Chapter 1 What, Where, How and When?

Imagine

Question Imagine You have to interview an archaeologist. Prepare a list of five questions that you would like to ask her/him.

Answer The list of question that I will ask are :

a) What is archaeology ?

b) What does archaeologists  do ?

c) What is the importance of archaeology ?

d) What are the different branches of archaeology ?

e) What is the method by which archaeologists find out the time period of any finding?

Let’s recall

Question 1. Match the following:

(a) Narmada Valley	The first big kingdom
(b) Magadha	Hunting and gathering
(c) Garo hills	Cities about 2500 years ago
(d) Indus and its tributaries	Early agriculture
(e) Ganga Valley	The first cities

Answer 1

(a) Narmada Valley	Hunting and gathering
(b) Magadha	The first big kingdom
(c) Garo hills	Early agriculture
(d) Indus and its tributaries	Cities about 2500 years ago
(e) Ganga Valley	The first cities

Question 2 List one major difference between manuscripts and inscriptions?

Answer 2 Manuscripts : They are usually written by hand on palm leaf or on the specially prepared bark of a tree known as the birch.

Inscriptions : They are engraved form of writing used for various purposes and are written on hard surface such as stones.

Question 3 Return to Rasheeda’s question. Can you think of some answers to it?

Answer 3 Rasheeda’s question : How any one can know what had happened so many years ago. We can get the answers by reading the books written in past, by manuscripts and inscriptions and by tools and weapons.

Question 4 Make a list of all the objects that archaeologists may find. Which of these could be made of stone?

Answer 4 Archaeologists may find these things in their finding : Potteries, statues, ornaments, tools, skeletons, toys, cloths, coins, weapons etc.
The ones that could be made of stone are Surface used for writing inscriptions, Remains of buildings and Objects like tools, weapons, potteries etc.

Question 5 Why do you think ordinary men and women did not generally keep records of what they did?

Answer 5  We think ordinary men and women did not generally keep records of what they did due to the following reasons:

(1) They did not know the art of writing in the beginning.

(2) They did not know the importance of keeping records of the events.

(3) Their life was full of difficulties .

(4) They do not have enough time of recording their lives.

Question 6 Describe at least two ways in which you think the lives of kings would have been different from those of farmers.

Answer 6

King	Farmers
They used to live in palaces or big houses.	They used to live in huts or in very small houses.
They were dependent for their food on farmers.	They used to produce food for themselves and other people also.
They wore showy and costly clothes and ornaments.	They wore simple and very cheap clothes. (Any two)
They do not have to work in fields.	They have to work in fields.

Question 7 Find the word crafts persons on page 1. 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 7 The five craft that dominate the present life are : making utensils, cloth knitting, painting, making idols and making iron items. These crafts person are both men and women.

Question 8 What were the subjects on which books were written in the past? Which of these would you like to read?

Answer 8 The subjects on which books were written in the past are on religion, politics, medicines, life of king and victory of kings on campaigns. I would like to read books on medicine and religion.