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 elements of the stage of the Culture in which Neolithic communities lived. The characmistics and spread of Neolithic culture in the Nile Valley and West Asia have been dealt with briefly in this Unit as a background to the study of the Neolithic stage in the Indian sub-continent.

4.2 NEOLITHIC STAGE OF CULTURE

Domestication of plants and animals has been considered as one of the main characteristic features of the Neolithic stage of culture. The tern Neolithic was coined by Sir John Lubbock in his book Prehistoric Times (first published in 1865). He used this term to denote an Age in which the stone implements were more skillfully made, more varied in form and often polished. Later on V. Gordon Childe defined the Neolithic-Chalcolithic culture as a self- sufficient food producing economy; and Miles Burkitt stressed that the follovring characteristic traits should be considered to represent the Neolithic Culture :

Practice of agriculture
Domestication of animals
Grinding and polishing of stone tools, and also
The manufacture of pottery.

The concept of what is Neolithic has been undergoing some change in recent years. A recent study mentions that the term Neolithic should represent a culture of the pre-metal stage wherc the inhabitants had assured supply of food by cultivation of cereals and domestication of animals and led a sedentary life. However, the Ground stone tools remain the most essential characteristics of a Neolithic culture.

Domestication of plants and animals led to:

the emergence of village communities based on sedentary life,
the beginnings of agriculture technology, and
greater control over nature by exploitation of natural resources.

However, before discussing the evidences and specificities of Neolithic stage of culture in our own subcontinent we shall briefly discuss the beginning of the process of domestication of animals and plants by human beings in areas outside India and in the Indian subcontident. Chart 1 describes the approximate time period in which domestication of plants and animals seems to have began.