Earliest Human Civilisation and Processes
Category : Teaching
Earliest Human Civilization and Processes
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the earliest human activities, life of hunters and gatherers, first site of farming, and the civilisations. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the processes of human settlement in India. In this chapter, we will focus on first human civilisation in India. We will try to understand how people started farming and how they settled and built well-planned cities in the Indian subcontinent. Why hunting and gathering were important? Why did not they stay at one place? There are four major points for not staying at one place.
Less availability of food was the first reason for their migration. All available resources come to an end when used continuously, which forced them to move to other places rich in all kinds of foods. Second, animals moved from place to place either in search of smaller prey or in search of grass and leaves. Third, trees bear fruits and plants are seasonal, and therefore, animals and human beings moved from place to place in search of these fruits and plants. Fourth, living things need water. Water is essential for animals, humans, and plants. Hence, in search of water, they moved to different places.
It is interesting and also surprising to know that people around two million years ago lived as hunters and survived only on hunting and gathering fruits. However, archaeological evidences have proved this fact that people lived in Indian subcontinent and they fed themselves by hunting animals, catching fishes, gathering nuts, fruits, and seeds for their survival.
HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THESE PEOPLE
It is an important question that how we come to know about them when we have no written evidences about their life. In such a situation, archaeology helps us to understand their life and Practices. Archaeologists identified tools made of stones, wood, and bones used by those people for various purposes. It is important to know that tools made of stones served the best among others. Some of such tools are shown in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1 tools made of stones
In Figure 2.1, there are different types of tools. These tools are different in shapes and sizes and are used for different purposes. Few tools were used to cut meat and bones. Some were used to chop woods, whereas others were used to kill animals, and the hunting tools were sharp. Wood was used to make tools, huts, and also used as firewood.
PLACES WHERE PEOPLE STARTED TO LIVE
Which were the best places to live can be an important question to be asked. There were various criteria which people used to decide a place to live. One of the criteria was the availability of good kinds of stones to make their tools, which they used for hunting and other purposes. These places are called factories. Archaeologists found some places near river banks where they found many things such as blocks of stone, discarded tools because they were not in perfect shape, etc. These were the places where people lived relatively for a longer time. Archaeologist called these places with various terms such as habitation, factory, habitation-cum-factory, and so on. It is important to know that every term has different meanings and uses in different contexts. For example, when we use the term habitation, it is directly related to those places where people lived longer spells of time. When we use the term factory, it is related to those places where archaeologists found stone tools, discarded stones, and chips of stones, and when we use the term habitation- cum-factory, it is related to those places that are not only used for habitation but also for tool making. Therefore, these places are called factories.
STONE TOOLS AND THEIR MAKING PROCESS
There were two kinds of techniques prevailed for stone tool making, and these are as follows;
CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN BEING
The environment always keeps on changing, and it is not same today as it was 12,000 years ago, We know that the earth's environment is getting warm day by day, which caused for the development of many grass lands. These emerged lands of grass provided space for better survival for animals such as deer, antelope, goat, sheep, cattle, and so on. These changes not only changed the dynamics of living organisms but also changed their lives too. These climatic changes also changed human life. Hunters started following animals, knowing their food habits and breeding seasons, because this helped human to identify their seasonal place to live. Gradually, human started herding and rearing animals. Another important point to highlight here is fishing. Humans started fishing in this era. They also observed that different kinds of grasses such as wheat, barley, rice, and so on grow naturally. They got insight to grow these grasses on their own.
ROCK PAINTING
Understanding the Past through Paintings
What is rock painting? Do these have any roles to play about our past? The answer is certainly yes. Rock paintings are those paintings that are drafted by primitive (earliest) people of human civilisation. In the Indian subcontinent, most of the rock paintings are found in caves such as Bhimbetka, etc. Most of the caves are in Madhya Pradesh, southern Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Why we find these paintings in these caves? The primitive people did not have shelter like us. These people lived in natural habitation such as caves and trees. While living in the caves, they draw or sketch on the walls of the caves. In these sketches, they mostly drew animals and their rituals that were in practice at that time. Rock painting is important for us to reconstruct our past. These are the good sources to know how they lived and how they survived in that era. These paintings give us unbiased knowledge of that era. The material which they used in painting helped us to know about their knowledge of colours and knowledge of plants. Another question is who made these Paintings? It's tough to answer this question because their social structure was different than the present one. Another important thing to know is that there were various kinds of practices that prevailed; therefore, we cannot generalise about these practices that were happening in Indian subcontinent and should avoid any kind of judgement.
GATHERERS BECAME CULTIVATORS
When talking about food, we have wide range of food grains, vegetables, and fruits. However, it is interesting to know that how food gatherers become cultivators. Today, it seems little unbelievable that our ancestors' were food gatherers because we have enough access of good food and we are also familiar about cultivation. Even today cultivation is not an easy task. Then imagine how difficult it could be that time when there was no technology as we have today. Now, it is important to know about the importance of cultivation and how people changed from hunting to cultivating.
To know more about cultivation, it is important to know about domestication. Domestication is one of the reasons why people became cultivators from gatherers, and cultivation motivates them to live permanently at one place, which is known as permanent settlement. Domestication is not only related to animals. Rather, it is also related to agricultural activities. It is difficult which started happening first whether animal breading or agriculture, but we cannot ignore this in the process of knowing human history. Domestication needs good knowledge about animals and plants. Only selected animals and plants are included in this. Plants prone to diseases are not included in this process.
Plant selection also has some distinguishing features such as they selected only large-sized grain and strong stalks for better yield. Animal selection was also done on some distinguished features such as animals that are gentle for breeding was only selected. This process of domestication clearly differentiated between domesticated animals and plants, and wild animals. Another pertinent question is at what time the domestication process began? It is difficult to answer this question because it was a process throughout and not a product which occurred all of sudden. An archaeologist has estimated that it began about 12,000 years ago. As a result of this domestication, humans stared using different plants and animal products in their lives. Some of the earliest domesticated plants were wheat and barley, and some of the earliest domesticated animals were sheep and goats.
Archaeologist and scientists are exploring various sites in South Asian subcontinent to know more about these animals, plants, farming, and farmers. Archaeologists have found evidences of early farmers and herders in the excavation from those sites. They found the remains of plants and animal bones along with burnt grain. Most of these except grains are identified by the scientists. There are many sites in the subcontinent that have many remains of grains and bones of different animals. Some of these sites and finding are given in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1 Archaeological evidences of early farmers and herders in the following sites
|
Sites |
Grain and bone |
|
Mehrgarh (Pakistan) Koldihwa (Uttar Pradesh, India) Mahagara (Uttar Pradesh, India Gufkral (Kashmir, India) Burzahom (Kashmir, India) Chirand (Bihar, India) Paiyampalli (Andhra Pradesh, India Hallur (Karnataka, India) |
Wheat, barley, sheep, goat, and cattle Fragmentary animal bones and rice Cattle and rice Lentil and wheat Dog, cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo. and wheat Barley, green gram, wheat, buffalo and ox Black gram, millet, cattle, and sheep Pig, sheep, Millet, and black gram |
On the Way of Settled Life
At present, we know about how we live. We also know about the types of houses across the world. Just imagine how people lived 6000 years ago? Which type of houses they built? Through some archaeological sites, let us try to understand how people lived in that era. Burzahom (present day Kashmir, India) is one of the sites where people built pit-houses. Pit-house is made by digging the ground, which has stairs downward to approach the house. These pit-houses may be used for shelters in cold weather. In Burzahom, archaeologists found cooking hearths inside and outside of the huts. These cooking hearths were used according to the weather.
At many sites, various kinds of stone tools were also found. These tools were different from Palaeolithic tools, and archaeologists called them Neolithic. These are different because these tools were polished. Mortars and pestles were used for grinding grains. Even today, several thou- sand years after, our society uses mortars and pestles for grinding grains. In this era. Palaeolithic type tools are continued to be used. Tools made of bones are also used. Some examples of such tools are shown in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2 New stone tools
In these sites, many kinds of earthen pots are also found. Some of them are decorated, and some of them are used for storing things. Pots were also used for cooking, and cooking changed the eating habits especially for grains such as rice, wheat, and lentils, and these became an important part of the diet. Cotton production was also important because it was used in weaving of clothes. But,-when these changes happened: is an important question to be asked. Whether these changes happened at the same time or at different times? These changes did not happen all of a sudden at same time. Rather, these were gradual changes and not rapid. These were adopted slowly and gradually over a period of time. It is important to know that these activities were happening at different places on different rates and in different ways. At some places, both men and women were included in all activities, but in on other places, it was not the same. Similarly, at few places, people still indulge in hunting and gathering, whereas others indulge in cultivation.
CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
Customs and practices played a great role in human life. How can we know about the customs and practices of their times? Why are these customs important in human society? When we search answers to these questions, we relate their situation to the situation of present time farmers and herders. Archaeology does not clearly define these things. Scholars and social scientists have studied present-day farmers and herders. Their studies have shown that most of them lived in groups. These groups are basically ethnic groups and scholars named them as tribes. Deep analysis shows that these groups followed certain customs and practices. When scholars studied archaeological sites, they relate their findings from these sites with present time farmers and herders' lives; they found some similarities in their customs and practices. Some of the customs and practices are continuously followed at present day also.
Let us try to understand these things through Mehrgarh archaeological site. Mehrgarh archaeological site is located near the Bolan Pass. Mehrgarh is one of the main sites that provide evidences about the fact that man and women learnt to grow barley and wheat together. They were the first to rear goats and sheep in this area of the subcontinent. Mehrgarh is one of the earliest villages of the Indian subcontinent. When archaeologists started excavating this site, they found some of the important things that are found first time in Indian subcontinent such as many kinds of animal bones at the earliest levels of this site. Wild pig and deer bones are also found at the earliest level of this site. At later levels, more bones of sheep and goat were found. '
Another important finding at Mehrgarh is the remains of square or rectangular houses. These houses are different from other sites. These houses had four or more compartments. Maybe these compartments used for storage. Ritual is a most important component in social setup. Ritual may be considered as various kinds of customs and related activities. Archaeologists excavated these sites and found some graveyards. These graveyards are not simple graveyards; rather, they had some distinct features. Mehrgarh has several burials sites. In one graveyard, a dead person was buried with goats. This has some important meaning, may be it was a belief that goats serve as food in the next world. These buried things give us an idea about their rituals and practices.
EARLIEST CITIES OF INDIAN SUBCONTINENT
So far we have seen how human beings became farmers and herders from the life of hunting and gathering. We have also seen how these things changed human life and how human beings started a settled life. In this section, we will see how earliest village emerged. Through their houses and other excavated things, we will try to understand how they used different things and how they paid respect to their relatives. Let us try to understand about the earliest cities of the Indian subcontinent.
We know well about Harappan civilisation, but how do we came to know about them? Let us know through Harappa how people discovered this ancient Indian city. When we see some old buildings what we think and what we understand about them? Every building tells us some stories about them. Some of these stories are related to their structure and some are related to other important events or incidents. About 150 years ago in Punjab, when railway lines were being laid down, railway engineers found ready-made, high-quality bricks in Harappa. Instead of buying new bricks, they used these good-quality Harappan bricks which they found near by the site. In this process, some of the buildings of the old city were completely destroyed. In such a situation, when things are destroyed, a significant question arises that how did we come to know about the ancient Harappa city?
Almost eight years after this incident, archaeologists excavated this area and found that Harappan is one of the oldest cities in the Indian subcontinent. Harappa was the first discovered ancient city. However, later more sites were also discovered and many similarities were found between these sites. These sites have some similarities, but most important and similar thing between these cities is similar kind of buildings. These similarities provided logic to the archaeologists to give a name to this civilisation as Harappa. According to carbon dating examination, these cities were constructed about 4700 years ago.
What Makes These Cities Special
When we analyse these cities, we found some similarities and some uniqueness in these cities. Which types of similarities and uniqueness are these? The city planning of various sites are common in Harappan civilisation. These cities are divided into two or more parts. In this division, west part was smaller but higher. Archaeologists used citadel term for this type of settlement. Generally, the east part of these cities was larger but lower, which is called a lower town. Walls of baked bricks were built around the city. These were high-quality bricks and therefore have lasted for thousands of years. When we see wall structure, bricks were laid in an interlocking pattern because interlocking pattern made walls strong.
These cities have some special things such as special buildings were constructed on the citadel pattern, e.g., Mohenjodaro. Let us see Mohenjodaro's picture and try to analyse it (Figure 2.3).
Mohenjodaro is well known for its bath tank which is built on its premises. Archaeologists called this tank 'the great bath'. The great bath was built with bricks, coated with plaster, and made
Figure 2.3 The Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro
water-tight with a layer of natural tar that makes this building unique. There are steps at two sides to enter in this tank. There are rooms around the tank. The water source of the tank was probably a well, and the used water was drained out with the help of special drains. We do not know how and when people take bath in this tank: it may be usually or on any special occasions. It may be for all or only for special people. Most of the Harappan sites have some specific thing, buildings, etc., such as the fire altars. In Kalibangan and Lothal, archaeologists found some fire altars. These fire altars are well built, and they had a specific measurement. We do not know all the uses of fire altars, but their specific locations and other things provide the idea that they may be used for sacrifice performance. Other important buildings were storage houses. In Harappa, Lothal and Mohenjodaro are some of the cities where storehouses were found.
Houses, Drains, and Streets of Harappan Cities
The most important thing that makes Harappan cities specific was their planning. Their cities are well planned. Their streets and drainage systems make it different from the other contemporary cities. Houses are the most important buildings for us to understand how people lived in Harappa and what kind of techniques they used to build their houses and other buildings. In these cities, most of the houses were of either single floor or double floor. Rooms are built with courtyard. For water supply, some of the houses had well. Most of the houses had separate bathing area. These buildings were made of bricks. Bricks of Harappan civilisation are one of the most impressive things that attract everyone. These bricks were in specific shape and well backed. Many of the cities had the drainage system. The drainage system of these cities is a tremendous example of planning capabilities of the people of that era. Let us see Figure 2.4(a) and (b) and try to under-stand their planning capabilities.
In Figure 2.4(a) of Mohenjodaro, drains are laid out very carefully in straight lines. In some cities, the drains were fully covered. Each drain had a gentle slope that could help easy flow of water.
(a) (b)
Figure 2.4 (a) Drainage system of Mohenjo-daro
(b) Bricks wall of Harappa
Houses were connected with this drainage system. The drainage system had different types of drains such as houses were connected with smaller drains that connect it to the street drains and street drains were connected with bigger drains that help to exit water from the main city. Another interesting thing is that drains had inspection holes. These holes were provided at intervals, which were helpful for cleaning these drains. Houses, streets, and drains were built at the same time.
Life in These Cities
It is interesting to explore about the life the Harappans lived. Was life at Harappa similar to the life we live? We have discussed some of the Harappan cities and it is clear that these cities were busy and populated places. These cities did not emerge suddenly; these are systematically built cities. It means that they planned first and then started construction according to their planning. Other questions like how people lived in these cities and which type of ruling system they followed are also very significant questions. These cities were probably ruled by an individual or a group of people. In the excavation of these sites, we found some valuable objects which are rare in this area. Maybe they brought these items from different places; it means that they had some contact with their neighbouring areas. They used different types of ornaments made of gold and silver or beautiful beads for themselves. There are many such evidences that indicate the presence of scribes. Scribes are those people who know how to write, and they helped in preparing seals and other administrative works. There are evidences of existence of craftsperson in Harappan cities. These craftsperson maybe both men and women, and craftsperson used to make all kinds of things either in special workshops or in their houses. Archaeologists found many terracotta toys in these cities. These terracotta toys are made for children. Harappan seal and terracotta toys are shown in Figure 2.5.
(a) (b)
Figure 2.5 (a) Harappan seal (b) Terracotta toys
In the last paragraph, we did a brief discussion about the craftsperson. Figure 2.6 shows some of the objects hey made.
Figure 2.6 Beads
In Figure 2.6(a), four types of jewellery are shown. These are made of carnelian. Carnelian is a beautiful red stone. Look at this jewellery picture carefully, what is interesting in it? The stones are cut in shapes, polished, and a hole is bored in the centre of the stone, and then a string is passed through it. Now, look at Figure 2.6(b) of stone blades. These stone blades are beautifully cut and polished. Just think about them, what were the similarities in these things? These things are made by stones. Archaeologists also found many other things in these cities such as gold, silver, bronze, copper, stones, shells, and so on. Most of the things found in these sites are made of stones. Bronze and copper were basically used in making weapons, tools, ornaments and vessels beads blades, and weights are the most common findings from these cities. Another beautiful creation of Harappan civilisation is Harappan seals. These seals are made of stone and beautifully furnished and polished. These seals are generally rectangular in shape. Most of the seals have an animal carved on them. Other things found in these cities are beautiful pots with black designs.
Some pieces of clothes are also found in Mohenjodaro. These pieces of clothes were attached with the copper objects and the lid of a silver vase. Mehrgarh is the first site where we found the evidence of cotton cultivation. This evidence is of around 7000 years old. Archaeologists also found spindle whorls. These spindle whorls were made by faience and terracotta. These tools were used to spin thread.
All things we saw and discussed above are beautifully made, which need high-level perfection. There is no doubt that these things are made by specialists. Specialists is a person who is well trained to do a specific kind of work with perfection such as polishing beads, cutting stone, drilling in small pieces of stone, carving seals, and so on. These specialists were known as craftsperson.
Availability and Accessibility of Raw Materials
What is raw material? Raw material is a necessary material to make any object. Raw material is a substance found naturally as ores of metals or wood or produced by herders or farmers. This raw material was processed and various kinds of goods were produced. For example, cotton is a raw material which is produced by farmers and then processed into clothes. Some raw materials were easily available locally but others materials such as tin, copper, gold, and some precious stones were brought from distant places. Table 2.2 gives the names of metals and the names of the places where these metals are brought from.
Table 2.2 Metals found n ancient India
|
Metal |
Places |
|
Copper Tin Gold Precious stones |
Rajasthan (India), Oman (West Asia) Afghanistan and Iran Karnataka (India) Gujarat (India), Iran, and Afghanistan |
Food for City People
In Harappan civilisation, people who lived in cities were not doing cultivation; they were engaged in others kinds of activities. Now, an important question is that, if they were not doing cultivation, then how they got food or who provided them food. In this civilisation, people also lived at countryside other than cites, who reared animals and engaged in cultivation. These herders and farmers used to supply food to the city people.
Harappans were good at farming and grew many types of crops such as barley, wheat, peas, sesame, mustard, linseed, pulses, and so on. They used plough for cultivation. This tool was helpful in digging the surface of the earth for planting seeds. The ploughs were made by wood. It is interesting to know that the archaeologist did not find any actual ploughs but found toy model of ploughs, which helped us to interpret about the use of ploughs in cultivation. Cultivation mostly dependent on heavy rainfall, but if rainfall did not happen as per need, they used other kinds of irrigation, which means that the cultivation was not fully dependent on rainfall. One of the ways of irrigation could be storage of rain water and use it later in needful situation for cultivation. Finding cattle bones also indicates that animals were used for cultivation in Harappan civilisation. Most of the identified bones are of the reared cattle like buffalos, sheep, and goats. Harappans qrew grains and herbs and also engaged in collecting food (fruits), fishing, and hunting.
HARAPPAN SITES IN GUJARAT
If we analyse Gujarat's geographical conditions, most of the places in Gujarat are dry and cultivation largely depends on heavy rainfall. In starting of excavation of Harappan sites, most of the Harappan sites were found in Sindhu and Yamuna River plains. In 1967, Archaeological Survey of India discovered a new Harappan site in Khadirbet and Rann of Kutch. This new site was named as Dholavira. Discovery of Dholavira changed the view of archaeologists and social scientist about Harappan civilisation. Dholavira settlement is different from the other Harappan sites. Other Harappan sites were divided into two parts but Dholavira was divided into three parts. All the three parts of Dholavira were surrounded by massive stone walls. Entrance to the city is only through a gateway. Archaeologists found a large open area of settlement which was used for public ceremonies.
Large letters of Harappan script was found and these letters carved on white stones. The archaeologists did not find wooden letters; latter, perhaps, they inlaid in wood but they are destroyed. A large number of Harappan scripts on small objects were also found from these sites, in which most of these written objects were seals.
Another important Harappan site found in Gujarat is Lothal. Lothal is situated on a tributary of Sabarmati River in Gujarat. This site is close to the Gulf of Khambhat. This place is situated in an area where a large number of semi-precious stones are easily available. Lothal was an important site because it was a centre of making objects made of metals, shells, and stones. When archaeologists analysed their settlement, they found storehouses in the city and most of the seals were found in those storehouses. One building was found with a large number of pieces of stones, tools for bead making, half-made beads, and finished beads. Probably this building was a work- shop for making beads. Another interesting finding in Lothal is the dockyard. Figure 2.7 shows the picture of this dockyard and try to understand its architecture.
This huge tank (Figure 2.7) is found in Lothal. Archaeologists state that this huge tank was used at by people of Lothal, where ships and boats came through the river channel and sea. This dockyard was probably used for loading and unloading of goods.
Figure 2.7 Dockyard at Lothal
A MYSTERY OF THE END OF A CIVILISATION
As per archaeologists, massive changes happened in Harappan civilisation around 3900 years ago, which they come to know by carbonic process. In many of Harappan cities, people stopped living and probably people slowly migrated to other areas. Evidences have shown the gradual decline of use of writings, seals, and weights. A very few raw materials were found in these sites, which was brought from distant places. This indicates something happened at that time. Later stages of Mohenjodaro shows that the drainage system of the city broke down and garbage piled up on the streets of the city. But, how did these sudden changes happen?
Well, we are not sure about what had happened in that era. Scholars have different views on this matter. Some scholars say that it happened because the river dried up, and another view is of deforestation, but none of these reasons were able to explain the end of all the cities. Flooding of a river or drying up affects only some of the areas but not all cities.
Another view is that the rulers of these cities lost their control. We are not able to explain why these cities are abandoned, but one thing is clear. People from the site of west Punjab and Sindh (Pakistan) moved towards newer, smaller settlements of the eastern and southern areas.
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