From Gathering to Growing Food: NCERT Exercise Solution

Question 1: State whether true or false:

Millets have been found at Hallur.
People in Burzahom lived in rectangular houses.
Chirand is a site in Kashmir.
Jadeite, found in Daojali Hading, may have been brought from China.

Answer: (a) True (b) False (c) False (d) True

Question 2: Why do people who grow crops have to stay in the same place for a long time?

Answer: We know that a plant takes several months to bear fruits and seeds. So, people had to stay at the same place for a long time to take care of the crop.

Question 3: If Neinuo wanted to eat rice, which are the places she should have visited?

Answer: Koldihwa and Mahagara in modern day Uttar Pradesh

Question 4: Why do archaeologists think that many people who lived in Mehrgarh were hunters to start with and that herding became more important later?

Answer: Archaeologists have found different types of remains from different levels of excavation at Mehrgarh. Remains from deeper levels show bones of wild animals. This shows that people were still hunters. Remains from upper levels show bones of domesticated animals. This shows that later on people became herders.

Question 5: List three ways in which the lives of farmers and herders would have been different from that of hunter-gatherers.

Answer: Difference between lives of farmers and herders are as follows:

Hunter-gatherers lived a nomadic life but farmers-heders lived settled life.
Hunter-gatherers depended on wild animals for meat but farmers-herders depended on domestic animals for meat.
Food supply was not secure for hunter-gatherers, but food supply was more secure for farmers-herders.

Question 6: Make a list of all the animals mentioned in the table in NCERT Book. For each one, describe what they may have been used for.

Answer: Animals and their possible uses are as follows:

Sheep: Milk, meat, wool
Goat: Milk, meat
Dog: Guarding the herd
Buffalo: Milk
Ox: Farm work
Pig: Meat

Extra Questions

Question 1: What is the meaning of the Neolithic Age?

Answer: New Stone Age

Question 2: Name a Neolithic site which is in modern day Pakistan.

Answer: Mehrgarh

Question 3: Which animal is believed to be the first domesticated animal?

Answer: Sheep and goat

Question 4: Daojali Hading is in the valley of which river?

Answer: Brahmaputra

Question 5: What is Neolithic Age?

Answer: The last part of the Stone Age is called the Neolithic Age. The tools of this period are much smaller and more refined.

Question 6: When did the Neolithic Age begin?

Answer: The Neolithic Age began around 12,000 years ago.

Question 7: Which major discovery of the Neolithic Age helped human beings to change to a settled life?

Answer: Agriculture

Question 8: What is the significance of burial sites from Neolithic Age?

Answer: The burial sites from the Neolithic Age show two important facts. The presence of burial site means that people began performing the last rites of the dead. Finding of animal bones; along with human skeleton; shows that people believed in afterlife.