Short Questions: From Hunting-Gathering to Growing Food | NCERT Summary: UPSC PDF Download

Q1: “Environment affects greatly the farming of cereals and rearing of animals.” Make clear the statement.
Ans: Each different plant thrives in certain conditions—for example, rice requires more water than wheat and barley. This explains why people grow some plants in some areas and not in others. Different animals prefer different environments—for example, sheep and goats can survive more easily than cattle in dry, hilly environments.

Q2: When did domestication start? Write the names of the earliest domesticated plants and animals.
Ans: Domestication began about 12,000 years ago. It was a gradual process that took place in many parts of the world. Some of the earliest plants to be domesticated were wheat and barley. The earliest domesticated animals include sheep and goat.

Q3: Discuss in brief the settled life of the earliest people of Burzahom (Kashmir) in New Stone Age.
Or
Write a short note on “Towards a Settled Life in Burzahom”.
Ans: Towards a settled Life in Burzahom (Kashmir).

• Archaeologists have found traces of huts or houses at some sites. For example in Burzahom (Kashmir) people built pit-houses, which were dug into the ground, with steps leading into them. These may have provided shelter in cold weather.
• Archaeologists have also found fire places both inside and outside the huts which suggests that, depending on the weather people could cook food either indoors or outdoors.

Q4: Discuss in short ‘the Beginning of Farming’.
Ans: The climate of the world was changing and so were plants that people used as food.
People probably noticed several things:

• where edible plants were found.
• how seeds broke off stalks.
• fell on the ground and new plants sprouted from them, and so on.

Perhaps they started looking after plants-protecting them from birds and animals so that they could grow and seeds ripen.

Q5: How did cultivation give a new way of life to the people?
Ans: A New Way of Life and Process of Farming (Or Cultivation).

• When people began growing plants it meant that 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 ripened. And then, the grain had to be used carefully.
• As grain had to be stored for both food and seed, people had to think of ways of storing it. In many years, they began making large clay pots, or woven baskets, or dug pits into the ground.

Q6: How did people become farmers?
Ans: When the climate of the world was changing, people observed places where edible plants are found, about seeds, plants, etc. They started growing their own plants. And thus, they became farmers.

Q7: Describe tools used by farmers and herders.
Ans: Stone tools have been found from many sites. They are often different from the Palaeolithic tools and are called ‘Neolithic’. There were tools that were polished so as to give a fine cutting edge, and mortars and pestles were used for grinding grain and other plant produce. However, Palaeolithic tools were still used for some purposes. Some tools were also made of bone.

Q8: How did people become herders?
Ans: People saw that they could attract and tame animals by leaving food for them. The first animal to be tamed was the ancestor of dog. They started rearing sheep, goat, cattle, etc. People often protected these animals from attacks by other wild animals. This is how the people became herders.