Notes of Chapter 3 From Gathering to Growing Food Class 6th History
Varieties of foods• Most of our food such as fruit, vegetables, grain, milk and meat comes from plants that are grown and animals that are reared.
• Different plants grow in different conditions — rice, for example, requires more water than wheat and barley.
• This explains why farmers grow some crops in some areas and not in other areas. Different animals too, prefer different environments — for instance, sheep and goat can survive more easily than cattle in dry, hilly environments.
The beginnings of farming and herding
• Domestication is the process in which the man grows the plants and protects the animals. Most of these animals tended by man become different from there wild counterparts.
• People often select the animals and plants to be domesticated by them. This process of domestication began some 12,000 years ago.
• Virtually all the plant and animal produces which we eat today are the result of Domestication.
‘Storing’ animals
• Domestication is the process in which the man grows the plants and protects the animals. Most of these animals tended by man become different from there wild counterparts.
• People often select the animals and plants to be domesticated by them. This process of domestication began some 12,000 years ago.
• Virtually all the plant and animal produces which we eat today are the result of Domestication.
‘Storing’ animals
• Animals multiply naturally. Besides, if they are looked after carefully, they provide milk, which is an important source of food, and meat, whenever required.
• In other words, animals that are reared can be used as a ‘store’ of food.
• The archaeologists have found evidence of early farmers and herders.
• These are found all over the subcontinent.
• Some of the most important ones are in the north-west, in present-day Kashmir, and in east and south India.
• To prove that these settlements belonged to farmers and herders, scientists study the evidences of plants and animals.
• Scientists have found burnt grain at these sites. These grains could have been burnt accidentally or purposefully. Also, bones of different animals are found.
• Based on these finds scientists confirm that a number of crops plants and animals existed in different parts of India sub-continent.
Towards a settled life
• Archaeologists have found traces of many things. They have use these things to know how the ancient people lived, what did the ancient people eat etc.,
• Traces of huts at some sites. For example, in Burzahom (in Kashmir) people built pit-houses, which were dug into the ground, with steps leading into them. These houses may have provided shelter in cold weather.
• Cooking hearths: Cooking places were found both inside and outside the huts, which suggests that, depending on the weather, people could cook food either indoors or outdoors.
• Neolithic tools: Included polished stone tools to give cutting edge and mortar pistils used for grinding grains. Along with these Neolithic tools, even the tolls of Paleolithic age were still used.
• Farmers and herders live in groups called tribes.
Living and dying in Mehrgarh
• Mehrgarh site is located in a fertile plain, near the Bolan Pass, which is one of the most important routes into Iran.
• Mehrgarh was probably one of the places where women and men learnt to grow barley and wheat, and rear sheep and goats for the first time in this area.
• It is one of the earliest villages that we know about.
Daojali Hading
• Daojali Hading is a site on the hills near the Brahmaputra Valley, close to routes leading into China and Myanmar. Here, stone tools, including mortars and pestles, have been found.
• These indicate that people were probably growing grain and preparing food from it. Other finds include jadeite, a stone that may have been brought from China.
• Also, common are finds of tools made of fossil wood (ancient wood that has hardened into stone), and pottery.
NCERT Solutions of Chapter 3 From Gathering to Growing Food
• In other words, animals that are reared can be used as a ‘store’ of food.
Finding out about the first farmers and herders
• These are found all over the subcontinent.
• Some of the most important ones are in the north-west, in present-day Kashmir, and in east and south India.
• To prove that these settlements belonged to farmers and herders, scientists study the evidences of plants and animals.
• Scientists have found burnt grain at these sites. These grains could have been burnt accidentally or purposefully. Also, bones of different animals are found.
• Based on these finds scientists confirm that a number of crops plants and animals existed in different parts of India sub-continent.
Towards a settled life
• Archaeologists have found traces of many things. They have use these things to know how the ancient people lived, what did the ancient people eat etc.,
• Traces of huts at some sites. For example, in Burzahom (in Kashmir) people built pit-houses, which were dug into the ground, with steps leading into them. These houses may have provided shelter in cold weather.
• Cooking hearths: Cooking places were found both inside and outside the huts, which suggests that, depending on the weather, people could cook food either indoors or outdoors.
• Neolithic tools: Included polished stone tools to give cutting edge and mortar pistils used for grinding grains. Along with these Neolithic tools, even the tolls of Paleolithic age were still used.
• Farmers and herders live in groups called tribes.
Living and dying in Mehrgarh
• Mehrgarh site is located in a fertile plain, near the Bolan Pass, which is one of the most important routes into Iran.
• Mehrgarh was probably one of the places where women and men learnt to grow barley and wheat, and rear sheep and goats for the first time in this area.
• It is one of the earliest villages that we know about.
Daojali Hading
• Daojali Hading is a site on the hills near the Brahmaputra Valley, close to routes leading into China and Myanmar. Here, stone tools, including mortars and pestles, have been found.
• These indicate that people were probably growing grain and preparing food from it. Other finds include jadeite, a stone that may have been brought from China.
• Also, common are finds of tools made of fossil wood (ancient wood that has hardened into stone), and pottery.
NCERT Solutions of Chapter 3 From Gathering to Growing Food