E -content

SUBJECT → SOCIAL SCIENCE (HISTORY)

CLASS 6
CHAPTER 2
TOPIC THE EARLIEST SOCIETIES
 TOPIC
THE EARLIEST PEOPLE
• The earliest people…
• [I] why where they on the move?
[II] Making stone tools
[III] Finding about fire
[IV] Our changing environment
[V] Agriculture resolution
[VI] Division of human historical time….
[VII] Paleolithic, mesolithic and Neolithic
[VIII] Elsewhere… Rock painting of France
 1 Why were on the move

1 .Two millions years ago humans were hunters

gatherer . They gathered fruits,roots,seeds etc.and
hunted animals,fish and birds.All these are very
difficult.
2.Animals were stronger and ran faster.So humans
needed to be very robust,alert,quick and have
presence of mind.
3.To collects plants knowledge of plants is needed to
know which of them is poisonous and also
knowledge of seasons was required.
Hunting
of
animal
 2 The earliest man…

• why they were on the move.

• Basically early man moved from place to place due
to following reasons.
• If they stayed for a long they would have eaten
everything available.
• Animals move from place to place also needed to
follow.
• Plants and trees grow according to seasons
• People need water always and Many sources of
water are non perennial so they get dried.
REASON OF
MOVEMENT
OF EARLIEST
MEN
 3 What do perennial mean

• Perennial sources of water are those in

rivers and lakes in which water is available
throughout the year example… Ganga
river ,Yamuna river.
• Non perennial sources of water are
those rivers and lakes in which water is
not available throughout the year. Water in
them get dried up in summer season so..
Mahanadi river ,Krishna river.
PERENNIAL
RIVER
◄←

SEASONAL
RIVER→
 4 How do we know about early man

• Archaeologist have found tools, made of others

bone and stone, used by early people, for cutting
bone and meet chop .fruits, digging roots and
stitching clothes of animal skin.
• Some may have been attached to handles of
bone or wood to make Spears arrows for hunting.
• People also used to chop wood for making fire.
• As wood was used in making Huts.
USED OF
TOOLS BY
EARLY MEN
TOOLS
WITH
HANDLES
5 Choosing a place to live it

• Sites… are places where the remains of things,

tools for building, etc. where found. These are
used and left Behind by people. This maybe
found on the surface of the earth, buried
under the earth, sometimes under water.
• All the places with red triangle are sites from
which archaeologist have found evidence of
hunter gatherers .
• Hunter gatherers lived in many more places.
• Many sites where located near source of
water such as river and lakes.
•
6 Habilitation cum factory sites

• People tried to find better quality Stone. So the

places where good quality stones are found turned to
became factory sites. We find blocks of stone tools,
vast amount of chips of waste stone in these sites.
• People lived in those sites for long so they became
habilitation cum factory site. Ex. Bhimbetka in
Madhya Pradesh caves and rock Shelters. These caves
provided shelters from heat ,rains and wind.
 HABILITATION

FACTORY
CUM

SITE
 7 Making stone tools

• Method of making stone tools….two methods

• (I)---- Stone on Stone…. Here the Pebble from
which the tool was to be made called the core
was held it one hand .Another stone which
was used to as a hammer was held in other
hand.The second stone was used to strike off
flakes from the first ,till the required shape
was obtained.
 (II) --- Pressure flaking…
• Here the core was placed on a firm surface.
The hammer stone was used on a piece of
bones or stone that was placed on the core to
remove flakes that could be shaped into tools.
Pressure flaking
 8 Finding about fire
traces of ash found in Kurnool cave
Used as a source of
[1] light [2] cook food
[3]and scare wild animals

• .
 9 A changing environment

• 12000 years ago, climate change to a relative

warm condition. This increased the grassland.
Grass eating animals like cattle ,goats
buffalo ,deer cow etc. People started Herding
and rearing those animals.
 10 Started of agriculture

• Grain bearing grasses , like wheat, Barley, Rice

grow naturally in different parts of the world.
People learnt about them and found them as
an easy way to use them as Meal. Thus they
started to grow crops.
•
• This requires great care, time and dedication.
So they had less and less time to go for
hunting and wandering from place to place
became slowly .So the positive result was
this….Permanent settlement appeared.
 11 Names and dates
• i. Paleolithic age ( 2 billion years ago to 12000 years) earliest period
of history. Palaeo means old lithic stone .covers 99% time of history.
During the Paleolithic period the man was a hunter and food gatherer. The
human being used to use simple chipped and chopped type stone tools
for hunting and other purposes.
 (II) Misolithic age.
• (12000 to 10000 years ago) stone tools found
very small in size called microliths , which
Where are attached to handles to make
arrows and sickles .
 (III) .. Neolithic age
• ( from 10000 years ago) stone tools found nicely with
sharp ,pointed and straighter The Neolithic Age, which means
New Stone Age, was the last and third part of the Stone Age.
In India, it spanned from around 7,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C. The
Neolithic Age is mainly characterized by the development of
settled agriculture and the use of tools and weapons made
of polished stones. The major crops grown during this period
were ragi, horse gram, cotton, rice, wheat, and barley.
Pottery first appeared in this age.
CROPS

POTTERY
12 Rock painting and ostrich

Many caves in which people lived had rock

paintings,,.which showed wild animals with
great accuracy and skills.Some of these caves
are found in Madhya Pradesh and southern
Uttar Pradesh.
BHIMBETKA CAVE
←PAINTINGS
 Ostrich where found in India during the
Paleolithic period .Many ostrich egg shells
were found at patne in Maharashtra. Designs
where engraved. on some pieces white beads
where also be made out of them.
•
 13 Elsewhere….
Rock paintings ..in France were made between
20000 and 10000 years ago .Many of these were of
wild animals painted bright colours.
These colours were made from minerals like ochre or
iron ore and charcoal .It is possible that these
paintings were done on ceremonial occasions or
perhaps they were made for specials rituals.
 Exercise question
• 1. Complete the sentences
• A Hunter-gatherers chose to live in caves and rock shelters because they provided
them shelter from rain, heat and wind.
• b Grasslands developed around 12000 years ago.
• C Early people painted on the walls of caves.
• D In Hunsgi, tools were made of limestone.
 2. Look at the present-day political map of the subcontinent on page 136. Find out the states
where Bhimbetka, Hunsgi and Kurnool are located. Would Tushar’s train have passed near any
of these sites?

• Answer: Tushar's train must have passed neal all the mentioned sites (Bhimbetka, Kurnool
and Hunsgi) as they all are located in the possible train route from Delhi to Chennai.
• Site
• Location
• Bhimbetka
• Madhya Pradesh
• Hunsgi
• Karnataka
• Kurnool
• Andhra Pradesh
 3. Why did the hunter-gatherers travel from place to place? In what ways are these
similar to/different from the reasons for which we travel today?

• Answer: The Ancient man moved from place to place mainly for four reasons,
• If he had stayed in the same place for the longer time, he would have used up all the resources like
animals, plants, water of that place. So they have to go to other places in search of food.
• Plants bear fruits, grains in particular seasons. So man moved to fetch his food accordingly.
• Animals do not stay in one place but they move in search of prey. Hence man moved along with the
animals as the animals formed the food of man.
• Man needs water to perform almost all of his functions. Though some rivers were perennial (flow
throughout the year) some were not so. Hence man had to move even in search of water.
• Nowadays people travel for a variety of reasons like education, business, to meet friends and relatives and
also for entertainment.
•
 4. What tools would you use today for cutting fruit? What would they be made of?

• Answer: We use knives for cutting and chopping the fruits, peelers for peeling fruits. These tools are made
of stainless steel with wooden or plastic handle. Modern knives are very different from stone age tools.
Stone Age tools were made of stones with handles sometimes made of wood or bones.

• 5. List three ways in which hunter-gatherers used fire (see page16). Would you use fire for any of these
purposes today?
•
• Answer: The hunters-gatherers have used the fire for the following reasons:
• Scare the animals away
• Cooking
• Warm themselves from cold weather
• as source of light
• Nowadays, out of these reasons, we use fire for cooking and keeping us warm.
 6. Make two columns in your notebook. In the left hand column, list the foods
hunter- gatherers ate. In the right hand column, list some of the foods you eat. Do
you notice any similarities/differences?

• Answer: Today, we mostly eat processed and cooked food, whereas the
early people did not cook their food. They ate almost everything raw.
• Food of Hunter-gatherers
• Food of Modern man
• Fruits, Roots, Nuts, Seeds, leaves, vegetables, meat and eggs
• Processed and completely cooked food like pizza, burgers, pizza, ice-
cream. Modern man also eats unprocessed food like fruits, vegetables,
leaves, nuts etc.
• 7. If you had a natural pebble like the ones shown on page 13, what
would you use it for?
• Answer: We can use the pebbles as decorative articles in the aquariums
and gardens, for making jewellery etc.
8. List two tasks that are performed by both men and women at present. List another two that
are performed only by women, and two that are performed only by men. Compare your list
with that of any two of your classmates. Do you notice any similarities/differences in your lists?

• Answer: Nowadays almost all the tasks are equally performed

both by men and women. Still there are few tasks which can be
done only by men or women. The below are the lists,
• Two tasks performed both by men and women are teaching and
cooking
• Two tasks performed only by men are mining and work in
shipyard (Some tasks suit only men, though women too can
perform equally)
• Two tasks performed only by women are nursing and feeding
kids(Some tasks suit only women, though men too can perform
equally)
•
 Activity based questions

• [A] multiple choice questions

•
• choose the correct options to complete the statement given
below
• 1 traces of ash in the Kurnool cave indicate
• [A] rearing of animals [ b] use of fire
• [C] use of stone tools [ D] use of water
• 2 grassland developed in many areas around
• ]A] 800 years ago [ B] 2 million years ago
• [C] 1,00,000 years [ D ]12,000 years ago
• 3 Tools in HUNSGI where made of
• [ a ]stone [ b] limestone
• [c] wood [d] metal
• 4 Bhimbetka is located in the present day
• [A ] Uttar Pradesh [ B] Andhra Pradesh
• [C] Madhya Pradesh [D] kerala
• V grassland led to an increase in
• [a] animals that live in water [ b] word
• [c] human beings [d ] animals that survive on grass
 [B] Fill in the blanks

• fill in the blanks with appropriate word to complete each

sentence
• [1] hunter - gatherers llived around ……………. years ago
• [2] The Hunter gatherers moved from place to place on.....
• [3] the climate of the world change to ……………..
• condition around 12000 year ago
• [4] thepalaeolithlc age was followed by the ………..age
• [5] fire was used as a source of ……..
 [C] true and false

• state whether this sentence areTRUE are FALSE

• [1] some rivers are perennial while other are seasonal
• [2] tool of wood have survived better than tools of
stone
• [3] the sites where hunter-gatherer lived where are
close to water
• [4] hunsi was located in the present day Madhya
Pradesh
• [5] men led as well settled life by Paleolithic age
 [D] Matching skill match item given in

COLUMN A COLUMN B

hunted gatherers travel in search Grassland

of
a method of making stone tools Bhimbetka
fishing developed after Pressure flaking
development of
many old painting so Mesolithic age
Ostriches where found in India Lime stone
during the
tools in hunsi were made of Burzahon
the period from 12000 year ago to Water and food
10000 year ago is called the
Paleolithic site in Central India Paleolithic age
Neolithic site in North India Wild animal
 [E] Very short answer type questions
• [1] What did Hunter gatherers do to sustain themselves ?
• Answer - the hunter wild animal caught fish and birds gathered fruit roots
nuts seeds leaves stalks and eggs in order to sustain themselves
• [2] Why was hunting animals difficult for the people ?
• Answer- hunting animals was difficult because animal that ran faster than
human being many more stronger .
• [3] what do people need while hunting animal are catching fish and
birds?
• Answer - people need to alert, quick and have lots of presence of Mind.
• [4] collecting plant produce needs a lot of precautions how?
• Answer - one need to find out which plants or parts of plant are edible
that is can be eaten as many can we poisonous. it is also necessary to
find about the season when the fruit ripen.
• [5] what is the difference between perennial and seasonal lake and rivers ?
• Answer - perennial and seasonal lakes and rivers are those which beer water throughout the
year which seasonal river and lake have water only during a particular period during rainy
season .
• 6. How was wood used in the past?
• Answer- would was used in fire wood.Iit was also used to make hurts and tools.
• 7. what were factory site ?
• Answer- factory are place where stone was found and where people made tools.
• 8 Where are natural cave and rock shelter?
• Answer- natural cave andt rocks shelter are found in the vindyas and the Deccan Plateau
• 9What suggests that people in the past used fire?
• Answer- Traces of ash have been found in the Kurnool cave. this suggest that people in the
past use fire.
• 10- why did earlier people use fire?
• Answer- They used fire to make light,to cook,meat and to frighten animals.
•
• 11-Name of any two Grain bearing g rasses/
• Answer- wheat and Barley
• 12 what is the special features of the painting found in Madhya Pradesh and South Uttar
Pradesh?
• Answer- these paintings of wild animal which have been drawn the great accuracy and
skill.
 [F] Short answer type questions

• [1] How were stone tools used in the past?

•
• Answer- some stone tools were used-- to cut meat and one scrap bark
from trees and hides animal skin,chop fruit and roots
somewhere used as handles of bone or wood. some where used to
make Spears and arrows for hunting other tools were used to cut wood.
•
• [2] What do you know about habitations come factory side?
•
• Answer - usually we find blocks of stone tools that where made and
perhaps discarded because they were not perfect and chips of West
stone let we had at factory set sometimes people lived here for long
period of time this side are called habitations come factory said.
• [3] Mention the two techniques that were used to make stone tools/
•
• Answer - that two technique of making stone tools where one stone on stone
---technique in this technique the pebbles from which the tool was to be made
was held in one hand.another stone which was used as a hammer was held in
the other hand second stone was used to strike off till required shape obtained.
• 2-pressure flaking in this technique the pebbles or core was place or on a firm
surface. the Hammer stone was used to a piece of bone or stone that was
placed on the core to remove flakes that could be shaped into tools.
•
• [4] What do you know about the work division among men and women in the
ancient past Answer it is difficult to know about it however we can mention at
least two possibility which are f1. it is likely that both man and women and mya
have done many of the work like hunting gathering - plant produce is it
together
• 2- it is also possible that some task we are done only why women and other
only why men and again there could have different practice in different part of
the subcontinent.
 [G] Long answer type questions first

• Q 1 What were the various reasons for Hunters gatherers to move from one place
to place mention in detail?
• Answer - Hunter gatherers keep on moving from one place to another for the
following region
• (I) stayinging at one place for a long time would have ended up the availability of
plant and animal resource .
• (II) Animal move from one place to another another in search of smaller prey in
the case of deer and wild cattle in search of grass and leave that is why those who
have entered they had to follow their movement
•
• (III) plants and trees bear fruit in different season and people may have moved
from season to season in the search of get the different kind of fruits.
• (IV) Men, animals and plants need water for their survival where while many rivers
and Lakes are perennial others are seasonal people living on the banks would have
had to go in search of water. during the dry season winter and summer
• V people have travel to meet their kith and kin.
Q 2 What was the impact of the change in environment around 12000 year ago?

• Answer - Major changes in the climate of the word with a shift to

relatively warm conditions, where is notice around 12000 year ago. As a
result grassland developed in many regions. This result in the increase in
the herbivorous animal like deer and antelope. goat sheep and cattle. this
encourage people to hear and rearing animal .They also engaged
themselves in fishing,
• several grain bearing grasses such as wheat and barley and rice also grew
around this time in different part of the subcontinent .Men women and
children begen to collecting these grains to use them as their food. By the
time,they also learn where this Grains grew and when they ripened.