) Chair

(d) Pots

► (d) Pots

5. Domestication means

(a) Process in which people look after animals

(b) Process in which people grow plants and lived in communities

(c) Process in which people grow plants and look after animals

(d) Process in which people grow plants

► (c) Process in which people grow plants and look after animals

6. Wheeled cart was made in which age?

(a) Mesolithic age

(b) Palaeolithic age

(c) Neolithic age

(d) Chalcolithic age

► (c) Neolithic age

7. Neolithic man lived in

(a) Small communities such as villages

(b) In pair near bank of river

(c) Alone in the forest

(d) Alone in the bank of river

► (a) Small communities such as villages

8. Which was the first metal to be discovered

(a) Copper

(b) Gold

(c) Silver

(d) Iron

► (a) Copper

9. Barter system is

(a) System of exchange of money

(b) System of exchange of articles

(c) System of exchange of money to services

(d) System of exchange of articles to money

► (b) System of exchange of articles

10. How was the earth treated in Neolithic age

(a) Mother

(b) Father

(c) Son

(d) Sister

► (a) Mother

11. Microlith were made during which period

(a) Chalcolithic

(b) Mesolithic

(c) Neolithic

(d) Palaeolithic

► (b) Mesolithic

12. Tools like copper and hand axes were used in

(a) Mesolithic age

(b) Upper stone age

(c) Old stone age

(d) Middle stone age

► (c) Old stone age

13. Copper was discovered by ___ man

(a) Masolilthic

(b) Neolithic

(c) Palaeolithic

(d) Chalcolithic

► (d) Chalcolithic

14. In village early people learn the following except

(a) Cultivation

(b) Hunting

(c) Taming animals

(d) Living a settled life

► (d) Living a settled life

15. ____ was the main occupation of people of the Chalcolithic age

(a) Agriculture

(b) Mining

(c) Hunting

(d) Gathering

► (a) Agriculture

16. Tools of points, crescentic blades and scrappers etc were used in which stone age

(a) Middle stone age

(b) Upper stone age

(c) Neolithic age

(d) Old stone age

► (b) Upper stone age

17. Meso means in Mesolithic age is

(a) Micro

(b) Must

(c) Middle

(d) Macro

► (c) Middle

18. Hallur is in present day

(a) Uttar Pradesh

(b) Karnataka

(c) Gujarat

(d) Kashmir

► (b) Karnataka