Answer the following Questions
Q1. Match the following:
Q2. List one major difference between manuscripts and inscriptions.
Answer:
Q3. Return to Rasheeda’s question. Can you think of some answers to it?
Answer: One can know what had happened so many years ago through these ways
Q4.Make a list of aU. the objects that archaeologists may find. Which of these could be made of stone?
Answer: The answer can be summarized through this flow diagram:
The ones that could be made of stone are
Surface used for writing inscriptions
Remains of buildings
Objects like tools, weapons, etc.
Q5.Why do you think ordinary men and women did not generally keep records of what they did?
Answer: Ordinary men and women did not feel the need of recording what they did. Also, they lacked proper writing methods.
Q6. Describe at least two ways in which you think the lives oj kings would have been different from those of farmers.
Answer: The lives of kings would have different from those of farmers in some ways like these:
The kings set up large kingdoms whereas the farmers’ life was not like theirs.
The farmers did not keep records of what they did whereas the kings kept records of their battles and their victories.
Q7.Find the word ‘crafts persons’ on page of textbook. In list at least five different crafts that you know about today. Are the crafts persons—(a) men (b) women (c) both men and women
Answer: The various crafts that dominate the present life are listed here:
These crafts persons are both men and women.
Q8.What were the subjects on which books were written in the past? Which of these would you like to read?
Answer: Ancient books covered subjects like:
(i) Religious beliefs and practices (ii) Lives of kings (iii) Medicine (iv) Science
(v) Poetry (vi) Drama (vii) Epics
It would be really interesting to read the epics of the past. The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and the Upanishadas are some of the religious epics of the past.
Multiple Choice Questions
Choose the correct option to complete the statements given below:
(i) People who gathered their food are called……………….
(a)hunters (b) skilled gatherers
(c) farmers (d) merchants.
(ii) The places where rice was first grown are located in ………………
(a) north of the Vindhyas (b) Sulaiman hills
(c) on the banks of the Ganga (d) the Gaxo hills.
(iii)…… was not used in the old books.
(a) Prakrit (b) Hindi
(c) Sanskrit (d) Tamil
(iv) The kingdom of Magadha was located ……………
(a)on the banks of the Indus
(b)in the south of the Vindhyas
(c)in the area along Ganga’s tributaries in the south of Ganga.
(d)in the Garo hills region.
Answer: (i)—(b), (ii)—(a), (iii)—(b), (iv)—(c).
Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the blanks with appropriate words to complete each sentence:
(i) Men and women moved in search of……………… and to escape from ..
(ii)The name India was given by the Iranians and the ………………
(iii)The bark of the birch tree was used to prepare………………
(iv)Inscriptions were written on hard surfaces like………………
(v) Travelling from one place to another led to ……………..
Answer: (i) livelihood, natural disasters (ii) Greeks
(iii) manuscripts (iv) stone/metal (v) sharing of ideas.
True/False
State whether these sentences are true (Tj or false (F).
(i)The first crops were grown almost 8000 years ago.
(ii)The Garo hills are located in south of India.
(iii) The Magadha Kingdom was set up near the Ganga river.
(iv) The Rigveda is the earliest composition in the Sanskrit language.
(v) The Iranians and the Greeks called India Bharat.
(vi) Inscriptions were written on the palm leaf.
(vii) The years are counted with reference to the birth of Christ.
(viii) The ordinary people used Prakrit to talk to each other.
Answer: (i)—T, (ii)—F, (iii)—T, (iv)—T, (v)—F, (vi)—F, (vii)—T, (viii)—T.
Matching Skill
Match the items in column A correctly with those given in column B.
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. What do you know about the location of the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills?
Or
Where are the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills located?
Answer: The Sulaiman and Kirthar hills are located In the modem day Pakistan.
Q2. Name any two animals which the people of the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills reared.
Answer: Sheep and goat.
Q3. Where are the Garo hills located?
Answer: The Garo hills are in the north-east of India.
Q4. What are tributaries? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Tributaries are smaller rivers that flow into a bigger river.
Q5. Name the tributary of the river Ganga.
Answer: Son.
Q6. Where was Magadha located?
Answer: Magadha was located in the south of the Ganga.
Q7. Why was Magadha famous? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Magadha was famous because its mlers were very powerful who established a big kingdom.
Q8. What was the job of religious teachers? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Religious teachers moved from one place to another to offer instruction and advice to the people who met on the way.
Q9. From where does the word India come?
Answer: The word India comes from the Indus, known as Sindhu in Sanskrit.
Q10. What is meant by manuscript?
Answer: Manuscript is hand-written matter.
Q11. What was used in the ancient times to write manuscripts?
Answer: Palm leaf or the bark of the birch tree was used in the ancient times to write manuscripts.
Q12. What are inscriptions?
Answer: Inscriptions are writings on relatively hard surfaces like stone or metal.
Q13. Why do archaeologists look for bones of animals, birds and fish?
Answer: They do so in order to find out what people ate in the past.
Q14. What are the occupations of the people of the Andaman Islands?
Answer: The people of the Andaman Islands are engaged in fishing, hunting and collecting forest produce.
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. What do you know about the earliest people who lived along the banks of river Narmada for several hundred thousand years?
Answer: Those people were skilled gatherers. They gathered their food. They also collected roots, fruits and other forest produce for their food. They also hunted animals for this purpose.
Q2. People in the earliest times used to travel from one place to another. But their journeys were full of dangers. What type of dangers did they face?
Answer: It is true that people in the earliest times used to travel from this place to that. But their journeys were dangerous. The hills, and high mountains including the Himalayas, deserts, rivers and seas created dangers for them. But they never got afraid of them. Instead they overcame them and continued to travel.
Q3. Who are archaeologist? What do they do? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Archaeologists are persons who study the objects of the past. They study the remains of the buildings made of stone and brick, paintings and sculpture. They also explore and dig the earth in order to find out tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins.
Q4. How are city people different from the people living in the Andaman Islands?
Answer: People living in the Andaman Islands manage their own food by fishing, hunting and collecting forest produce. On the other hand city people depend on others for supplies of food.
Q5. How can you say that historians and archaeologists are like detectives? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Historians often use the word source to refer to the information found from manuscripts, inscriptions and archaeology. Once sources are found, learning about the past becomes an adventure, as we reconstruct it bit by bit. So, historians and archaeologists are like detectives who use all these source like clues to discover about the past.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. How was travelling an important part of life of the people in the past? [V. Imp.]
Answer: People in the past were very fond of travelling from one place to another. Although the hills and high mountains like the Himalayas, deserts, rivers and seas posed great problems, people kept on travelling. They moved in search of livelihood. They had also in their mind to escape from natural disasters such as floods and droughts. Sometimes, men marched in armies and conquered others’ lands. Merchants travelled with ceravans or ships. They carried valuable goods from place to place. There were religious teachers who used to walk from village to village, town to town. They offered instruction and advice to the people who met them on the way. There were also people who travelled because they were adventurous by nature. They enjoyed discovering new and exciting places.
Q2. What are the different ways to find out about the past? Describe briefly. [Imp.]
Answer: The different ways to find out about the past are following:
(i) Manuscripts. These were hand-written matter. They were usually written on palm leaf or the bark of the birch tree. While many of these manuscripts got destroyed, many have survived in temples and monastaries. These books dealt with all kinds of subjects such as religious beliefs and practices, the lives of kings, medicines and science. These manuscripts also included epics, poems, plays.
(ii)Inscriptions are writings on relatively hard surfaces such as stone or metal. Sometimes, kings got their orders inscribed in order to make common people aware of them. Some inscriptions kept records of victories in battle.
(iii)Archaeological excavations or evidences. Archaeology means the study of cultures of the past and of periods of history by examining the remains of buildings and objects found in the earth. Archaeologists explore and dig earth to find tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins. These things provide us valuable information about the past.