Chapter 2 From Hunting–Gathering To Growing Food

This chapter explores the lives of the earliest people who lived in the Indian subcontinent, their movement from place to place, and the transition from hunting and gathering to becoming farmers and herders.

While modern modes of transport allow quick travel, people in the past also moved, though not as quickly as we do today.

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The Earliest People: Why Were They On The Move?

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People who lived in the subcontinent as early as two million years ago are known today as hunter-gatherers. This name reflects how they obtained their food: by hunting wild animals, catching fish and birds, and gathering edible plant resources like fruits, roots, nuts, seeds, leaves, stalks, and eggs.

Hunter-gatherers moved from place to place for several reasons:

1. Resource Depletion: If they stayed in one place for too long, they would exhaust the local plant and animal resources, forcing them to move in search of more food.
2. Following Animals: Animals move for various reasons (searching for prey, grass, or leaves). Hunter-gatherers who depended on these animals for food had to follow their movements.
3. Seasonal Availability of Plants: Different plants and trees bear fruit and ripen in different seasons. Moving from season to season allowed them to find and collect different kinds of plant food.
4. Search for Water: People, plants, and animals require water to survive. While some rivers and lakes have water year-round (perennial), others are seasonal. People living near seasonal water sources would have had to move in search of water during the dry seasons.

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How Do We Know About These People?

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Archaeologists have found evidence of the things hunter-gatherers made and used. The most enduring artifacts are tools made of stone, wood, and bone. Stone tools have survived best over time.

Stone tools served various purposes:

• Cutting meat and bone.
• Scraping bark from trees and hides from animal skins.
• Chopping fruits and roots.

Some stone tools might have been attached to handles made of bone or wood to create weapons like spears and arrows for hunting. Other tools were used for chopping wood for fuel or building simple shelters and making tools.

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Choosing A Place To Live In

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Hunter-gatherers chose places to live based on certain factors. Archaeological sites associated with hunter-gatherers (marked with red triangles on Map 2, page 13) are often found near sources of water like rivers and lakes.

Many early people lived in caves and rock shelters, which provided natural protection from rain, heat, and wind. Bhimbetka in present-day Madhya Pradesh is an example of such a site with caves and rock shelters, located near the Narmada valley. People likely chose these locations for shelter and proximity to resources.

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Rock Paintings

Many of the caves inhabited by early people contain paintings on their walls. Some notable examples are found in Madhya Pradesh and southern Uttar Pradesh. These rock paintings often depict wild animals drawn with remarkable accuracy and skill, providing insights into their world and possibly their hunting practices or beliefs.

Since stone tools were essential, people also tended to choose places where good quality stone was readily available for making tools. These are called habitation cum factory sites.

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Finding Out About Fire

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Traces of ash have been found at archaeological sites like the Kurnool caves (Map 2, page 13). This discovery suggests that early people were familiar with the use of fire. Fire could have been used for various purposes:

• As a source of light in dark caves or at night.
• For roasting meat, making it easier to chew and digest.
• To scare away wild animals for protection.

Today, we use fire for many of these purposes, including cooking, heating, and light.

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Archaeological Sites

Sites are locations where archaeologists find the remains of things made, used, and left behind by people. These remains can be tools, pots, buildings, etc. Sites can be found on the surface of the earth, buried underground, or even underwater.

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Names and Dates of Periods

Archaeologists have given names to different periods of human history based on the findings. The earliest period is called the Palaeolithic (from Greek words 'palaeo' meaning old, and 'lithos' meaning stone), emphasizing the importance of stone tools from this time. The Palaeolithic period spans a vast duration, from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago, covering 99% of human history. It is divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper Palaeolithic stages.

The period characterized by environmental changes, starting around 12,000 years ago until about 10,000 years ago, is called the Mesolithic (middle stone) period. Stone tools from this era are typically tiny and are called microliths. Microliths were often attached to bone or wood handles to create tools like saws and sickles. Older types of stone tools were also still in use during this time.

The period from about 10,000 years ago onwards is known as the Neolithic period (New Stone Age). This era saw significant changes in human life, including the beginnings of farming and settled life.

Archaeologists often use present-day names for ancient sites because their original names are unknown.

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A Changing Environment

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Significant changes in the global climate occurred around 12,000 years ago, leading to warmer conditions. This shift resulted in the development of extensive grasslands in many areas. The growth of grasslands, in turn, supported an increase in populations of grazing animals like deer, antelope, goat, sheep, and cattle.

Hunter-gatherers who relied on these animals for food began to follow them, observing their food habits and breeding seasons. This knowledge likely prompted people to start thinking about herding and rearing these animals themselves, marking a shift towards controlling animal populations.

Around this time, fishing also became more important as a source of food.

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The Beginning Of Farming And Herding

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The period around 12,000 years ago also saw the natural growth of several grain-bearing grasses, including wheat, barley, and rice, in different parts of the subcontinent. Men, women, and children likely collected these grains for food and learned about where they grew and when they ripened.

This knowledge may have led them to experiment with growing plants themselves, eventually leading to the development of farming. By intentionally cultivating plants, people transitioned from relying solely on gathering wild food to actively producing it.

Similarly, people began to tame animals by leaving food near their shelters to attract them. The first animal to be tamed was the wild ancestor of the dog. Later, people encouraged relatively gentle animals like sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs, which lived in herds and grazed on grass, to come near their camps. People then protected these animals from predators, leading to the practice of herding.

The dog may have been the first animal tamed because of its usefulness in hunting and its ability to act as a guard against other wild animals.

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A New Way Of Life

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The shift to farming and herding marked a fundamental change in human life, leading to a more settled existence. This process is called domestication.

Domestication is the process by which people cultivate plants and look after animals, leading to genetic and behavioral changes that differentiate them from their wild counterparts. People selected plants and animals with desirable traits for domestication, such as plants resistant to disease, yielding larger grains, or having strong stalks, and animals that were relatively gentle for breeding. This selective process over generations led to the domesticated varieties we use today. Domestication began around 12,000 years ago. Most of the food (plant and animal produce) we consume today is a result of this process.

The earliest domesticated plants were wheat and barley, and the earliest domesticated animals included sheep and goat. Domesticated animals tend to have smaller teeth and horns compared to their wild ancestors.

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Staying in One Place

Growing plants requires considerable time and attention. Seeds take time to grow and ripen, necessitating continuous care such as watering, weeding, and protecting crops from animals and birds. This long period of care meant that people had to stay in the same place for extended periods, rather than moving seasonally like hunter-gatherers. This led to a settled way of life.

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Storing Grain

With farming, people began producing and accumulating grain. This grain needed to be stored for various purposes: as seed for the next planting season, as food to be eaten throughout the year, as gifts, and simply stored for later consumption.

This need for storage led to the development of different methods, such as making large clay pots, weaving baskets, or digging pits into the ground. Hunter-gatherers likely did not make and use pots in the same way as farmers, as their nomadic lifestyle meant they would not have needed or been able to carry large, fragile storage containers for bulky grain.

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Storing Animals

Animals that were reared by herders could also be considered a 'store' of food and other resources. Animals multiply naturally, and if cared for, they provide a continuous supply of milk (an important food source) and meat when needed. Besides food, animals could provide other resources such as hides (skins) for clothing and shelter, wool for clothing, bones for tools, and dung for fertilizer or fuel.

Today, animals are used for numerous purposes including food (meat, milk, eggs), clothing (wool, leather), labor (ploughing, transport), companions, and other products like manure.

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Finding Out About The First Farmers And Herders

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Archaeologists identify sites of early farmers and herders (marked with blue squares on Map 2, page 13) based on specific evidence. These sites are found across the subcontinent, particularly in the northwest, Kashmir, and east and south India.

Scientists study remains of plants and animal bones found at these sites to determine if they were settlements of farmers and herders. Finds of burnt grain (whether accidentally or intentionally burnt) are particularly significant, as scientists can identify the type of grains, revealing which crops were grown in different regions. Similarly, they can identify the types of animal bones to understand which animals were reared.

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Towards A Settled Life

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Archaeological evidence indicates that the development of farming and herding led to a more settled way of life.

At some sites, archaeologists have found traces of huts or houses. In Burzahom (Kashmir), people built pit-houses, which were dug into the ground with steps leading into them. These underground dwellings likely provided shelter during cold weather. The presence of cooking hearths both inside and outside these huts suggests that cooking practices adapted to the weather conditions.

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Neolithic Tools

Stone tools continued to be important, but the tools found from Neolithic sites are different from earlier Palaeolithic ones. These Neolithic tools were often polished to achieve a finer cutting edge. Tools like mortars and pestles, used for grinding grain and other plant produce, are characteristic of the Neolithic period. These grinding tools remain in use today, thousands of years later. While new types of tools emerged, older Palaeolithic tool types were also still made and used. Tools made of bone were also part of the Neolithic toolkit.

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Earthen Pots and Weaving

Archaeologists have unearthed various kinds of earthen pots from Neolithic sites. These pots were sometimes decorated and were used for storing goods. With the adoption of farming, people began using pots specifically for cooking food, especially grains like rice, wheat, and lentils that became staples of their diet.

People also began weaving cloth during the Neolithic period, using materials like cotton, which could now be grown as a crop.

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Gradual Change

It is important to understand that these changes did not happen everywhere simultaneously or overnight. In many regions, people continued to practice hunting and gathering for a long time. In other areas, the adoption of farming and herding was a slow process that unfolded over several thousand years. Some communities even combined these activities, practicing farming and herding during certain seasons and hunting or gathering at other times.

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A Closer Look — Living And Dying In Mehrgarh

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Mehrgarh (Map 2, page 13) is an important archaeological site located in a fertile plain near the Bolan Pass, a key route into Iran. Mehrgarh is believed to be one of the earliest sites where people learned to grow barley and wheat, and rear sheep and goats in that region, making it one of the earliest known villages.

Archaeologists have found various animal bones at Mehrgarh, including those of wild animals (deer, pig) and domesticated animals (sheep, goat), suggesting a transition from hunting to herding over time.

Remains of square or rectangular houses have been found at Mehrgarh. Each house had four or more compartments, some of which were likely used for storage.

Evidence of beliefs about life after death has been found in the form of burial sites at Mehrgarh. When people died, their relatives and friends paid respects through burial arrangements. In one burial site, a deceased person was buried along with goats, which were possibly intended to serve as food for the afterlife, reflecting a belief in a continued existence after death.

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Elsewhere (Cave Paintings In France)

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Examples of ancient human activity are found worldwide. In France, a cave site discovered by school children contains paintings made between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago. These paintings, often depicting animals like wild horses, cattle, bison, rhinoceros, reindeer, and bears, were created using bright colors derived from minerals like ochre or iron ore, and charcoal.

The purpose of these paintings is debated. They may have been created for ceremonial occasions or as part of special rituals performed by hunters before they went hunting. Such findings provide valuable insights into the beliefs, rituals, and artistic abilities of early humans in different parts of the world.

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Elsewhere (A Neolithic Site)

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Catal Huyuk in Turkey is another well-known Neolithic site. Archaeological finds there show evidence of long-distance trade, with items like flint from Syria, cowries from the Red Sea, and shells from the Mediterranean Sea being brought to the settlement. These items were likely transported on the backs of pack animals or by people, as wheeled carts were not yet in use. The presence of cowries and shells suggests they might have been used as ornaments, currency, or for other symbolic purposes.