Class 6, Social Studies
1. What is Civilization?
When the human society reached an advanced stage of social development and organisation it is known as Civilization
2. What is Civilised society?
A Civilised society has the highly developed form of government, culture, industry, common social norms etc.
3. Why do early civilisation developed near rivers?
· Earliest civilisation developed during early bronze age.
· Near rivers, water, food were easily available, land were fertile and suitable for agriculture.
· Copper was found near rivers
· Rivers were used for transportation and it helped in trading
4. Write a brief note on Indus valley civilization?
· It is one of the world`s largest civilization
· It began nearly 5000 years ago
· It belonged to Chalcolithic age/ Bronze age
· Artefacts made up of copper/ stone have been found
· First Indus valley site to be excavated in 1920 is Harappa in Pakistan
· Largest towns and cities of Indus valley civilization is Harappa and Mohenjo Daro
· Most important sites that were excavated were Harappa and Mohenja Daro is present day Pakistan, Kalibangam in Rajasthan, Ropar in Punjab, Lothal in Gujarat, Banawali and Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Dholavira in Kanchch
5. What are the major sites of Indus Valley Civilization?
· Harappa — Archaeological site at Punjab in Pakistan
· Mohenjo Daro — Literally Mohenjo Daro means Mound of Death built around 2500 BCE
· It is situated at sind province of Pakistan
· It is the World Heritage site declared by UNESCO in 1980
· Kalibangan — Developed at Drishadvati and Saraswati river in Rajasthan. It has unique fire altars
· Lothal — It was the prominent trading centre of Indus Valley civilization located in Gujarat.
· They transported valuable Gems, Ornaments to West Asia and Africa through Arabian sea from Lothal
6. What are the sources for studying about Indus Valley Civilization?
The main sources for studying about Indus valley civilization are Terracotta seals, square in shape with animal and human figures engraved on them
7. What types of bricks used to built the cities and towns?
· Engineers of ancient civilization were very skilful
· They used burnt bricks in making drains and roads
· They baked bricks in oven outside the town limits
8. How was the Harappan towns built?
· Harappan towns were well planned and they had two parts.
· Upper part also called as Citadel and was a raised platform that include Great Bath, Granaries and Town hall
· Lower part/ Lower town has residential buildings / Houses
9. Where were the store houses found?
· Store houses were found in Mohenja Daro, Harappa, Lothal
· All surplus grains are stored in the Store houses
· Store houses were built near the river banks
· Harappan had more than six store house
10. What is Great Bath?
· Prominent structure of Indus Valley Civilization found at Mohenja Daro was a very special tank called as Great Bath by archaeologist
· It was a very large swimming pool and was water tight
· It may be used for ritual bathing purpose
11. How were the houses and streets and Drainage system was in Indus Valley Civilization?
· There was a evidence of Town hall/ assembly hall
· Houses were two storeyed built on either side of streets and had a central courtyard and bathing area
· Corners of the streets were rounded for turning of carts
· Drainage system was impressive, and they prevented the leakage of dirty water, Clogging and overflow of dirty water through the wooden screen filters
· House drains were connected to main drains
12. List the life and Occupation of Indus valley civilization?
· Farming is the main Occupation of the people
· Crops grown are rice, wheat, barley, pulses, peas, seasame, linseed, mustard
· Ploughs and sickles were used
· Irrigation was also adopted
· Fishing is the another main occupation
· Their seals had goats, sheep, bison, hump bull symbols
· Pottery is the another main occupation
· Most of the pots were red ware and used as storage pots and burial containers
· They found spindles — These are used to spin threads
· They found ornaments made of gold, silver, bronze beads
· Stones like lapis lazuli, agate, carnelian were used to make beads
· Copper and Bronze were used to make weapons and tools like knives and razors
· Children played using marbles, rattles, whistles etc.
13. Write about the Trading system in Harappa?
· Mesopotamian seals were found in Harappa
· Dockyard in Lothal suggested that there was a brisk trade
· Trade was mainly done on Beads, Ornaments, Pots, Metal tools and Seals
· Copper from Rajasthan and Tin from Bangladesh trade may be carried out
· 14. What are the seals used in Indus valley civilization?
Seals were used by merchants for stamping purpose
· Some seals that were excavated are Pashupati seal, Unicorn seal, Bull seal
15. Write about Dholavira?
· It is one of the largest settlements of the Indus valley civilization
· It is located at Khadir Beyt in Rann of Kutch
· Dholavira is divided into three parts. Citadel, Middle town and lower town
· Dholavira is in the shape of parallelogram
· It is known as lake city of Indus valley civilization and also the paradise in desert
· They made ornaments using lapiz, Lazuli,agate, silver, gold etc.
· Archaeologist named Rangbhoomi, which was an open stadium
· People have the knowledge of sophisticated water conservation system
· They stored rain water here
· Dholovira is older than Lothal
16. Write in short about Lothal?
· Lothal prominent trading centre of this civilization
· It has the dockyard evidence
· It is located in Bhal region modern day Gujarat.
· People of Lothal traded Gems, beads, ornaments
· They had trade relationship with Mesopotamia ( Modern Iraq), Egypt, Persia and African countries
· They had store houses for storing grains and other items
· Constant threat of tropical storms and floods might have led to the destruction of Lothal port
17. What may be the reason for the decline of Indus valley civilization?
Major factors that caused decline of Indus valley civilization is’
a) Natural calamities such as flood/ Earthquake
b) Climatic changes leading to drought
c) Rivers may have changed the direction or may be dried up affecting the agriculture
d) Trading towns like Lothal, Dholavira may be deteriorated leading to the decline of civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization:
· It is the earliest of all civilization
· Mesopotamia is a Greek word which means “Between the rivers”
· Here it is between the Tigris river and Euphrates river
· This civilization lasted for 3000 years
· People first developed the practice of writing, mathematics and use of metals
· Cities were divided into three parts. One for religious purposes, other was fortified, third was outer town
· Central portion has temple built on Ziggurats
· They worshipped several god and goddess
· Mesopotamia political structure represented the early form of democracy.