Early Life to Settled Life PDF

CHAPTER CHAPTER 5 5 Early Life to Settled Life Learning Outcomes The students will be able to know about nomadic life of early people, food gathering, usage of fire. discuss how better the stone tools were used by the early people. realise how the farming gradually led to the early civilisation....

CHAPTER CHAPTER 5 5 Early Life to Settled Life Learning Outcomes The students will be able to know about nomadic life of early people, food gathering, usage of fire. discuss how better the stone tools were used by the early people. realise how the farming gradually led to the early civilisation. From Early life to settled life Early life Domestication Settled Life Nomads Fire Using stone tools Food gathering Rearing animals Building houses Growing plants 106 We take food everyday such as boiled rice, chapathi, fruits, grain, milk and meat etc. But have you ever thought how humans discovered food? Which fruits and vegetables could we eat and which ones were poisonous? Do you know that before we started growing food, humans used to gather edible products from nature? Let us take a look at history to understand how we evolved from collectors of food to producers of food. Fig 5.1 Let’s Do Life of early people Fig 5.2 List out the activities of early people in the above pictures. Early People Thousands of years ago the people who lived in the sub-continent were called as hunter-gatherers. The name hunter-gatherers came from the way in which they got their food. They gathered fruits, edible roots and tubers, nuts, seeds, leaves, honey, wild grains that grew naturally in the forests. They hunted animals and birds, caught fish, gathered eggs for food. The hunting and gathering of food was not easy to do. To collect plant products, you need to find out which plants or parts of the plants are edible. People should have knowledge about the seasons when the fruits ripen. Even to hunt, the hunters need to know the nature of hunted animals very well. To hunt animals or birds, people need to be alert, quick and have lot of presence of mind. The early people, over many generations, had learnt about all those things and taught them to their children, through songs and stories. They covered their bodies with skins of animals and leaves. 108 Let’s Do List the items that you eat which are not grown but collected from the wild. Nomadic life The hunter-gatherers lived in small societies. They lived in caves or under tree-shades or rock shades. In search of food, they moved from place to place. Such people are called nomads. Men, women and children participated in hunting and gathering. They shared the food with all the members of the group. Let us know what forced them to move from one place to the other. Reasons for moving The hunter-gatherers led a nomadic life. They consumed all the available food from plants and animals of a particular place and later moved on to another place in search of food. Usually animals moved from place to place for various reasons and hence this made the hunter-gatherers also to move along with them for hunting. Plants and trees bore fruits in different seasons. Thus, people had to move along with the seasons in search of food and survival. People, plants and animals need water to survive. Most of the water bodies like lakes, ponds, streams dry up during the summer. Thus, people move to other places in search of water during the dry seasons. Finding out About Fire The hunter-gatherers discovered fire. It let them cook their food, making it safe to eat. They used fire to keep off wild animals, to light the caves and to harden the wood. Fire had many uses to the life of hunter gatherers. So, they considered it sacred. Think & Respond How did the early people discover fire? Discuss with your teacher and write. How do we know about those people? We know about the hunter gatherers from some of the tools found. They had a wide range of tools made out of stone, wood and bone. They used those tools to scrape animal skins and to clean the skins. They used stone tools to cut animal flesh and bones. They dug soil for edible tubers and roots with these tools. They prepared spears and arrows for hunting. They hunted animals easily with these tools. 110 A. The earliest stone tools B. These stone tools made many years later. C. These stone tools made even later. D. These stone tools made about 10,000 years ago. E. Pebbles used as stone tools. Fig 5.3 Different types of stone tools Belum caves Archaeologists are the scientists who study the past by digging up old places where people lived and taking out remains of their lives like tools, bones, pots, buildings etc. Archaeologists have recovered a large number of stone tools from the caves of Kurnool district. There are hundreds of caves in Kurnool district near Betamcherla and Banaganapalli. These caves seem to have been used by stone tool using huntergatherers as resting place for thousands of years. Fig.5.4: Entrance of Belum Caves in Kurnool district Animal bones, stone tools especially microliths and also tools made of bones have been found in them. Tools made of bones are found only in these caves in the entire Indian Subcontinent. Fig. 5.5: Bone tools found in Muchatla Chintamanu, Gavi cave, Kurnool. Rock Paintings The hunter-gatherers lived in caves or rock shelters. They painted pictures of humans, animals and hunting scenes on the surface of the rocks. Different colour stones were ground and mixed with animal fat to prepare these colours. They used bamboo brushes to paint on rocks. 112 Chintakunta is in Muddanur Mandal of Y.S.R. Kadapa District. There are ten rock shelters near it which have paintings of early people. There are more than 200 paintings in white and red colour. But there are only ten white paintings. In the red colour paintings, humped oxen are found in only one cave, which is locally called Eddula Aavula Gundu. In the remaining paintings, we can see pictures of deer, stag, fox, rabbits, birds, human being, etc. For a long period our ancestors led their life as hunter-gatherers. Now let us study how such people transformed themselves as farmer-herders and search reasons for that change. Transforming to farming and herding More than 12,000 years ago, the world had started becoming warmer. This was also known as the period of the great development for humans. In this period, humans evolved from food gatherers to growers. This climate change led to an increase in plants, trees, grass lands and overall greenery. On the other hand animals like buffalo, ox, sheep, goat, deer etc., which depend on grass started increasing in number. Man used to domesticate those animals. Think & Respond Fig. 5.6 How does the changing climate affect the human life at present? Discuss with your teacher, friends and write. DidYou YouKnow Know Do Stone Stone AgeAge Palaeolithic Age (Old stone age) Fig: 5.7 Fig. 5.6, 5.7: The pictures of men with bow, arrow and oxen drawn by the earliest people found in Chintakunta caves in YSR Kadapa district Mesolithic Age (Middle stone age) Neolithic Age (New stone age) 114 Period 2.6 million years BCE to 10,000 BCE 10,000 BCE to 8000 BCE 8000 BCE to 3000 BCE Growing plants As the greenery increased, people started observing the places where edible plants could be found, how seeds broke off stalks, fell on the ground and new plants sprouted from them. This gradual process allowed man to start planting the seeds they wanted and growing them for food. This was the Fig 5.8 Domesticated crops beginning of farming. They cultivated different crops such as rice, wheat, barley, lentil, green-gram, black-gram etc. Rearing Animals Gradually animals started coming to the places where man grew crops to eat the grass. They attracted animals by leaving food for them. The animals that are relatively gentle were selected for br eeding. Animals such as sheep, goats, buffaloes, oxen, and pigs lived in herds and most of them ate grass. These animals provided milk, meat and some Fig 5.9 Domesticated animals and insects would even carry loads. People protected those animals from the wild animals. This was how they became herders. Think & Respond • • How did the early men become herders? How can you say that the rearing of animals paved the way to a settled life of the early humans? 116 Towards a settled life As people started farming, they realised that seeds took some time to grow – days, weeks, months, and even years. This meant that people had to stay in a place for a long time taking care of the plants, watering them and protecting them from birds and animals. This had to be done till the grain ripened. After that, the grain had to be stored carefully for future use as food and seed. The early people, to store grain, used large clay pots or woven Fig 5.10 Life style of the farmer-herders baskets or dig-pits into the ground. Animals increase in number naturally if they are properly taken care of. They provide milk, meat and other dairy products. Due to these reasons, people began to settle down in convenient places for longer time. The farmer-herder people lived in the huts or houses made of mud and grass. In some places, people built pithouses in the ground with steps leading into them along with some cooking tools inside and outside the houses. These may have provided shelter in cold weather. Fig 5.11 Pit House Think & Respond · · Compare the life styles of the modern farmers with the early farmers-herders. What will happen if we don’t store food-grains? 118 Let’s Do Apart from food, list out the other things that we get from the animals. Make a list of animals and birds that are reared in your area. Animals Birds Stone tools used by the farmer-herders The early farmers needed to clear forests by cutting trees. They developed new kinds of stone tools which were called Neolithic stone tools by the archaeologists. The ear ly farmers selected the right kind of stone which was ground on rock to give it an axe like edge. This axe head was then fixed to a wooden handle and was used to cut trees etc. This period of early agriculture is called the Neolithic period. Mortars and pestles were used for grinding grain and other plant products. Many earthen pots, some decorated, have been excavated. These earthen pots were probably used for cooking and to store food-grains. Fig 5.15 An old pot. what do you think could have been stored in this pot? Fig 5.13 Stone tools excavated in Nandra village in Madhya Pradesh Fig 5.14 Archaeologists excavated in Navasa in Maharashtra 120 Think & Respond Prepare a list of articles that are using for cooking and storing in modern days. During the late Neolithic age, people made more technological advances. Tool makers created better farming tools according to their needs. By the beginning of the Bronze Age, communities extended to different parts. More complex cultures called civilisations began to develop among these communities. Four of the great valley civilisations - Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China emerged. You will study about the Indus valley civilisation in India in the next chapter. Important Rock Art Sites in Andhra Pradesh 14 13 12 11 1. Vinukonda 2. Naidupalli 3. Singarayakonda 4. Kavali 5. Nandipadu 6. Srikalahasti 7. Renigunta 8. Venbakandriga 9. Chintakunta 10. Dappale 11. Tenegal 12. Budagavi 13. Velpumadugu 14. Adoni 15. Kalavabugga 16. Kethavaram 17. Bollaram 1 17 15 16 2 3 9 10 4 5 7 6 8 Map 1: Important Rock Art Sites in Andhra Pradesh 122 Glossary Hu nter-gatherers Herders Archaeologist Settled life Stone-tools Mortars and pestles Bronze Domestication : the people who depend upon hunting and gathering produce from the forest. : animal rearers. : a scientist who studies human history by digging up human remains and artifacts. : living permanently at one place. : tools made by stones for different purposes. : tools used to grind grains and plant products. : an alloy of copper and tin metals. : the process in which people grow plants and rear animals. Improve Your Learning 1. 2. 3. 4. List out the products of the forests. What do you know about nomadic life? How do we use fire today? Prepare a list of the food items eaten by the early people and the modern people. Do you notice any similarities or differences? 5. “The earliest human life became easier by domesticating animals and plants.” Do you agree or not? Support your answer. 6. If there is no grinding stone, how would it affect our food habits? 7. What tools do you use for cutting fruits? What would they be made of? 8. Where did the early people store food-grains? 9. List out three ways in which the present lives of farmers and herders are different from that of the early people. 10. How did the life style of farmer-herder lead to early civilisations? 11. Locate the following Rock Art sites in the map of Andhra Pradesh: A. Chintakunta. B. Adoni C. Kavali D. Nayudupalli E. Velpumadugu F. Srikalahasti Project Work Collect the information about rock painting sites. Write a report and exhibit it in your class. Collect some pictures of ancient people and prepare an album. 124