On the Trail of the Earliest People

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Fire

 Find the Kurnool caves on the Map given in the next slide
 Traces of ash have been found here which proves that people were familiar
with the use of fire.
 Use of fire
 as a source of light,
 to cook meat, and
 to scare away animals.

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 Test Your Understanding

 List three ways in which hunter – gatherers

used fire. Would you use fire for any other
purposes

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A changing Environment

 12000 years ago change in climate occurred

 Lead to the development of grasslands
 Increase in the number of deer, antelope, goat, sheep and cattle, i.e.
animals that survived on grass.
 Hunters now started to follow the animals learning about about their
food habits and their breeding(production of offspring) seasons.
 Slowly the men start thinking about herding(look after) and
rearing(nurture) these animals themselves. Fishing also
became important.
 Grain bearing grasses, including wheat, barley and rice grew naturally
in different parts of the subcontinent.
 Men, women and children probably collected grains and started to
learn how to grow grains

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Test your Understanding

 What was the impact of change in the

environment around 12000 years ago?

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Names and Dates

 Archaeologists have given lengthy name for different time

periods.
 The earliest period as Palaeolithic
 Originated from two Greek words, ‘palaeo’, meaning old, and
‘lithos’, meaning stone.
 The Period emphasises on findings of Stone tools
 The Palaeolithic period extends from 2 million years ago to
about 12,000 years ago.
 Very long period is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper
Palaeolithic

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Names and Dates

 Mesolithic(middle stone). - beginning about 12,000

years ago till about 10,000 years ago.
 Stone tools are generally tiny, and are called microliths
 Microliths were probably stuck on to handles of bone Mesolithic
or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles.
 Neolithic (later part of the stone age)- from about
10,000 years ago(will be learning about the period in
Chapter 3

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Neolithic
Rock Paintings

 The caves in which the earlier people used to reside

have paintings on the wall
 Wall paintings were found in Madhya Pradesh and
Southern UttarPradesh
 These paintings show wild animals, drawn with great
accuracy and skill.

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Job roles performed by Men and Women

 Two Possibilities
 Men and Women together might have hunted and
gathered plant produce, fruits and nuts.
 Men might have made stone tools(because it
requires great strength)
 Women did painting job
 In different parts of the subcontinent different
practices could have been followed

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Ostriches

 Ostriches Found during the Palaeolithic period

 Large quantities of ostrich egg shells(the hard
exterior covering of an egg) were found at Patne
in Maharashtra
 On some egg shells designs were engraved
 Beads were also made out of them(believes the
beads may have been sewn into clothing - or
formed part of a bracelet or necklace.)
 Where do we find ostriches today?
 Today ostriches are only found natively in the
wild in Africa,

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 Hunsgi - A number of early Palaeolithic sites were found here. Many tools
were made here for many activities. Tools were made up of limestone which
was easily available.
 Some of the sites were close to springs(small stream of water flowing
naturally from earth).

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France

 Painting was found in a cave in France

 The site was discovered by four school children more than a
hundred years ago
 It was made 20000 – 10000 years ago
 Paintings in bright colours were of animals such as wild horses,
aurochs(an older wild form of cattle), bison, woolly rhinoceros,
reindeer and bear
 Made colours out of minerals like ochre, iron ore and charcoal
 Paintings were done on ceremonial occasions
 They were made on performance of special rituals,( Rituals
are things that only your family does. Religious rituals
performed on Ramadan, Christmas, Diwali.. Family rituals like
meals, cultural festivals, activities)

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