01 · Explore
People had a history before they wrote it down
Writing changes our evidence, not whether people had a past.
- Prehistory
- The past studied mainly through material evidence before written records are available for a society.
- Artefact
- An object made or modified by people.
- Decipher
- Work out how to read a writing system.
Tools, houses, burials and art tell us about people before writing. Writing emerged at different times in different places, so there is no single worldwide day when prehistory ended.
Harappan inscriptions remain undeciphered. Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian scripts can be read. Written accounts add names and ideas but can also be biased; dates and archaeological interpretation still need checking.
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Question
Does an undeciphered script mean we know nothing about its society?
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02 · Explore
A find becomes useful when we know its context
Where an object was found matters as much as what it looks like.
- Archaeology
- Study of the human past through material remains and their context.
- Fossil
- Preserved remains or traces of past life.
- Context
- A find’s location, layer and relationship to other evidence.
Record the layer before removing the find
- Model
- A simplified excavation section. The order is informative only after checking whether the deposits were disturbed.
Archaeologists record layers, objects, bones and structures. Dating methods estimate ages with uncertainty; writing does not automatically make every date exact. Experimental archaeology tests how a replica tool could have worked.
Lower layers are often older in an undisturbed sequence, but digging, erosion and later burials can mix layers. Do not remove objects from a site: doing so destroys information.
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Question
Why is a stone tool found in a recorded layer more informative than one collected without its location?
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03 · Explore
Human evolution is a branching history
Several kinds of early humans lived at overlapping times.
- Hominin
- Modern humans and extinct relatives on the human branch after separation from the chimpanzee lineage.
- Homo sapiens
- The species to which all living humans belong.
- Biological evolution
- Inherited changes in populations over generations.
- Cultural change
- Changes in learned practices and technologies.
Branches can overlap in time
- Branches
- Related lineages can coexist. The diagram does not rank people or populations.
Early human evolution has deep African roots. Homo sapiens appeared around 300,000 years ago; other Homo species also existed. Earlier dispersals, including Homo erectus, took place long before our species spread widely.
A row of skulls is a comparison, not proof of a single straight ladder. Hominins are not defined simply as “tool makers”: chimpanzees also make and use tools. The book’s Homo habilis “2–6 million” label should not be read as a reliable age range.
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Question
Were all early human species alive one after another with no overlap?
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04 · Explore
Hunter-gatherers used skill, knowledge and tools
Stone tools extended what hands could do.
- Palaeolithic
- Old Stone Age; long periods associated with chipped stone tools.
- Hunter-gatherer
- A person meeting food needs mainly by gathering wild resources and hunting or fishing.
People used local food resources and moved or stayed according to water, seasons and opportunities. Camps and rock shelters are evidence; not everyone lived in caves. Cooperation and environmental knowledge mattered.
Handaxes, cleavers, scrapers and points had different possible uses. Sites such as Attirampakkam and Isampur preserve very old tool evidence. Earliest known stone tools are about 3.3 million years old, but their makers are not identified with certainty.
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Question
Why should we not call every pointed stone an arrowhead?
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05 · Explore
Smaller tools could be fitted into larger tools
Small does not mean simple or weak.
- Mesolithic
- Middle Stone Age, with regionally varied dates and often microlithic tool industries.
- Microlith
- A small stone component that could be set into a handle or shaft.
After the last Ice Age, changing environments offered varied fish, plants and animals. Microliths could form cutting edges or projectile parts. Gathering and hunting remained important; fishing was not everyone’s only livelihood.
Rock paintings, beads and engravings show symbolic activity. Bhimbetka contains evidence from several periods. A painting can suggest activities and ideas, but it cannot tell us every word people spoke.
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How could a tiny blade be useful?
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06 · Explore
Farming changed how people obtained food
The transition was gradual and uneven.
- Neolithic
- New Stone Age, commonly linked to farming, herding and ground or polished stone tools.
- Domestication
- Changes in plants or animals through sustained human management and selection.
- Sedentism
- Living in one place for long periods.
A possible farming cycle
- Model
- One farming route. Crops can fail, and not all food or resources came from fields.
Growing crops and raising animals gave people more influence over food supplies. Storage, pottery and longer-lasting villages became important in many regions. Different crops and animals were managed in different places.
Farming brought benefits and difficulties: harvests could be stored, but crop failure, disease, hard labour and conflict also occurred. Hunter-gathering did not disappear everywhere, and settled life could precede farming.
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Question
Why is the “Neolithic revolution” not a change that happened worldwide in one year?
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07 · Explore
Early farming villages differed across the subcontinent
Compare evidence, not a single uniform lifestyle.
- Granary
- A place used to store grain.
- Husbandry
- Care and management of domesticated animals.
Mehrgarh, near the Bolan River in present-day Pakistan, has early farming evidence from around 7000 BCE. Wheat, barley, sheep, goats and cattle feature in the chapter’s account, alongside mud-brick homes and craft objects.
Other regions developed different crop, settlement and tool traditions. Sanganakallu is a southern Neolithic example. Regional dates should not be collapsed into one claim that every community was farming by a fixed year.
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Question
What two kinds of evidence could support the idea that a site had farming?
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08 · Explore
Age names describe materials and technologies
Stone did not vanish when metal appeared.
- Chalcolithic
- Copper-and-Stone Age: copper and stone tools used together.
- Bronze
- An alloy, often of copper and tin.
- Metallurgy
- Extracting and working metals.
Materials and knowledge work together
- Model
- A conceptual metalworking route, not instructions to smelt metal at home.
The broad sequence of Stone, Copper-and-Stone, Bronze and Iron ages helps organise technological change. Its timing varies by region, and tools made from older materials often continued in use.
Metals supported crafts, farming, trade and weapons. A new metal alone did not guarantee better lives for everyone. Social organisation and access to resources also mattered.
| Period | Typical evidence | Remember |
|---|---|---|
| Palaeolithic | Chipped stone; hunting and gathering | Very long, varied period |
| Mesolithic | Microliths; varied wild resources | Dates differ by region |
| Neolithic | Food production; pottery; polished tools | Gradual, uneven transitions |
| Chalcolithic | Copper with stone | Materials overlap |
| Bronze / Iron ages | Metalworking with older tools too | No universal start date |
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Question
Why can a Chalcolithic site contain many stone tools?
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09 · Explore
Regional settlements grew into connected urban centres
Look for continuity and change together.
- Urban centre
- A large settlement with specialised activities and services.
- Early and Mature Harappan
- Broad phases before and during the major urban flourishing of Harappan civilisation.
Different activities can connect a city
- Model
- A relationship diagram, not a Harappan city plan. Food and craft exchanges support connected settlements.
The Indus/Harappan civilisation, called Sindhu–Sarasvatī in the book, developed through earlier regional communities. Crafts, exchange and settlement organisation changed over centuries; the mature urban phase is commonly placed around 2600–1900 BCE.
Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, Rakhigarhi, Kalibangan and Lothal are important sites. Features include planned settlements, drainage, water management, crafts, seals and weights. Do not assume every site had the same layout.
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Question
Why is a civilisation’s origin better described as a process than a single invention?
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10 · Explore
Shared measurements made exchange easier
A standard works only when people use it consistently.
- Standardisation
- Using agreed measures or patterns.
- Surplus
- Production beyond immediate needs, available for storage or exchange.
Pottery, bead-making, shell working and copper craft show skill and networks. Kalibangan’s excavated furrows suggest agricultural practices; they do not prove the modern rabi–kharif calendar unchanged for 5,000 years.
Harappan stone weights follow regular relationships, including doubled small units. Standards help traders compare amounts. Dholavira’s water storage shows planning; the basin at Lothal is widely interpreted as a dock, though interpretations are debated.
An illustrative double-unit pattern
1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Each value is twice the preceding one. These are relative units, not grams read from the photograph.
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Question
How does a shared weight standard help buyers and sellers?
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