Ancient India: Customs and Practices
What, Where, How and When?
● Narmada: earliest people who lived here were skilled gatherers; they knew about
the vast wealth of plants in the surrounding forests, and collected roots, fruits for
food; also hunted animals.
● Sulaiman and Kirthar hills: current Sindh; where women and men first began to
grow crops such as wheat and barley about 8000 years ago; rearing animals.
● Garo Hills & Vindhya: where agriculture developed; rice was first grown to the north
of the Vindhyas.
● Indus: 4700 years ago, some of the earliest cities flourished on the banks
● Son, a Ganga tributary: Magadha rulers were very powerful, and set up a large
kingdom.
On the trail of the earliest people
● Factory Sites: places where the stone was found and where people made tools are
known as factory sites.
● Habitation-cum-factory: sometimes, people lived here for longer spells of time.
● Kurnool Site: current A.P; traces of ash have been found here. This suggests that
people were familiar with the use of fire.
● Paleolithic: importance is finding stone tools; period extends from 2 million years
ago to about 12,000 years ago; long stretch of time is divided into the Lower,
Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This long span of time covers 99% of human
history.
● Mesolithic: environmental changes; 12,000 years ago till about 10,000 years ago;
stone tools are generally tiny, and are called microliths. Microliths were probably
stuck on to handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles. At
the same time, older varieties of tools continued to be in use.
● Ostrich in India: paleolithic period; large quantities of shells were found at Patne in
Maharashtra; designs engraved on some pieces.
What, Where, How and When?
● Narmada: earliest people who lived here were skilled gatherers; they knew about
the vast wealth of plants in the surrounding forests, and collected roots, fruits for
food; also hunted animals.
● Sulaiman and Kirthar hills: current Sindh; where women and men first began to
grow crops such as wheat and barley about 8000 years ago; rearing animals.
● Garo Hills & Vindhya: where agriculture developed; rice was first grown to the north
of the Vindhyas.
● Indus: 4700 years ago, some of the earliest cities flourished on the banks
● Son, a Ganga tributary: Magadha rulers were very powerful, and set up a large
kingdom.
On the trail of the earliest people
● Factory Sites: places where the stone was found and where people made tools are
known as factory sites.
● Habitation-cum-factory: sometimes, people lived here for longer spells of time.
● Kurnool Site: current A.P; traces of ash have been found here. This suggests that
people were familiar with the use of fire.
● Paleolithic: importance is finding stone tools; period extends from 2 million years
ago to about 12,000 years ago; long stretch of time is divided into the Lower,
Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This long span of time covers 99% of human
history.
● Mesolithic: environmental changes; 12,000 years ago till about 10,000 years ago;
stone tools are generally tiny, and are called microliths. Microliths were probably
stuck on to handles of bone or wood to make tools such as saws and sickles. At
the same time, older varieties of tools continued to be in use.
● Ostrich in India: paleolithic period; large quantities of shells were found at Patne in
Maharashtra; designs engraved on some pieces.
