IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India Earliest Times to the 8th Century A.D - ORIGIN OF AGRICULTURE AND DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

India Earliest Times to the 8th Century A.D

Origin of Agriculture and Domestication of Animals

Structure

4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Neolithic Stage of Culture
4.3 The Earliest Farmers
4 3.1 Nile Valley
4.3.2 Early Farmers of Western Asia
4.4 Early Farmers of the Indian Sub-Continent
4.4.1 North Western Region
4.4.2 Neolithic Culture of Kashmir Valley
4.4.3 Early Farmers of the Belan Valley
4.4.4 Neolithic Culture of Bihar/Mid Ganp Valley
4.4.5 Early Farmers of Eastern India
4.4.6 Early Farmers of South India
4.4.7 NwlitbicCulture of Upper. Central and Western Deccan
4.5 Let Us Sum Up
4.6 Key words
4.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

4.0 OBJECTIVES

ThisUnit deals with the origins of agriculture and beginnings of domestication of animals
before the stage when metals came to be used. Cultivation of cereals and developments in
agriculture transformed the nomadic hunter-gatherer into a sedentary farmer. This led to the
beginning of village settlements and manufacturing of new types of tools. This stage of human
development is referred to as the Neolithic stage. After studying this Unit., you will be able to
learn about :

the characteristic features of the Neolithic stage of culture,
the archaeological evidence in the forms of new types of stone tools, cultivated plants etc..which demonstrates the beginning of cultivation,
the patterns of agriculture in West Asia and the Indian sub-continent, and
the various crops which were cultivated in different regions of the Indian sub-continent.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

In the earlier Unit you have seen that human communities in general survived for the longest
span of their existence as hunters/gatherers. This stage of their existence is revealed by their
stone tools classified by archaeologists as :
i) Palaeolithic, and
ii) Mesolithic i
as also by the remains of anikls hunted and eaten by them.
Human communities entered a new stage of culture when, instead of depending entirely on the
resources of nature for sutvival, ey started broducing their own food by cultivating cereals 9 like barley, wheat and rice and started domesticating some species of animals-both for
supplies of milk and meat as well ps for harnessing their labour for various purposes.
Beginnings of this stage of human culture are r~vealed by new type of stone tools which are
called Neolithic tools or tools of the New Stonq Age. Neolithic tools and various aspects of
human life associated with the stage wheh these tdols were produced constitute the various