Chapter 2: On the trial of the earliest people (Solutions)
Posted on : 19-11-2017 Posted by : Admin

Link to notes on this topic

---

LET'S RECALL

1. Complete the sentences:

1. Hunter-gatherers chose to live in caves and rock shelters because they provided them shelter from rain, heat and wind.
2. Grasslands developed around 12000 years ago.
3. Early people painted on the walls of caves.
4. In Hunsgi, tools were made of limestone.

2. Look at the present-day political map of the subcontinent on page 136. Find out the states where Bhimbetka, Hunsgi and Kurnool are located. Would Tushar’s train have passed near any of these sites?

Answer: Tushar's train must have passed neal all the mentioned sites (Bhimbetka, Kurnool and Hunsgi) as they all are located in the possible train route from Delhi to Chennai.

Site	Location
Bhimbetka	Madhya Pradesh
Hunsgi	Karnataka
Kurnool	Andhra Pradesh

---

LET'S DISCUSS

3. Why did the hunter-gatherers travel from place to place? In what ways are these similar to/different from the reasons for which we travel today?

Answer: The Ancient man moved from place to place mainly for four reasons,

• If he had stayed in the same place for the longer time, he would have used up all the resources like animals, plants, water of that place. So they have to go to other places in search of food.
• Plants bear fruits, grains in particular seasons. So man moved to fetch his food accordingly.
• Animals do not stay in one place but they move in search of prey. Hence man moved along with the animals as the animals formed the food of man.
• Man needs water to perform almost all of his functions. Though some rivers were perennial (flow throughout the year) some were not so. Hence man had to move even in search of water.

Nowadays people travel for a variety of reasons like education, business, to meet friends and relatives and also for entertainment.

4. What tools would you use today for cutting fruit? What would they be made of?

Answer: We use knives for cutting and chopping the fruits, peelers for peeling fruits. These tools are made of stainless steel with wooden or plastic handle. Modern knives are very different from stone age tools. Stone Age tools were made of stones with handles sometimes made of wood or bones.

5. List three ways in which hunter-gatherers used fire (see page16). Would you use fire for any of these purposes today?

Answer: The hunters-gatherers have used the fire for the following reasons:

• Scare the animals away
• Cooking
• Warm themselves from cold weather
• as source of light

Nowadays, out of these reasons, we use fire for cooking and keeping us warm.

---

LET'S DO

6. Make two columns in your notebook. In the left hand column, list the foods hunter- gatherers ate. In the right hand column, list some of the foods you eat. Do you notice any similarities/differences?

Answer: Today, we mostly eat processed and cooked food, whereas the early people did not cook their food. They ate almost everything raw.

Food of Hunter-gatherers	Food of Modern man
Fruits, Roots, Nuts, Seeds, leaves, vegetables, meat and eggs	Processed and completely cooked food like pizza, burgers, pizza, ice-cream. Modern man also eats unprocessed food like fruits, vegetables, leaves, nuts etc.

7. If you had a natural pebble like the ones shown on page 13, what would you use it for?

Answer: We can use the pebbles as decorative articles in the aquariums and gardens, for making jewellery etc.

8. List two tasks that are performed by both men and women at present. List another two that are performed only by women, and two that are performed only by men. Compare your list with that of any two of your classmates. Do you notice any similarities/differences in your lists?

Answer: Nowadays almost all the tasks are equally performed both by men and women. Still there are few tasks which can be done only by men or women. The below are the lists,

• Two tasks performed both by men and women are teaching and cooking
• Two tasks performed only by men are mining and work in shipyard (Some tasks suit only men, though women too can perform equally)
• Two tasks performed only by women are nursing and feeding kids(Some tasks suit only women, though men too can perform equally)

---

---