GROWING PLANTS AND STORING ANIMALS
If you plant a seed, you will notice that it takes some time to grow. This may be for several days, weeks, months, and in some cases years. When people began growing plants, it meant that they had to stay in the same place for a long time looking after the plants, watering, weeding, driving away animals and birds — till the grain ripened. And then, the grain had to be used carefully.
As grain had to be stored for both food and seed, people had to think of ways of storing it. In many areas, they began making large clay pots, or wove baskets, or dug pits into the ground. Do you think hunter-gatherers would have made and used pots? Give reasons for your answer.
Animals multiply naturally. Besides, if they are looked after carefully, they provide milk, which is an important source of food, and meat, whenever required. In other words, animals that are reared can be used as a ‘store’ of food.
Apart from food, what are the other things that could have been obtained from animals?
What are animals used for today?
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
FINDING FIRST FARMERS AND HERDERS
Turn to Map. You will notice a number of blue squares. Each marks a site from where archaeologists have found evidence of early farmers and herders. These are found all over the subcontinent. Some of the most important ones are in the north-west, in present-day Kashmir, and in east and south India.
To find out whether these sites were settlements of farmers and herders, scientists study evidence of plants and animal bones. One of the most exciting finds includes the remains of burnt grain. (These may have been burnt accidentally or on purpose). Scientists can identify these grains, and so we know that a number of crops were grown in different parts of the subcontinent. They can also identify the bones of different animals.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
TOWARDS A SETTLED LIFE
Archaeologists have found traces of huts or houses at some sites. For instance, in Burzahom (in present-day Kashmir) people built pit-houses, which were dug into the ground, with steps leading into them. These may have provided shelter in cold weather. Archaeologists have also found cooking hearths both inside and outside the huts, which suggests that, depending on the weather, people could cook food either indoors or outdoors.
Stone tools have been found from many sites as well. Many of these are different from the earlier Palaeolithic tools and that is why they are called Neolithic. These include tools that were polished to give a fine cutting edge and mortars and pestles used for grinding grain and other plant produce.
Mortars and pestles are used for grinding grain even today, several thousand years later. At the same time, tools of the Palaeolithic types continued to be made and used, and remember, some tools were also made of bone.
Many kinds of earthen pots have also been found. These were sometimes decorated and were used for storing things. People began using pots for cooking food, especially grains like rice, wheat, and lentils that now became an important part of the diet. Besides, they began weaving cloth, using different kinds of materials, for example, cotton, that could now be grown.
Did things change everywhere and all at once? Not quite. In many areas, men and women still continued to hunt and gather food, and elsewhere people adopted farming and herding slowly, over several thousand years. Besides, in some cases people tried to combine these activities, doing different things during different seasons.
To find out whether these sites were settlements of farmers and herders, scientists study evidence of plants and animal bones. One of the most exciting finds includes the remains of burnt grain. (These may have been burnt accidentally or on purpose). Scientists can identify these grains, and so we know that a number of crops were grown in different parts of the subcontinent. They can also identify the bones of different animals.
Activity:
Draw a pit house.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
LIVING AND DYING IN MEHRGARH
Beginning of settlement at Mehrgarh (about 8000 years ago).
Mehrgarh is located in a fertile plain, near the Bolan Pass, which is one of the most important routes into Iran. Mehrgarh was probably one of the places where people learnt to grow barley and wheat, and rear sheep and goats for the first time in this area. It is one of the earliest villages that we know about. At this site, many animal bones were found. Bones of wild animals such as the deer and pig, and also bones of sheep and goat were found.
Other finds at Mehrgarh include remains of square or rectangular houses. Each house had four or more compartments, some of which may have been used for storage.
When people die, their relatives and friends generally pay respect to them. People look after them, perhaps in the belief that there is some form of life after death. Burial is one such arrangement. Several burial sites have been found at Mehrgarh. In one instance, the dead person was buried with goats, which were probably meant to serve as food in the next world.
Activity:
Find Mehrgarh on Map.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK