WBBSE Chapter 1 An Introduction To History Salient Points Notes
Archaeological Sources Introduction – Study of History:
History is the study of the past. It takes only factual details into account and helps us to know about the evolution of man from the primitive to the modern stage.
Riverine Civilisations:
A number of civilizations grew up along the river valleys in pre-historic times. For example, the Egyptian Civilisation, the Harappan Civilisation, and the Mesopotamian Civilisation.
River played a very important role in the life of the people of such civilizations. As a mother nurtures her child, the rivers nurtured these civilizations. So, these civilizations which grew up along the river valleys are called riverine civilizations.
Read And Learn More WBBSE Class 6 History Notes
Bhaaratvarsha:
India is called Bhaarat- Varsha. It is derived from ‘Bharat’, the name of an old clan. The descendants of ‘Bharat’ lives here.
Aryavarta:
The Aryans settled down at the central part of the Gangetic valley to the north of the Vindhyas. This region extends from the Saraswati river in the west to Varanasi in the east was called Aryavarta.
Archaeological Sources Introduction
Dakshinatya:
The region to the south of the Vindhyas where the Dravidians lived was known as Dakshinatya. It extended from the Vindhyas to Kanyakumarika.
Pre-historic Age:
Pre-historic Age refers to the period written records of which are not available. It covers the time span between the appearance of man on earth and the invention of the art of writing. This age was called the Stone Age and its history can be reconstructed with the help of archaeological remains only.
Proto-historic Age:
Proto-historic Age refers to the period when the art of writing was invented and some sort of scripts came to be used in different countries but those scripts have not been deciphered yet.
Example: Harappan civilization belonged to this age.
Historic Age:
The period of which written records are available and those scripts have been deciphered is referred to as the Historic Age. This age began during the Iron Age. The Vedic civilization belonged to this period.
Ice Age:
The Ice Age began around 70,000 years ago. The atmosphere over the earth began to grow colder. It became so cold that a major part of the land got covered with ice sheets and all the waterbodies froze. This age was called Ice Age. The last Ice Age existed about 10,000 years ago.
Metal Age:
The age in which man learned the use of metals like copper, bronze, and iron is known as the Metal Age.
Copper Age:
The age in which man knew the use of copper only is known as the Copper Age. Iron Age: The period when man first learned the use of iron is referred to as the Iron Age.
As man had learned to make wheels the communication system developed considerably during this age. The tools and implements made of iron were hard and durable. This led to the development of agriculture.
Circa:
The term ‘circa’ means approximately. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to determine the exact date of an event or the exact beginning or end of an age. So some dates have to be approximated. The term circa (C) is used to show such approximate dates.
Anno Domini (AD):
The time calculated from the birth of Jesus Christ is called Anno Domini. According to the Christian calendar, the year of Christ’s birth is taken as the base year and the period preceding it is referred to as BC and the period following it is referred to as AD.
Christian Era:
The time before Christ’s birth is referred to as BC and the time after his birth is referred to as AD.
Sources of history:
Evidence and trials for the reconstruction of history are called sources of history.
Archaeological Sources Introduction
Archaeologist:
An archaeologist is a person who excavates old materials from underground and studies them.
Prasasti:
The word ‘Prasasti’ means eulogy or praise. Some inscriptions contain eulogies of rulers written on them. Many facts can be known about the rulers from their respective precasts. For example, the Allahabad Prasasti provides us with much valuable information
Museum:
A museum is a place where the archaeological remains of the earlier days are carefully preserved. Some of the things thus preserved are bones of animals, garments of kings and queens, articles of daily use, weapons, statues, pictures, coins, and manuscripts.
Chronology:
Chronology means the order or sequence of events. Chronology is an important part of history because history always refers to a time frame in some way or the other.
So the events in history are described in the same order as they actually happened and thus continuity is maintained.
WBBSE Chapter 1 An Introduction To History Formative
Didi Moni (teacher) said that to understand History, it is necessary to have a knowledge of Geography. This took everyone by surprise. Their history and geography books are different, classes are separate. Then how come Didimoni made such a remark? This was what Pritha asked. Didi Moni explained, “Actually history chiefly concerns itself with peoples’ activities.
Many of their activities or work are determined by the environment or geographical conditions within which they live. Consider, for example, the riverine people who live a certain kind of life. In their daily functions, the river has immense significance.
Again there are people who live in the deserts. In their lives, a river is less significant. You will see that in the desert people usually travel by camel. On the other hand, people of riverine places use boats.
Many of us have to board boats to cross rivers. Again in Rajasthan, people ride on camels to cross the desert. This has been the practice for a long time. Therefore, in the history of the transportation of West Bengal, one comes to know about boats. Similarly, in the case of Rajasthan, one will read about camels. Why is there a difference in the transport history of the two regions? This is because their environment and geography are different.
Therefore, history differs according to the particular locality and its environment. There are marked differences in food, dress, transport, commerce, and work. And this happens from very small localities to large areas. Let us consider, why do people of the plain regions mostly eat rice?” Rahul replied, “This is because there is more paddy cultivation in the plains.” Didimoni said, “That is right.”
Archaeological Sources Introduction
Palash said “My uncle lives in Rajasthan. Their paddy is not much cultivated. In my uncle’s house, chapatti is mostly eaten.” Didimoni said, “This is how most human activities are determined by the environment and by geography.
Hence to understand history it is necessary to have a sense of geography. Do you remember that the two key axioms of tales of history were ‘why’ and ‘where’? To precisely comprehend this ‘why’ and ‘where we must know about the environment and geography”.
Apes and hominids:
‘Apes’ were big, tailless monkeys who lived on earth before the appearance of human beings. ‘Hominids’ were the first human beings. The apes gradually transformed into hominids due to changes in climate and food habits.
Primitive man:
The term ‘primitive man’ is used to refer to human beings of very ancient times. There are divisions among primitive man determined by the shapes of skulls. These divisions are Australopithecus, Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, and Homo Sapiens.
Lucy:
The skeleton of a young girl was found in 1974 in the Hadar region of Ethiopia in Africa. This skeleton, named Lucy, belonged to the Australopithecus category and has been estimated to be 32,00,000 years old.
Stone Age:
Stone Age was a time in history when primitive man used tools and weapons made out of stone. Stone Age may be divided into three stages-Old Stone Age, Middle Stone Age, and New Stone Age.
WBBSE Class 6 Primitive Man Notes
Old Stone Age:
The period of the Old Stone Age was approximately from 2 million years B.C. to 10,000 BC. The primitive man of the Old Stone Age were hunters and food gatherers. Weapons of this age were heavy, large, and rough.
Middle Stone Age:
The period of the Middle Stone Age was approximately from 10,000 BC to 8,000 BC. The stone weapons of this age were small, light, and sharp. Along with hunting and gathering food, a primitive man of this age also began to rear animals.
New Stone Age:
The period of the New Stone Age was approximately from 8,000 BC to 4,000 BC. Weapons of this period were much lighter and sharper. Primitive men of this age abandoned nomadic life and started a settled life.
Stone Age Tools in Indian Subcontinent:
Stone Age tools have been discovered in Kashmir’s Swan Valley, Patawar Plateau of Pakistan, Shivalik in Himachal Pradesh, Hunsgi Valley of Karnataka, Sarai Nahar Rai in Uttar Pradesh, and some other places in the Indian Subcontinent.
Important Definitions Related to Primitive Man
Hunsgi Valley:
The Hunsgi Valley is located in the northwest of Gulbarga district in Karnataka. The Kathta Halla canal flows by it. Some weapons of the Stone Age like axe, knives, and scrapers were unearthed here in 1983. Historians guess that these weapons are about 5-6 lakh years old.
Bhimbetka:
The Bhimbetka cave is located near the Vindhyas at some distance from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. The Bhimbetka cave became famous for the drawings made by primitive men who lived there. Most of them depict hunting scenes. There are also colorful pictures of birds and animals.
Altamira:
The Altamira cave is located in the mountainous region of Spain in Europe. A number of drawings of animals have been found here. These were drawn by cave dwellers about 30,000 to 50,000 years ago. The most notable is that of the Taro (bull).
Discovery of fire:
Primitive man discovered fire. Fire protected them from the attacks of wild animals. They started to eat roasted meat and could save themselves from the cold by lighting fire.
Signs of civilization:
In the New Stone Age lifestyle of the primitive man began to change. They began to make permanent settlements. Different signs of civilization could be seen in the lifestyles of the people. They gradually began to move towards a civilized life.
Excerpt from the text:
The use of fire is a very significant event in the course of human history. All other animals are afraid of fire. Of the animals, it is only human beings who can light and use fire.
Initially, they used to watch forest fires or fires kindled in some other way. Later perhaps at some point, they brought a burning branch inside their cave to make fire. Then, perhaps suddenly, one-day primitive man learned to light a fire.
Perhaps in the process of making stone weapons, flint stones were accidentally struck against each other and that created fire. Or, they learned to light a fire by rubbing pieces of wood against one another.
The use of fire led to a number of changes. On one hand, fire acted as a shield from the intense cold. At the same time, the fire could also be used to protect against the attack of different animals. A fire had also changed the food habits of primitive man.
History Class 6 Chapter 2 Question Answer WBBSE
Instead of raw flesh, they began to consume meat roasted on the fire. For consuming the soft roasted meat, much less pressure needed to be applied by their jaws and teeth.
This led to a gradual change in the shape of human jaws which became narrow; the sharp long front teeth became smaller. Other changes came about in their anatomy.
There was an increase in the physical strength of primitive humans; their intelligence developed further too.
Questions related to the above text are given below for formative evaluation.