Long Questions: On The Trail of the Earliest People | NCERT Summary: UPSC PDF Download

Q1: What were the various reasons for hunter-gatherers to move from place to place? Mention in detail

Ans: Hunter-gatherers kept on moving from one place to another for the following reasons:

• Staying at one place for a long time would have ended up the availability of plant and animal resources.
• Animals move from place to place—either in search of smaller prey, or, in the case of deer and wild cattle, in search of grass and leaves. That is why, those who hunted them had to follow their movements.
• Plants and trees bear fruit in different seasons. Hence, people may have moved from season to season in the hope of getting different kinds of fruits, (iu) Plants, animals and plants need water for their survival. While many rivers and lakes are perennial others are seasonal. People living on their banks would have had to go in search of water during the dry seasons, le. winter and summer.
• People may have travelled to meet their kith and kin.

Q2: Explain the following words:
(a) Palaeolithic
(b) Mesolithic and
(c) Neolithic
Ans: (a) Palaeolithic

• The earliest period of the Stone Age is called the Palaeolithic.
• This comes from two Greek words, ‘Palaeo’ meaning old, and ‘lithos’ meaning stone.
• The name points to the importance of finds of stone tools.
• The Palaeolithic period extends from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago.
• This long stretch of time is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic.

(b) Mesolithic

• The period when we find environmental changes, beginning about 12,000 years ago till about 10,000 years ago is called the Mesolithic (middle stone).
• Stone tools found during this period are generally tiny and are often called microliths.
• Microliths were probably stuck on to handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles.
• Older varieties of tools continued to be in use.

(c) Neolithic

• The next age (i.e., from the Mesolithic) from about 10,000 years ago, is known as the Neolithic.
• In this Stage farming and herding began and the people started leading a settled life.

Q3: What was the impact of the change in environment around 12,000 years ago?
Ans: Major changes in the climate of the world with a shift to relatively warm conditions were noticed around 12,000 years ago. As a result, grasslands developed in many regions. This resulted in the increase in the herbivorous animals like deer, antelope, goat, sheep and cattle. This encouraged people to herd and rear these animals. They also engaged themselves in fishing.
Several grain bearing grasses such as wheat, barley and rice also grew around this time in different parts of the sub-continent. Men, women and children began to collect these grains to use them as their food. By the time, they also learnt where these grains grew and when they ripened.

Q4: What were the main effects of changing environment on rearing of animals and other activities?
Ans: 

• Around 12,000 years ago, there were major climatic changes with a shift to relatively warm conditions.
  • In many areas, this led to the development of grass lands, and animals that depended on grass, such as deer, antelope, goat, sheep and cattle, flourished.
• Those who hunted animals now followed them, learning about their food habits and their breeding seasons.
  • It is likely that this helped people to start thinking about herding and rearing some animals themselves.
• Fishing also became an important activity of the people.
• This was also a time when several grain bearing grasses, including wheat, barley and rice grew naturally in different parts of the subcontinent.
  • Men, women and children probably collected these grains as food, and learnt where they grew, and when they ripened.
  • This may have led them to think about growing plants on their own.

Q5: Discuss “Making Stone Tools” by the people of Stone Age.
Ans: Making Stone Tools. Stone tools were probably made using two different techniques:

• The first is called stone on stone. Here,
  • the pebble from which the tool was to be made (also called the core) was held in one hand.
  • Another stone, which was used as a hammer was held in the other hand.
  • The second stone was used to strike off flakes from the first, till the required shape was obtained.
• Pressure flaking:
  • Here the core was placed on a firm surface.
  • The hammer stone was used on a piece of bone or stone that was placed on the core, to remove flakes that could be shaped into tools.

Q6: How do we know about hunter-gatherers? Write also about their tools.
Ans:

• Archaeologists have found some of the things people made and used. It is likely that people made and used tools of stone and bone, of which stone tools have survived best.
• Some of stone tools were used for cutting wood, which was used as firewood. Wood was also used to make huts and tools.
• Other stone tools were used to cut meat and bone, scrape barks and hides, chop fruit and roots. Some may have been attached to handle bone or wood, to make spears and arrows for hunting.

Q7: Discuss living places or sites of hunter-gatherers of the subcontinent.
Ans:

• Some sites known as habitation sites, are places where people of the subcontinent lived. These include caves and rock shelters.
• Many living places or sites of the hunter-gatherers are located near sources of water (rivers, lakes, springs etc.)
• People choose natural caves because they provided shelter from the rain, heat and wind.
• Natural rock shelters were close to the Narmada Valley, while natural caves were found in the Vindhyas and the Deccan Plateau.

Q8: What do you mean by “Factory Sites” and “Habitation-cum-factory”?
Ans:

• As in Stone Age, stone tools and implements were important. Therefore, the people (hunter-gatherers) tried to find places where good quality stone was easily available.
  • Places where natural stone was found and where people made tools are known as factory sites.
• Usually, we find blocks of stone, tools that were made and perhaps discarded because they were not perfect and chips of waste stone left behind at these sites (i.efactory sites).
  • Sometimes, people lived here for longer spells of time.
  • These sites are called habitation-cum-factory sites.