History-VI
Ch – 3 From Gathering to Growing Food
Question/ Answers
Q 1) What do you understand by domestication of plants and animals?
A1) 1) Domestication is the name given to the process in which people grow plants and look after
animals.
2) Plants and animals that are tended by people become different from wild plants and animals.This is
because people select plants and animals for domestication.
3) They select those plants and animals that are not prone to diseases.
4) They also select plants that yield large size grain and have strong stalks.Seeds from selected plants are
preserved and sown to ensure that new plants (and seed) will have the same qualities.
5) Amongest animals, those that are relatively gentle are selected for breeding.
6) Some of the earliest plants to be domesticated were wheat and barley.The earliest domesticated
animals include sheep and goat.
Q 2) Why do people grow crops have to stay in the same place for a long period ?
A2) 1) The people who grew crops have to stay in the same place for a long time because it takes some
time for a seed to grow into a plant. This may be for several days, week, months and in some case
years.
2) 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 riped.
3)Then, the grain had to be used carefully the grain had to be stored for both food and seed. For this
they began making large clay pots or wove baskets or dug pit in to the ground.
Q3) “Animals that are reared can be used as a store of food”. Explain
A 3)1) Animals multiply naturally.
2)They provide milk,which is an important sorce of food and meat whenever required. In the other
words, animals that are reared can be used as a “store”of food.
Q 4) What archaeologists eveidences show that man move to a settled life ?
A 4)1) Archaeologists have found traces of huts or houses at some Neolithic sites. For instance, in
Burzahom (in present day in Kashmir) people built pit houses which were dug into the ground, with
steps leading in to them.
2)Archaeologists have also found cooking hearths both inside and outside the huts.
3)Some stone tools have been found from many sites as well. These include the Neolithic tools that
were polished to give a fine cutting edge, and mortars and pestles used for grinding grain and other
plants produce. Some tools were also made of bone.
4)Many kinds of earthern pots have also been found.
5)These were sometimes decorated and were used for storing things. People began using pots for
cooking food especially grains.
Q 5) Explain the term “Tribe”. What were the salient features of tribal society that existed during the
Neolithic period.
A 5) Usually two or three generation live together in small settlements or villages. Most families are
related to one another and groups of such families form a tribe .The salient features are :
1) Members of tribe follow occupation such as hunting, gathering , farming, herding,and fishing.
They also take part in singing, dancing and decorating their huts.
2) Some men are regarded as leaders. They may be old and experienced , or young brave warriors or
priests. Old women are respected for their wisdom and experience.
3) Tribes have rich and unique cultural traditions including their own language,music,stories,and
painting.They also have their own gods and goddesses.
4) Land,forests ,grassland and water are regarded as the wealth of the entire tribe and everybody
shares and uses these together.There are no sharp differences between the rich and poor.
Q 6) Why do archaeologists think that many people who lived in Mehrgarh were hunters to start with an
that hearding become more impotant later ?
A 6) Archaeologists who evacuated the site found evidence of many kinds of animals bone from the
earliest levels.These included bones of wild animals such the deer and pig. In later levels they found
more bones of sheep and goat and in still later levels cattle bones are most common suggesting that this
was the animal that was generally kept by the people.
Q 7) Write about one of the early villages we know about ?
A7)1) This site is located in a fertile plain, near Bolan Pass.
2)Mehrgarh was one of the places where women and men learnt to grow barley and wheat and rear
sheep and goat first time.
3) Archaeologists who excavated the sites found evidence of many kinds of animlas bones.
4)People in Mehrgarh lived square and rectangular houses.
5)People believed that there is some form of life after death. Burial is one such arrangement . Several
burial sites have been found at Mehrgarh.
Q8)Write a note on Daojali hading a Neolithic site?
A8)1)Daojali Hading is a site on the hills near the brahamputra valley close to routes leading in to China
and Myanmar.
2)Here are stone tools,including Mortars and pestles have been found.These indicated that people were
probably growing grain and preparing food from it.
3)Other finds include jadeite, a stone that have been brought form China.
4)Also common finds of tools made of fossils wood (ancient wood that has hardened into stone and
pottery).