Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation — Class 9 MCQs with Answers

Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation — important questions & MCQs with answers (Class 9 Social Science)

6 solved questions from this chapter's difficulty levels, each with its answer and explanation. Tap an option to check yourself.

0 of 6 answered

1. Q1 of 6Easy

   The Stone Age is named so because the tools of that period were mainly made of which material?

   AIronBStoneCBronzeDClay
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   Answer: Stone

   Explanation: The earliest humans made their tools and weapons chiefly from stone, which is why the period is called the Stone Age.

2. Q2 of 6Easy

   The most important new activity that began in the Neolithic Age was:

   AHunting large animalsBFarming (growing crops)CBuilding pyramidsDMaking iron tools
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   Answer: Farming (growing crops)

   Explanation: In the Neolithic Age people learned to grow crops, which marked the beginning of agriculture and settled life.

3. Q3 of 6Medium

   The Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt 'the gift of the Nile'. What does this phrase mean?

   AEgypt had no use for the riverBEgypt gave the Nile as a gift to its neighboursCEgyptian civilisation depended on the Nile's water and fertile flood-soilDThe Nile destroyed Egypt every year
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   Answer: Egyptian civilisation depended on the Nile's water and fertile flood-soil

   Explanation: The Nile's regular floods left fertile silt for farming and supplied water and transport, so Egyptian civilisation owed its survival to the river.

4. Q4 of 6Medium

   Assertion (A): Unlike the cuneiform script of the Sumerians, the Harappan script has not yet been deciphered. Reason (R): The Harappan script was written by pressing wedge-shaped marks onto soft clay tablets.

   ABoth A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of ABBoth A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of ACA is true but R is falseDA is false but R is true
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   Answer: A is true but R is false

   Explanation: The Harappan script (Sindhu lipi), known from seals and pottery, is pictographic and has not yet been deciphered, whereas cuneiform has been. Pressing wedge-shaped marks into soft clay tablets describes cuneiform itself, so the reason is false.

5. Q5 of 6Hard

   Archaeologists find a layer with microliths, bones of small fast animals and grinding stones, but no metal and no large polished axes. To which period does this layer most likely belong, and why?

   APalaeolithic, because microliths are the oldest toolsBMesolithic/transition to Neolithic, because microliths and small-animal remains appear before metals and polished toolsCBronze Age, because grinding stones prove metal useDIron Age, because microliths are made of iron
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   Answer: Mesolithic/transition to Neolithic, because microliths and small-animal remains appear before metals and polished tools

   Explanation: Microliths and remains of small, fast animals are typical of the Mesolithic, and the absence of metal places it before the Bronze Age while grinding stones hint at the move towards Neolithic food processing.

6. Q6 of 6Hard

   Assertion (A): Farming led people to settle down permanently. Reason (R): Crops have to be tended and harvested at a fixed place over time.

   ABoth A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of ABBoth A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of ACA is true but R is falseDA is false but R is true
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   Answer: Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A

   Explanation: Crops must be sown, tended and harvested in one place over a season, which is exactly why farming made people settle permanently; so R correctly explains A.

Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation notes: key concepts (Class 9 Social Science)

Humans lived as hunter-gatherers for most of their history before learning to farm, and settled farming made cities and civilisations possible. This chapter traces that shift from the Stone Age through the Neolithic revolution to the Harappan and other early civilisations.

Hunter-gatherers

Early humans who lived by hunting animals and gathering plants, moving with the seasons and living in small groups.

Palaeolithic age

The Old Stone Age, characterised by rough stone tools, cave shelters, and the discovery and control of fire.

Mesolithic age

The Middle Stone Age, marked by small sharp microlithic tools and the beginnings of animal domestication.

Neolithic revolution

The change from food gathering to food PRODUCING through farming and herding — the single most important shift in early human history.

Domestication

Taming and breeding animals and selecting plants for cultivation, which gave a steady food supply and reduced the need to move.

Settled life and surplus

Farming let people stay in one place and produce more food than they needed, and that surplus supported people who did other work.

Division of labour and craft

With a surplus, some people became potters, weavers, metalworkers and priests, creating specialised occupations for the first time.

Civilisation

A complex society with cities, planned settlement, writing, specialised occupations, organised government and social classes.

River valleys and early civilisations

The earliest civilisations grew beside rivers — the Indus, Nile, Tigris-Euphrates and Huang He — for water, fertile silt and transport.

Harappan civilisation

The Bronze Age civilisation of the Indus and Saraswati region, known for planned cities, standardised bricks and long-distance trade.

Harappan town planning

Cities laid out on a grid with a raised citadel and lower town, covered drains, public wells and the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro.

Harappan seals and script

Carved seals bearing animal motifs and a short script that remains undeciphered, probably used to mark goods in trade.

Decline of the Harappan civilisation

Explained variously by climate change, the drying of rivers, floods and the breakdown of trade; no single cause is agreed.

Archaeological evidence

Knowledge of these periods rests on excavated tools, pottery, bones, seals and building remains rather than on written records.