Chapter 2: From Hunting-Gathering to Growing Food
आखेट-खाद्य संग्रह से भोजन उत्पादन तक (मेहरगढ़, बुर्ज़होम एवं नवपाषाण क्रांति)
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- Domestication (कृषिकरण / पालतूकरण): The process in which people grow plants and look after animals. Earliest domesticated plants: wheat and barley; earliest domesticated animals: dog (first), followed by sheep and goat.
- Mehrgarh (near Bolan Pass, Pakistan): Located in a fertile plain near the Bolan Pass (vital route to Iran). One of the earliest villages (~7000 BCE) where humans learned to cultivate barley/wheat and rear sheep/goats. Houses were rectangular or square with 4 or more compartments (some used for storage). Burials included goats buried alongside deceased persons to serve as sustenance in the afterlife.
- Burzahom (Kashmir): Ancient Neolithic site where people built pit-houses (houses dug into the ground with mud steps leading down) to protect against severe winter frost. Hearths found both inside and outside houses depending on weather.
- Neolithic Stone Tools: Distinct from Palaeolithic; stone celts were finely ground and polished to a sharp cutting edge; mortars and pestles invented for grinding grain.
- Daojali Hading (Assam): Site in the Brahmaputra valley near routes leading to China and Myanmar; yielded polished stone tools, pottery, and Jadeite (a green mineral likely imported from China).
- Catal Huyuk (Turkey): Famous Neolithic settlement where trade occurred without wheel carts; flint from Syria, cowries from the Red Sea, and shells from the Mediterranean were transported on human backs or pack animals.
- Trap: Which site has pit-houses dug into the earth? Correct: BURZAHOM in Kashmir (not Mehrgarh, not Chirand).
- Trap: Which site had burials with goats for the next world? Correct: MEHRGARH near Bolan Pass.
- Trap: Earliest plant and animal domesticated. Correct: WHEAT & BARLEY (plants); DOG followed by SHEEP & GOAT (animals).
NCERT Core Facts: The Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
In CTET Paper 2 Social Studies, questions on archaeological sites like Mehrgarh, Burzahom, and early domestication patterns appear annually.
1. The Domestication Process (पालतूकरण की प्रक्रिया)
- Began roughly 12,000 years ago when climate became warmer, fostering natural grasslands.
- Humans selected plants and animals that:
- a.Were not prone to diseases.
- b.Yielded large grains with stalks strong enough to carry the weight of ripe ears.
- c.Animals that were relatively gentle.
- Earliest Plants Domesticated: Wheat and Barley (गेहूँ और जौ).
- Earliest Animals Domesticated: Wild ancestor of the Dog was first, followed by Sheep and Goat (भेड़ और बकरी).
- Plant and animal teeth/horns of domesticated breeds became significantly smaller than wild ancestors.
2. Mehrgarh: The Earliest Agricultural Village (मेहरगढ़)
3. Burzahom & Pit-Houses (बुर्ज़होम के गर्त-वास)
- Location: Present-day Kashmir.
- Pit-Houses (*गर्त-वास*): People dug deep pits into the ground with earthen steps leading down, providing thermal insulation against harsh sub-zero Himalayan winters.
- Cooking Hearths: Ash and cooking hearths were discovered both inside and outside the pit-houses, indicating people cooked outdoors in summer and indoors during winter snowstorms.
4. Key Neolithic Sites Across the Subcontinent
| Archaeological Site | Modern Location | NCERT Archaeological Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Mehrgarh | Balochistan, Pakistan | Earliest wheat/barley farming, square houses, goat burial offerings. |
| Burzahom | Kashmir | Subterranean pit-houses, hearths, polished bone tools. |
| Chirand | Bihar | Abundant tools made of polished deer antlers and bone. |
| Daojali Hading | Assam (Dima Hasao) | Near Brahmaputra route to China; Jadeite stone tools, mortars, pestles. |
| Koldihwa & Mahagara | Uttar Pradesh | Earliest evidence of Rice cultivation and cattle hoof prints in clay. |
| Catal Huyuk | Turkey | Neolithic mega-site; goods (flint, shells, cowries) hauled by pack animals. |
Test Your Mastery: From Hunting-Gathering to Growing Food
Authentic CBSE exam questions tested directly from this NCERT chapter.
At which Neolithic archaeological site were pit-houses (houses dug into the ground with steps leading into them) excavated?
किस नवपाषाणिक पुरास्थल पर गर्त-वास (गड्ढे के नीचे बने घर, जिनमें सीढ़ियाँ होती थीं) के साक्ष्य मिले हैं?
At Mehrgarh, archaeological excavations revealed graves where dead persons were buried with goats. What does this practice indicate?
मेहरगढ़ में कब्रों में मृतकों के साथ बकरियों को दफनाया गया था। यह प्रथा क्या दर्शाती है?
The green mineral stone 'Jadeite', which was likely brought from China, was discovered at which ancient site in India?
'जेडाइट' (Jadeite) नामक हरा पत्थर, जो संभवतः चीन से लाया गया होगा, भारत के किस प्राचीन पुरास्थल से प्राप्त हुआ है?
Where were pit-houses discovered in India according to NCERT?
In Burzahom (present-day Kashmir), where people dug pit-houses into the ground to protect against cold.
Why were goats buried with dead people in Mehrgarh?
People believed in life after death and buried goats to serve as food for the deceased in the next world.
What were the earliest crops domesticated by humans according to NCERT?
Wheat and barley were the earliest crops cultivated by early humans.