Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation – Class 9 Social Science Chapter 4 Notes & NCERT PDF

The Big Questions

Introduction

The history of humanity goes back far beyond the kingdoms and empires you studied in earlier grades. This chapter traces our earliest ancestors — where they evolved, what they ate, how they lived — and follows the long road from hunting and gathering to farming villages and, finally, to the great Bronze Age civilisations.

The period before writing is known mainly through archaeological evidence. One of the earliest known writing systems belongs to the Sindhu–Sarasvatī (Indus Valley / Harappan) civilisation, whose pictographic script — also called Sindhu lipi — is found on seals and pottery but has not yet been deciphered. By contrast, the cuneiform script of the Sumerians (Mesopotamia) and the hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt, which flourished around the same time, have been deciphered and mark the beginning of the historical period, about 5000 years ago. From about 400 BCE, the Brahmi script was used in parts of southern India and the Ganga Valley; it was later formalised by Emperor Aśhoka (3rd century BCE).

More than 99 per cent of human history (from about 3 million years ago to 5000 years ago) falls before writing. Less than 1 per cent — the last 5000 years — comes after it.

Before and after writing

Key Concepts

Why study early human history?

It helps us understand humankind's biological evolution — the gradual physical and genetic changes by which our early ancestors, the australopithecines (australis = southern, pithecus = primates), evolved into modern humans, Homo sapiens — and cultural evolution, i.e. how humans adapted to their surroundings during the Quaternary Period (the last 26 lakh years) by developing tools, techniques and technology.

Out of Africa

How do we know about our ancestors?

Archaeologists excavate early sites for tools, bones and fossils, and even make and use replica tools to learn how they worked. Around 3.3 million years ago, one of our ancestors made the earliest stone tools, marking the start of "human behaviour". Tools are called extra-corporal limbs because they extended what the body could do. The earliest settlements, in Africa, Asia and Europe, form the 'Old World'.

Periods of early human history (Fig. 4.7)

Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers in India

The oldest human settlement in the subcontinent dates back to about 2 million years ago. Attirampakkam (Tamil Nadu) is dated to about 1.5–1.7 million years ago and Isampur (Karnataka) to 1.2 million years ago; handaxes, cleavers, scrapers and choppers of quartzite and limestone were found there. Later came smaller tools (scrapers, borers, points) for projectiles, then the bow and arrow, blades, microblades, the burin (engraver), cave paintings, body pigments and the first beads of stone, bone and shell. Homo sapiens spread across the world, including Australia and the Americas, between 50000 and 12000 years ago.

Mesolithic hunter–gatherers

Around 12000 years ago the climate became warmer; forests and grasslands expanded, bringing small game, fish and wild grains — and the first population explosion in human history. Fishing became the mainstay. Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh), a World Heritage Site, has hundreds of painted rock shelters.

The Neolithic Revolution

Hunter–gatherers who knew the seasons well gradually became food producers, domesticating plants and animals. Farmers made tools for producing and processing food, made pottery, and set up the first villages, laying the base for the urban revolution. This change came at different times in different regions — pearl millet in West Africa, wheat and barley in West Asia, millets and rice in India and China (Fig. 4.14).

Neolithic India — Mehrgarh

Mehrgarh, on the Bolan River (present-day Pakistan), is the oldest Neolithic site and earliest agricultural village of the subcontinent, dating to about 7000 BCE. Its people built sun-dried brick houses and granaries, grew wheat and barley, raised sheep, goats and the zebu humped cattle, made ornaments of lapis lazuli and carnelian, and were the first to make copper objects — becoming Chalcolithic by about 4000 BCE. By 2500 BCE, most of the subcontinent was occupied by Neolithic farming communities.

The Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation

Copper tools in the Indus and Ghaggar-Sarasvatī plains raised productivity. Radio-carbon dates suggest the Pre-Harappan phase began between 7000 and 5500 BCE at Bhirrana and Kunal. The Early Harappan stage shows continuity in pottery, beads, shell bangles, terracotta and copper-working; perimeter walls, seals and even the script probably began here. The civilisation emerged by 2600 BCE (timeline: Early Harappan 3300 BCE, Mature 2600–1900 BCE, Late to about 1300 BCE).

A 5000-year-old tradition: ploughed fields at Kalibangan show criss-cross furrows — evidence of double cropping, like today's Rabi and Kharif seasons.

Harappans used cubical stone weights on a binary system (1, 2, 4, 8, 16…) for small units and multiples of ten for larger ones.

Bronze Age civilisations outside India

Four early civilisations grew in river plains: Harappan (Sindhu–Sarasvatī), Mesopotamian (Euphrates–Tigris), Egyptian (Nile) and Chinese (Huang He). Mesopotamia's closeness to the Harappan region encouraged trade.

Mesopotamia ("land in between") — the fertile crescent; copper by about 4500 BCE; city-states from 3500 BCE:

Did you know? While Sumerians built canals, Early Harappans built check dams called gabarbands; later came the tanks of Dholavira and the burnt-brick dockyard of Lothal.

Egypt — along the Nile; the land called Kemet ("the black", after its soil). City-states around 3000 BCE; Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Papyrus records; Pharaohs; mastabas stacked into pyramids such as the Step Pyramid at Saqqara; mummification based on belief in the ka. A calendar of three seasons and 365 days. The Rosetta Stone (found 1799) let Champollion decipher hieroglyphs in 1822.

China — along the Huang He and Yangtze; Neolithic cultures from about 7000 BCE; bronze from about 2000 BCE; urban centres from about 1600 BCE. Dynasties: Shang (1600–1046 BCE), Zhou (1046–256 BCE), Qin (221–206 BCE) — probably the source of the name "China" — and Han (206 BCE–220 CE). Oracle bones, a logographic script, jade and bronze crafts, the Great Wall (walls from 680 BCE onward), silk and the Silk Route, and the first paper currency and civil-service examinations.

Think About It / Let's Explore

Key Terms

Map & Timeline Corner

Connect to Today

Rabi and Kharif double cropping, the 60-minute hour, legal codes, civil-service examinations and river-based farming all have roots in these early societies.

Common Mistakes

Questions and Activities (hints)