NCERT Book Class 6 History From Gathering To Growing Food

CHAPTER 3

FROM GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD

Neinuo’s lunch

Neinuo was eating her favourite food — boiled rice, squash, pumpkins, beans and meat. Her grandmother had grown the squash, pumpkin and beans in the little garden plot at the back of her house. She remembered the food had been so different when she had been to Madhya Pradesh as part of a school trip. It was hot and spicy. Why was that so?

Varieties of foods

Today, most of our food such as fruit, vegetables, grain, milk and meat comes from plants that are grown and animals that are reared. Different plants grow in different conditions — rice, for example, requires more water than wheat and barley. This explains why farmers grow some crops in some areas and not in other areas. Different animals too, prefer different environments — for instance, sheep and goat can survive more easily than cattle in dry, hilly environments. But, as you saw in Chapter 2, women and men did not always produce their own food.

The beginnings of farming and herding

We have seen in Chapter 2 that the climate of the world was changing, and so were plants and animals that people used as food. Men, women and children probably observed several things: the places where edible plants were found, how seeds broke off stalks, fell on the ground, and new plants sprouted from them. Perhaps they began looking after plants — protecting them from birds and animals so that they could grow and the  seeds could ripen. In this way people became farmers. 

Women, men and children could also attract and then tame animals by leaving food for them near their shelters. The first animal to be tamed was the wild ancestor of the dog. Later, people encouraged animals that were relatively gentle to come near the camps where they lived. These animals such as sheep, goat, cattle and also the pig lived in herds, and most of them ate grass. Often, people protected these animals from attacks by other wild animals. This is how they became herders.

Let’s recall

1. Why do people who grow crops have to stay in the same place for a long time?

2. Look at the table on page 25. If Neinuo wanted to eat rice, which are the places she should have visited?

3. Why do archaeologists think that many people who lived in Mehrgarh were hunters to start with and that herding became more important later?

4. State whether true or false:

(a) Millets have been found at Hallur.

(b) People in Burzahom lived in rectangular houses.

(c) Chirand is a site in Kashmir.

(d) Jadeite, found in Daojali Hading, may have been brought from China.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 6 History From Gathering To Growing Food