From roughly 10,000 years ago, humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to food production. Early humans used simple stone tools for tasks like catching insects and other small animals. Around 10,000 years ago, some groups began cultivating plants and domesticating animals, marking the beginning of agriculture and the Neolithic period. Key developments included the domestication of crops and animals in places like the Middle East, and innovations like grinding stones and the wheel, which revolutionized tasks like pottery making.

1. From Food Gathering to Food
Production
Presented by
Swetha sabu

2. Have you imagined what human life was like
in early times ? People used to live by hunting
and gathering fruits and vegetables . Human
habitation was limited to a few places . People
lived in small groups . It was about 10000
years ago that human beings to produce food .

3. The following table shows some
differences in the use of tools by
human beings and animals .
Animals
. The chimpanzee catches ants From
anthills with the help of a thing stick
and eat them .
. The spider uses a liquid produced
in its on body to weave a web and
trap their pray .
. The lion and tiger using their strong
teeth . Attack other animals and
make them food .
Human Beings
. Human beings break branches
from trees, shape them in to the
required shape and then use them
to catch ants or other insects.
. Man makes use of materials like
thread and coconut fibre gathered
from out side to make nets and
capture other creature.
. Using sharp sticks and stones
catch other animals and eat them .

4. The first tools used by man were
……………………………………………
…………….
. Pieces of stone
. Stone slivers
. Pieces of bone
. Pieces of wood

5. Stone Age
…………………….
 Stone blades , made by chopping stone , were used as
weapons and tools. Both the core tools and flakes were
sharpened by primitive man and used for catching prey
and for self-protection . Through careful observation and
from experience , human beings learnt to distinguish
poisonous plans and useful plans for gathering food , it
was necessary to observe the changing seasons and
climatic conditions and time of sunrise and sunset . This
was the beginning of astronomy , geology , scientific
awareness of humanity . The discovery of fire and its
control were two of the most revolutionary achievements
of these period of history .

6. Primitive man roasts flesh and
eats it

7. Implements of the Stone age

8. Subsistence patterns
 As the evidence relating to the food habits of the
primitive stone age man is very limited ,it is not
possible to gather a clear picture on this. The cave
paintings in Bhimbetka in Madhya pradesh and in
Althamira in Spain give some details about the early
stone age man searching for food

9. Cave painting in Bhimbetika
and Cave painting in Altamira

10. Mesolithic Age
 The mesolithic age is the period between Paleolithic
Age and Neolithic Age . During this period ,
substantial changes took place in climate .The
change from the extreme cold of the ice age to a
warmer climate , the high temperature in the
atmosphere , there were evident changes in the
making of tools too . Very small tools of stones called
microliths were a special feature of the Mesolithic
Age.

11. Microliths Age

12. The origin of agriculture
 On occasions , when men went out hunting , the
women who gathered vegetables and fruits may have
brought back the seeds . They would have seen that
these seeds which threw in to the soil around there
dwelling places sprouted , became plants , flowered
and bore fruits which turned ripe and could be eaten
.

13. Neolithic Age
 The practice of producing food for the livelihood
totally changed human life . This is a major aspect of
the Neolithisc Age or New Stone Age . This Age is
referred to as the period when the stone tools , made
sharper by grinding , began to e used. Evidence of
farming have been seen in Jarmo and Jericho , on
the banks of the river Jordan in West Asia , and of
cattle rearing from certain parts of Africa . Gradually
it was recognized that agriculture and cattle-rearing
are mutually supportive .

14. The Neolithic Age

15. Tools of the New Stone Age

16. The invention of the wheel
 The invention of the wheel brought about major
changes in human life . We do not know when and
how the wheel was invented . The invention of the
wheel revolutionized transport and industry . It was
easy now to make clay pots by shaping clay placed
over a turning wheel . Use of the wheel in the
manufacture of the clay pots led to a need for special
training . This led to specialization .

17. Picture of the manufacture of
clay pots

18. Harappan seal depicting man
standing in a chariot
And
From 2500 B.C carriages ad
charios were used in places like
Syria and Elam

19. Vehicles and Animals
 Donkeys were rare as early as 5000 years ago as
beasts of burden . Merchandise was transported of
donkeys in the trade between Babylon and Asia
Minor . The donkey is believed to be a native of
North Eastern Africa. Donkeys were used for tilling
the soil and for carrying loads in Egypt and
Mesopotamia .

20. Arts and Ritual Performances
 Bands of reindeer , which went in search of new pastures
, where killed by the Stone Age people . At the beginning
of every season the first animal hunted by them was
dedicated to the unknown soul . The cave paintings and
drawings are an extension of there rituals and practices .
With the production of surplus by the Neolithic Age more
leisure was available . This led to the development of
artistic activities light music and paintings . Migrations
and invasions of different groups of people, let to
intermixture of rituals and practices . Along with these ,
sudden floods , hurricanes , epidemics etc . May have
shaken the very foundation of the society . By the end of
Neolithic Age , agriculture developed with the support of
better technology . Gradually , a village society imarged

21. A Cave painting depicting the
operation of an ancient musical
instrument