Maharashtra Board Class 5 EVS Part II Chapter 9 Settled Life and Urban Civilization PDF Download

9. Settled Life And Urban Civilization

9.1 Use Of Metals

You may have wondered about the first metal that humans used. Museums in Europe had large collections of pre-historic artefacts and antique objects. A scholar named Christian Thomsen introduced a method for classifying them. It is called the 'Three Age System'. Thomsen classified the objects into three groups.

1. Stone tools – Stone Age

2. Copper tools and other copper articles – Copper Age

3. Iron tools and other iron articles – Iron Age

Thomsen established with the help of evidence that stone tools were the earliest. The period of copper tools and articles was next. It was followed by the period of iron tools and articles. Accordingly, the three periods were named the Stone Age, Copper Age and Iron Age respectively. This gave rise to the belief that copper was the first metal to come into use.

Actually, gold was the first metal to be used. Gold is a soft metal. So it could not be used for making tools and implements. Humans then discovered another metal which could be used for these purposes. That metal was copper. The period when copper came into use is known as the 'Copper Age'.

Teacher's Note

Long ago, people found shiny gold objects in rivers. But gold was too soft to make tools. So they found copper which was harder and better for tools. Like today, people find things and use them in the best way they can.

Exam Trick

Remember: Gold came first, but copper was more useful. Gold = pretty but soft. Copper = strong and useful. So Copper Age came after Gold was discovered.

Points to Remember

Thomsen made the Three Age System to study old objects.

Stone Age came first, then Copper Age, then Iron Age.

Gold was the first metal found, but copper was used more for tools.

Copper is harder than gold and can be used to make many things.

9.2 Pots Made On The Potter's Wheel

The Copper Age was the age of many new inventions and rapid changes. The invention of the wheel is the most important among them. It is generally agreed that the wheel was first used by potters. Its use in carts and chariots probably began a little later.

Once the potters began to use a wheel, it became possible to make pots in large numbers. In this period, people started making symmetrical and colourful pots with beautiful designs on them. Potters and other craftsmen began to live close to each other in the village-settlement so as to manage their work more easily. We can say that this became the industrial area of that village, where skilled craftsmen had their settlements and centres of production. This happened mainly in those village-settlements where the raw material was easily available and in those which were conveniently situated for trade. Such village-settlements expanded rapidly.

To make it easy to turn the pot while shaping it, a rotating plank was probably used at first. The pot was shaped with one hand, while the other was used to turn the plank. It is possible that the potter's wheel originated in the efforts to modify the rotating plank. Till recent times, tribal women in the north-eastern regions of our country shaped the pots by using a rotating plank.

A pointed quartz pebble fixed at the bottom of the potter's wheel. This pebble is known as a 'pivot'. When the potter's wheel is put in motion, it is balanced on this pivot and revolves with a great speed.

Teacher's Note

The potter's wheel was like today's mixer. It helped make many pots quickly. In villages in India, some potters still use similar wheels to make pots.

Exam Trick

Remember: Potter's wheel = fast production. The pivot is the pointed stone at the bottom that helps it spin fast, just like a spinning top.

Points to Remember

The wheel was first used by potters to make pots faster.

Potters lived together in one area to work more easily.

A rotating plank helped shape pots before the wheel was made.

A pivot is a pointed stone that helps the wheel spin.

9.3 Trade And Transport

As the scale of production increased, trade too expanded with it. Therefore, there was a need to change the old systems of transport. It was in this period that wheeled vehicles like carts and chariots were first brought into use.

Teacher's Note

When potters made more pots, they needed to sell them to far away places. So they needed carts with wheels to carry pots. Today, we use trucks for the same reason.

Exam Trick

Remember: More pots = need to transport = wheels invented for carts. Production grows, so transport grows.

Points to Remember

Trade grew bigger when potters made more pots.

Carts and chariots with wheels were invented for transport.

Wheeled vehicles helped carry goods to far places.

9.4 Rise Of Cities And Script

Long distance trade, rapid transport of goods and centres of large scale production are factors that brought together people engaged in different types of work. It became necessary to keep permanent records of the expanding trade and growing production. By now, signs and symbols had already come into use for the purpose of record-keeping.

Broken pieces of clay pots (potsherds) with such signs have been found in large numbers during excavations. The increase in trade and production and the growth in the volume of records to be kept resulted in much modification and improvement in the signs and symbols used for these purposes. In this way, each culture developed its own script.

Teacher's Note

When trade grew big, people needed to write things down. They made symbols on broken pots to remember what they sold. In India, shopkeepers still write notes to remember their business.

Exam Trick

Remember: Big trade = need to keep records = signs and symbols = script is born. Like Aadhaar number helps identify you, symbols helped identify goods.

Points to Remember

Signs and symbols were used to keep records of trade.

Potsherds with marks have been found in old cities.

Each culture made its own script to write things down.

Writing helped people remember and sell more goods.

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