Q1.
Observe the scene on the next page. It depicts an agricultural community from a few millenniums ago. List the main activities you can identify.
Answer
The scene on page 72 shows a settled farming village beside a river. The main activities are:
| Activity | What is shown | What it tells us |
|---|---|---|
| Harvesting the crop | People bent over tall standing cereal, cutting it with hand tools | The community cultivates cereals and grains — the great change the chapter describes after the Ice Age |
| Carrying the harvest | Two figures walking with big bundles of cut stalks balanced on their heads | The crop is being brought in to be stored — people now have a surplus worth storing |
| Carrying tools | A man walks towards the village with a long-handled tool over his shoulder and a bundle tied to it | Farming needs made tools; later in the chapter these become metal — copper first, iron later |
| Building or repairing a hut | A man works with raised arms at the wall of a mud house with a thatched roof | People have settled down; permanent houses replace temporary camps and rock shelters |
| Cooking | A large round pot on an open hearth, with a fire burning under it | Pottery — one of the new technologies the chapter names — for cooking and storing food |
| Grinding grain and preparing food | A woman kneels at a flat grinding stone; a basket of vegetables and a bowl stand beside her | Grain must be processed before eating; grinding stones are among the commonest finds at early farming sites |
| Herding sheep and goats | A flock grazing in the foreground; cattle near the river behind | Domestication of animals — the chapter names cattle and goats — for milk, meat, wool and labour |
| Keeping a dog | A dog walks beside the man with the tool | The dog was the first animal to live with humans; here it guards the flock and the village |
| Children at play | Small children near the houses, away from the fields | A settled, safe village life — very different from the constantly moving band of the earlier picture |
| Living beside a river | The river runs across the background with trees and green banks | The chapter's own reason: people settled near rivers not only for water but because the soil is more fertile there, which makes growing crops easier |
Compare the two pictures. In the rock-shelter scene (page 70) everything is temporary: no walls, no fields, no stored food. In this one there are houses, fences, fields, pots, flocks and children playing. That single change — from following food to growing it — is what allowed communities to grow in size and number, to develop chieftains, exchange and craft, and eventually to build the first towns.