NCERT Class 6 History Chapter 3 - From Gathering to Growing Food

Chapter 3 - From Gathering to Growing Food

Question 1: Why do people who grow crops have to stay in the same place for a long time?
Answer:
• Hunter-gatherers moved from place to place. There are many reasons for this.
• First, if they had stayed at one place for a long time, they would have eaten up all the available plant and animal resources. Therefore, they would have had to go elsewhere in search of food.
• Second, animals move from place to place - either in search of smaller prey, or, in the case of deer and wild cattle, in search of grass and leaves. That is why those who hunted them had to follow their movements.
• Third, plants and trees bear fruit in different seasons. So, people may have moved from season to season in search of different kinds of plants.
• Fourth, people, plants and animals need water to survive. Water is found in lakes, streams and rivers. While many rivers and lakes are perennial (with water throughout the year) others are seasonal. People living on their banks would have had to go in search of water during the dry seasons (winter and summer).

Question 2: Look at the table on page 25 of the textbook/If Neinuo wanted to eat rice, which are the places she would have visited?
Answer: Neinuo would have visited these places if she wanted to eat rice
• Koldihwa (in present-day Uttar Pradesh)
• Mahagara (in present-day Uttar Pradesh)

Question 3: Why do archaeologists think that many people who lived in Mehrgarh were hunters to start with and that herding became more important later?
Answer: On excavation, archaeologists have found bones of wild animals in the lowermost levels. On upper levels, they found cattle bones. This means that hunting wild animals was important much before herding was.

Question 4: State whether true or false.
a) Millets have been found at Hallur.
b) People in Burzahom lived in rectangular houses.
c) Chirand is a site in Kashmir.
d) Jadeite, found in Daojali Hading, may have been brought from China
Answer:
a) True
b) False
c) False
d) True

Question 5: List three ways in which the lives of farmers and herders would have been different from that of hunter-gatherers.
Answer:
The lives of farmers and herders had been different in the following ways:
• Hunter-gatherers kept travelling from place to place whereas farmers had to live at same place for longer periods of time to take care of their crops.
• Hunter-gatherers depended on meat of wild animals whereas farmers and herders used plants, crops and cattle.
• Hunter-gatherers did not have any settled life whereas farmers and herders gradually settled in huts, pit-houses, etc.

Question 6: Make a list of all the animals mentioned in the table on page 25 of the textbook. For each one, describe what they may have been used for.
Answer:
• Sheep might have been used for meat, milk, and wool.
• Goat might have been used for meat and milk.
• Buffalo for meat and milk.
• Ox for drawing cart, chariot, and plough.
• Pig for meat.
• Dog was domesticated for safety and taking his help in hunting some of the wild animals.
• Other animals like horse, ox, camel, donkey, etc., were called packed animals because they were used for carrying load/carts with people.

Question 7: List the cereals that you eat.
Answer: Some cereals eaten by us are Wheat, Rice, Maize, Millets, Barley, Grains etc.

Question 8: Do you grow the cereals you have listed in answer no. 7? If yes, draw a chart to show the stages in growing them. If not, draw a chart to show how these cereals reach you from the farmers who grow them
Answer:
Yes, we live in a village and we grow some of the cereals.
The stages in growing:
• We prepare the ground.
• We sow the seeds.
• We look after the growing plants.
• We water them by a tube-well.
• We harvest the grain.
• We thresh and separate husk.
• We grind some grain, such as wheat and barley.
We live in a big city and hence we do not grow grain. We get the grains indirectly from the farmers.
• Farmers as producers bring their produce to market.
• The grain traders as mediator buy cereals.
• We as customers go and purchase cereals.