Practice Questions: On The Trail of the Earliest People | Practice Questions with Solutions for Class 6 PDF Download

Q1: What does the rock paintings of Madhya Pradesh and Southern Uttar Pradesh depicts?
Ans: Animals and hunting scenes.

Q2: Why is Hunasagi popular in history?
Ans: Because a number of early Palaeolithic sites were found here.

Q3: What was the message of the inscription found in Kandahar?
Ans: It gives us the evidence that the Mauryan Empire was extended upto Afghanistan.

Q4: What is flint?
Ans: A flint is a hard grey stone that can produce a spark, whenever it is rubbed.

Q5: What was the advantage of clothes made from animal skin?
Ans: It protects and keeps the body at a suitable temperature during the winter and summer season.

Q6: Name the place where Natural caves and rock shelters were found.
Ans: Vindhyas and Deccan plateau.

Q7: Write the name given to pre-historic age.
Ans: Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic Age or Earnest Stone Age.

Q8: On what surface People of the Stone Age made rock paintings?
Ans: Wall of the caves.

Q9: How can we say that the people of Kurnool caves were familiar with fire?
Ans: Because we have found traces of ashes at various sites.

Q10: Why did hunter- gatherers move from place to place?
Ans: The hunter- gatherers move from place to place due to following reasons:

• If they had stayed at one place for a long time, they would have eaten up all the available plant & animal resources. Therefore they would have had to go elsewhere in search of food.
• 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. So people may have moved from season to season in search of different kinds of plants.
• People, plants and animals need water to survive; people living on river banks would have had to go in search of water during the dry seasons as some rivers are seasonal while others are perennial.

Q11: Why was it difficult to hunt animals and gather plant produce in the early times?
Ans: The early man faced a lot of problems while hunting animals and gathering plant produce. Some of them are:

• Many of the animals that were hunted were strong and ran faster than man. To hunt these animals or catch fish and birds, early man had to be alert and swift.
• To collect plant produce, complete knowledge of plants was essential. Early man had to have the basic knowledge about which plants or parts of plants were edible, which were poisonous.
• They were required to find out about the seasons when the fruits ripen.

Q12: What do cave paintings usually depict?
Ans: The paintings depict various activities of early man and tell us about their methods of hunting, fishing, collecting honey, religious practices etc. These paintings were drawn with great accuracy and skill. Many cave and rock paintings were found in India. Some of the best examples are from Madhya Pradesh and southern Uttar Pradesh. Paintings were made in bright colours. These colours were made from rocks and naturally available minerals.

Q13: How were factory sites different from habitation-cum-factory sites?
Ans: Factory sites were those places where stone tools were found and made stone tools by the people. Habitation-cum-factory sites are those places where people made stone tools and lived for a longer spell of time. At these sites, good quality of stone was easily available.

Q14: What are Microliths? How did Mesolithic man use Microliths?
Ans: Stone tools found during the Mesolithic period are called Microliths. They were generally tiny in size. The Mesolithic man probably stuck these stones on to the handles of bones or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles. These tools were used for digging the ground and stitching clothes.

Q15: What made early man to Start domesticating animals?
Ans: Due to change in climate conditions, there was an increase in the number of animals and the hunters started following them, which helped the early man to start domesticating animals.

Q16: Why did the communities of early man emerge on the banks of rivers?
Ans: Water is found in rivers, lakes and streams. While most of the rivers are perennial others are seasonal. People, plants and animals need water to survive. This is the main reason that communities of early man emerge near sources of water.

Q17: Mention the techniques that were used to make stone tools.
Ans:

• Stone on Stone technique: 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: The core was placed on a firm surface. The hammer stone was used to strike on a piece of bone or stone core to remove flakes that could be shaped into tools.

Q18: How did early man learn herding and rearing animals?
Ans: When the hunters followed the animals for hunting, they might have learnt about their food habits and their breeding seasons. It is likely that this helped people to start thinking about herding and rearing these animals themselves.

Q19: Write a short note on Bhimbetka rock shelters.
Ans: The Bhimbetka rock shelters exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India. Its stone age rock paintings are approximately 9,000 years old. These rock paintings throw some light on the life and activities of the people who inhabited these shelters.

Q20: Write a short note on Mesolithic age.
Ans: Mesolithic age is also known as middle stone age. This period of the human history witnessed the changes in the climatic conditions. The temperature increased and allowed the growth of plants. The number of animals also increased with the increase in the grasslands.