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Class 12 Anthropology Chapter 4 Division of Prehistoric Cultures
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Division of Prehistoric Cultures
Chapter – 4
| QUESTIONS |
1. Which was the first metal used by man?
Ans: The first metal used by man is Copper.
2. Name the tool that was made from the main stone?
Ans: The tools that were made from the main stone are: Pebble tool, handaxe, cleaver, chopper etc.
3. Name the first tool used by man.
Ans: The first tool used by man is a chopper.
4. From which cultural period was the handaxe used?
Ans: Lower Palaeolithic cultural period was the handaxe used.
5. Grinding and polishing technique was used in which cultural period?
Ans: The grinding and polishing technique was primarily used during the Neolithic period.
6. Microliths belong to which cultural period?
Ans: Microliths belong to the Mesolithic period.
7. What are the divisions of prehistory?
Ans: The cultural evolution of man thus began with the stone age, prevailed for a longer period of time, divided into palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic which are characterised by distinctive cultural components. Stone age is followed by metal age with the use of three different metals – copper, bronze and iron one after another. However, mere use of copper is generally not regarded as a distinct age, as it is mostly associated with bronze. Therefore, Metal Age has basically two divisions (i) Copper bronze and (ii) Iron Age.
8. From which cultural period bone needles were prepared?
Ans: Bone needles were prepared during the Upper Paleolithic period.
9. Who invented Mousterian culture?
Ans: Neanderthal Man invented Mousterian culture.
10. Who used the term Neolithic revolution?
Ans: The term Neolithic revolution used by V.Gordon Childe.
11. What is the core tool?
Ans: A core tool is a type of stone tool made by shaping a core or large piece of rock to create a functional tool.
12. Name two tools belongs to Mousterian culture.
Ans: The two tools belongs to Mousterian culture are:
(i) Side Scrapers.
(ii) Levallois Points.
13. What are microliths? How are they used?
Ans: Microliths were mounted individually or were arranged in a line to provide a long edge. They were used as armatures on arrows or darts, or were the cutting edge for knives.By using small microliths in composite tools, the repair-kit did not require large stones.
14. What do you mean by Palaeolithic tools?
Ans: “Palaeolithic tools” refers to the rudimentary, chipped stone tools and other implements used by early humans during the Paleolithic period, also known as the Old Stone Age.
15. What are the raw materials used to prepare different types of tools during the palaeolithic period?
Ans: The upper palaeolithic man utilised not only stone but also a number of organic materials like bone, horn, ivory, antler etc. as a raw material for making tools. Utilisation of such materials by the upper palaeolithic man led to develop a distinct bone tool industry. The tools like harpoon, needle, lance point, baton-de-commandement used for various purposes were part of this bone tool industry.
16. Name few Neolithic tools.
Ans: Few Neolithic tools are: axe, adze, chisel hoes, sickle etc.
17. Name some important tools of the palaeolithic period.
Ans: Some important tools of the palaeolithic period are Handaxe,cleaver,Scraper, Blade tool , Borer or Awl etc.
18. Write briefly on middle palaeolithic culture of Europe.
Ans: The Middle Palaeolithic period began in Riss or third So glacial phase of Upper Pleistocene geological epoch and mere continued till the fourth or Wurm glacial phase in Europe. In name terms of stratigraphy, tool typology as well as use of raw ste materials middle palaeolithic is very different than that of earlier noy Lower Palaeolithic culture. During the period flake tools dite became very prominent and hand axes were almost absent. Scrapers, points, borers were the common tool kit. The remains mig of Middle Palaeolithic culture were first discovered at a cave site located in Le Moustier in France and accordingly the culture was identified as Mousterian Culture. In 1969 Gabriel de Mortilet identified Mousterian remains as the culture of Middle Palaeolithic period.
19. What is handaxe? Show its different parts with a neat diagram.
Ans: Handaxe is a typical tool of Lower palweolithic culture.Hand axe was used to perform many purposes like cutting, digging, scraping, thinning and others. Stone hammer, soft hammer are the techniques involved in the preparation of various kinds of hand axes.
20. What are the salient features of upper palaeolithic culture?
Ans: The salient features of upper palaeolithic culture are:
(i)The tools of Upper Palaeolithic were more complex and specialised.
(ii) The upper palaeolithic man prepared a variety of tools made on thin, elongated, parallel sided blade flakes.
(iii) Various Knife blades made on blade flakes were very common occurrence and these are regarded as the characteristic tools of this period.
(iv) Graver or burin were another typical tool of this age.
(v) The upper Palaeolithic industry is commonly known as blade and burin industry.
21. What is Neolithic revolution? What are the changes that occured in human society in the Neolithic period?
Ans: The concept of Neolithic Revolution, Childe however, did not mean that changes occurred suddenly or abruptly but indicated about the major shift in life from hunting-gathering to farming.
Introduction of plant and animal domestication led to major change in the lifeways of the Neolithic people. During palaeolithic as well as Mesolithic, people lived a nomadic way of life, moving from one place to another in search of food Agriculture provided an opportunity to settle in one place and to develop a village life. Neolithic people started living villages. To serve the purpose of doing agriculture people needed a new category of tools. They invented grinding and polishing technique and prepared tools like axe, adze, chisel hoes, sickle etc. which fitted with the agricultural activities Blessed with food security for longer period of time people involved in creative work like spinning, weaving, basket making in their leisure time. To meet the need of cooking th art of pot making evolved. Such Changes in the material culture resulted changes in society and social life. In aggregate it ca be said that Neolithic represented a completely different lif style other than Palaeolithic.
22. Write the differences between core tool and flake tool.
Ans:
| Core Tool | Flake Tool |
| (i) a tool is prepared by the removal of certain flakes from a river pebble or a selected lump of stone called core. | (i) Flake tool basically means a tool made out of a flake removed from core. |
| (ii) mostly larger in size. | (ii) Mostly smaller in size. |
| (iii) Mostly from Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods. | (iii) Mostly from Lower Palaeolithic period. |
| (iv) Made by striking a core stone to detach thin, sharp flakes. | (iv) Made by shaping and reducing a large stone through chipping. |
| (v) Examples – pebble tool, axe , cleaver ets. | (v) Examples – Scrapers points, knives ets. |
23. Show the differences between palaeolithic and Neolithic ways of life.
Ans:
| Palaeolithic | Neolithic |
| (i) This is a period of prehistory which lasts from 2.6 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. | (i) This age began around 10,000 years ago and lasted up to 4000 years ago. |
| (ii) The people during that time lived in caves, huts and skin tents. | (ii) People during this period lived in houses made of mud-brick which were supported by timber. |
| (iii) People of palaeolithic were animals skin and leaves. | (iii) People of Neolithic were Woven cloth from plant fibers and wool. |
| (iv) They used chipped stones combined with pieces of wood as their only tool. These were not sharp and were lightweight. | (iv) They used polished stones as a tool. They even polished them further to sharpen them (by grinding) and use them as lethal weapons, for hunting etc. |
| (v) Nomadic people moved from place to place. | (v) People in the neolithic period lived in permanent homes. |
24. Write short note:
(a) Oldwan culture.
Ans: Oldowan represent the oldest cultural evidence from Africa. The type site of the culture is Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania located in Eastern part of Africa. The effort to recover various cultural materials from the gorge have been initiated and continued for several years together by the famous archaeologists Lewis and Marry Leaky. The Oldowan tools are very rudimentary in nature made on river pebbles of varying sizes. These are either unifacially made choppers or bifacially prepared chopping tools. In addition to that there were certain flakes, rudimentary type of flake tools and scrapers which comprises of Oldowan industry. Similar kind of tools have also been discovered not only from Ethiopia, Omo River valley,Egypt but also from present day Gorgea in Central Asia and China, South East Asia. The Oldowan culture was extended from 2.6 million years to 1.5 million years.
The Oldowan culture is associated with the species of Homo habilis, the relics of which was first identified by Marry Leaky in the year 1960 from Olduvai Gorge itself. On the basis of fossilised animal remains it is suggested that the Oldowan people were scavengers and they have been migrated seasonally.
(b) Levalloisian technique.
Ans: Levalloisian represents a flake tool tradition. The culture evolved during the later part of the Lower Palaeolithic phase and flourished in Middle Palaeolithic. it is contemporary to upper Acheulian culture. In North western Europe Levalloisian culture emerged during Riss glacial climate and continued to the Riss-Wurm climatic phase but in some places, it continued even up to the Wurm or fourth glacial phase. As described earlier Levalloisian was an advanced technology in which a core is being prepared before the removal of a flake of desired shape and size. The resulting tool is found very effective with a sharp cutting edge. The method of retouching is applied often to prepare the cutting edge. The Levalloisian tools usually never show the presence of the original cortex. Being contemporary to Upper Acheulian hand axe culture the Levalloisian industry not only consisted of typical flake tools but also possessed some hand axes. But these hand axes were found prepared by the Levalloisian technique rather than soft hammer technique and called as cordate type of hand axe.
(c) Azilian culture.
Ans: Azilian is the oldest transitional Mesolithic culture. It derived its name after the type site at a cave called Mas d’ Azil, located in Southern France. Azilian materials have been recovered from a stratigraphic horizon in between the Final Magdalenian (below) and the Tardenoisian (above). This clearly indicate that the culture has evolved directly out of Magdalenian and centred in the region of Pyrenees. Azilian culture is found distributed in Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy. The approximate dating derived for Azilian is 10,000-12,500 years. In Italy it is dated as 9000 B.C. The climate during Azilian culture was almost similar to present day France but farden due to abundance of shells the scholars opined that the climate aped might be little moist and damp having a thick forest.
Stone tool industry of this culture consisted of microliths burin, scrapers etc. Tools made out of bone and antlers such harpoon with holes, spatulates or chisels and awls were als evident in Azilian sites. In this period the flourishing art upper palaeolithic period is totally disappeared. Some painted river pebbles with horizontal bands, crosses and spots and crosses of red ochre were the only representative of their artistic skill.
(d) Mousterian culture.
Ans: Mousterian Culture was found associated with the Neanderthal man who biologically represents the stage of early Homo sapiens. Neanderthal man possessed developed physical features along with higher cranial capacity as a result of which they could manufacture better and more efficient tools. They have started using varieties of better rock types other than flint such as agate, Jesper, Chalcedony etc for the preparation of flake tools. The Mousterian tool technology is very similar to Levalloisian flaking technique. Tool assemblage of the culture included some smaller sized hand axes made of disk-shaped cores and side scrapers, points and denticulate made on flakes The triangular shaped point is considered as type fossil of the Mousterian culture.
The palaeontological remains of different animals clearly indicate the existence of a cold climatic condition during the period. Due to the influence of such cold climatic condition the people usually occupied the caves and rock shelters as their habitation. The Neanderthal men were basically hunters and in search of food they were used to move from one place to another. The archaeological evidences suggest that they were the first group of people who buried their dead. They also knew the use of fire making.
(e) Kitchen midden.
Ans: Kitchen midden culture derived its name after the huge deposits of kitchen refuge or food waste found in the form of shell heaps in Northern part of Europe. These Glorified Dustbins as often named by M. C. Burkitt, reveals the existence of a distinct culture termed as kitchen midden that prevailed in Mesolithic Europe. The sites of this culture are mainly distributed on the shores of inland waters and the coast of Baltic Sea and found contemporary to Maglemosean culture.
The shell mounds consisted of both stone and bone tools The stone tools commonly associated with Kitchen midden culture includes typical transverse edges arrow heads and broad ended axe. Core and flake scrapers, proto-Solutrean picks, awl and various types of microliths and specially trapezes were the other associated tools. Horn and antlers were engrave beautifully which reflects the artistic skill of the people.
Sun baked potteries have been recovered from sever sites of Kitchen-Midden culture. Dog was found tamed by the people. From the paleontological sources found near Baltic coast it is assumed that kitchen midden culture was created by Homo sapiens
(f) Campignian.
Ans: Campignian tradition was first identified at Belgium. importantly, the materials have been unearthed from similar stratigraphic context as evident at the site of Mas d’ Azil elonging to Azilian culture. The culture is found distributed In large parts of North Western Europe. The people of this cultural phase lived in pit dwelling (a type of dwelling below he earth surface). The Campignian industry was discovered from these pits. The characteristic tools of the culture were Campignian axes, picks and transverse arrow-heads. Other common tools were Awls, scrapers on cores and on flakes. The presence of coarse pottery, domesticated animals remain Indicate its closeness to early Neolithic.
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