Chapter 4 – Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation Class 9th History 2026-27

Chapter 4 – Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation

1. Before Writing: Early Human History

More than 99% of human history belongs to the period before writing.
The chapter divides human history broadly into:
- Before writing: about 6 million years ago to 5,000 years ago
- After writing: the last 5,000 years, including the present.
Before writing, we mainly depend on archaeological evidence.
Important evidence includes:
- Stone tools
- Pottery
- Bones and fossils
- Buildings
- Cave paintings
- Other objects made or used by humans.
After writing developed, written records became another important source.

Why study early humans?

It helps us understand:

Human biological evolution
Cultural evolution
Changes in climate and environment
Development of tools and technology
Development of farming and settlements
Beginning of civilisation.

2. Human Evolution

Biological Evolution

Gradual physical and genetic changes through which early human ancestors developed into modern humans.

Cultural Evolution

Changes in human behaviour, technology and lifestyle as humans adapted to their surroundings.

Important Human Ancestors

Human ancestor	Time/Place	Important feature
Homo habilis	2–6 million years ago, Africa	Made simple chopper stone tools
Homo erectus	About 2 million years ago, Eastern African Rift Valley	Made handaxes and cleavers; among the first to leave Africa
Homo neanderthalensis	Until about 40,000 years ago, Europe & Southwest Asia	Made Middle Palaeolithic flake tools
Homo sapiens	Modern humans	Only human species living today

The chapter explains that early ancestors evolved in Africa. Homo erectus began spreading outside Africa around 2 million years ago. Another major movement of humans out of Africa occurred around 125,000 years ago.

Hominin: A group that includes modern humans and their early human-like ancestors.

Fossil: Preserved remains, traces or impressions of plants, animals or humans from the distant past.

3. Archaeology

Archaeology is the study of material remains to understand the past.

Archaeologists study:

Tools
Fossils
Bones
Pottery
Buildings
Paintings
Other artefacts

Important point

The discovery of tools and fossils helps us understand how early humans lived.

4. Periods of Early Human History

Period	Main features
Palaeolithic – Old Stone Age	Hunting-gathering; simple stone tools
Mesolithic – Middle Stone Age	Microliths; transition towards food production
Neolithic – New Stone Age	Farming, domestication, settled life, polished stone tools
Chalcolithic – Copper-Stone Age	Copper used along with stone
Bronze Age	Bronze metallurgy; towns, trade and civilisations
Iron Age	Widespread iron use; stronger tools and weapons

The textbook presents these stages according to changes in technology, food production, lifestyle and settlement patterns.

Important: The exact dates of these stages were not the same everywhere. The textbook specifically points out that agricultural development occurred at different times in different regions.

5. Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers

Time

The Indian subcontinent has evidence of human settlement going back to about 2 million years ago.

Palaeo = old
Lithic = stone

Therefore, Palaeolithic = Old Stone Age.

Lifestyle

People mainly:

Hunted animals
Gathered plants and other natural foods
Moved from place to place according to resources.

Tools

They used:

Handaxes
Cleavers
Choppers
Scrapers
Borers
Points

These tools were used for:

Cutting meat
Digging tubers
Scraping animal skin
Breaking bones to obtain marrow.

Later developments

Humans developed:

Bow and arrow
Blades and microblades
Better hunting techniques
Symbolic communication
Cave and rock-shelter paintings
Body decoration using pigments
Beads made of stone, bone and shell.

Important Indian sites

Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu: about 1.5–1.7 million years ago
Isampur, Karnataka: about 1.2 million years ago
Evidence includes animal fossils, handaxes, cleavers, scrapers and choppers.

6. Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers

Time

Around 12,000 years ago, Earth's climate became warmer.

Changes

Forests and grasslands expanded.
New resources became available:
- Fish
- Small game animals
- Wild grains
Human population increased.

Tools

Microliths = very small stone tools.

They were useful for:

Hunting
Gathering
Fishing
Processing food.

Lifestyle

Fishing became an important part of the economy.
Caves and rock shelters were commonly occupied.
Art became more developed.

Important site

Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh

A World Heritage Site.
Contains hundreds of painted rock shelters.
Shows Mesolithic and earlier human occupation.

7. Neolithic Revolution

The gradual shift from hunting and gathering to farming and food production is called the Neolithic Revolution.

Major changes

Domestication of plants
Domestication of animals
Agriculture
Food production
Permanent settlements
Polished stone tools
Pottery
New tools for producing and processing food
Beginning of village life.

Domestication

Domestication means bringing selected plants and animals under human control.

Why was it important?

Farmers could produce surplus food and material goods. This helped create larger settlements and eventually laid the foundation for urban civilisation.

Important: The Neolithic Revolution did not happen everywhere at the same time.

8. Neolithic Period in the Indian Subcontinent

Mehrgarh

Location: Bolan River, present-day Pakistan
Date: About 7000 BCE

Mehrgarh was:

The oldest Neolithic site mentioned in the chapter.
One of the earliest agricultural villages in the Indian subcontinent.

People of Mehrgarh

They:

Built sun-dried brick houses
Built granaries
Buried their dead in graves
Made ornaments from:
- Lapis lazuli
- Carnelian
- Shells
Cultivated:
- Wheat
- Barley
Raised:
- Sheep
- Goats
- Indian cattle/Zebu.

Copper

By about 4000 BCE, people at Mehrgarh were making copper objects.

This marked the beginning of the Chalcolithic/metal age in the region.

By about 2000 BCE

Most of the Indian subcontinent had Neolithic agricultural communities practising:

Cattle herding
Sheep and goat herding
Cultivation of cereals
Millets
Pulses.

9. Sindhu–Sarasvatī / Harappan Civilisation

Important Timeline

7000 BCE: Neolithic background
4500 BCE: Chalcolithic phase
3300 BCE: Bronze Age
Early Harappan: about 3300–2600 BCE
Mature Harappan: about 2600–1900 BCE
Late Harappan: about 1900–1300 BCE.

Development

Copper tools increased productivity in the fertile Indus and Ghaggar-Sarasvatī regions.

Regional cultures gradually developed common features such as:

Pottery traditions
Stone beads
Shell bangles
Terracotta objects
Copper working
Seals
Writing/script.

Major features

Well-planned cities
Water-management systems
Drainage systems
Standard weights and measures
Pottery
Bead-making
Copper and shell work
Seals
Long-distance trade
Writing/script.

Kalibangan

Evidence of ploughed fields shows a tradition of cultivation with horizontal and vertical furrows, suggesting double-crop cultivation.

Harappan weights

Harappans used a standard system of weights:

Smaller units followed binary multiples such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Larger denominations used multiples of ten.

Harappan Script

Found on objects such as seals and pottery.
It appears to be a pictographic script.
It has not yet been deciphered.
Therefore, many details about Harappan society remain unknown.

10. Bronze Age Civilisations Outside India

Four major early civilisations developed in river regions:

Civilisation	Main river/region
Sindhu–Sarasvatī	Sindhu & Sarasvatī regions
Mesopotamian	Tigris & Euphrates
Egyptian	Nile
Chinese	Huang He & Yangtze

Rivers helped provide:

Water
Fertile land
Agriculture
Transport
Trade
Settlements.

11. Mesopotamian Civilisation

Meaning

Mesopotamia = “land in between”

It lies between the:

Tigris River
Euphrates River

It mainly covered present-day Iraq and nearby regions.

Timeline

The chapter's timeline shows:

Neolithic: about 7500 BCE
Chalcolithic: about 5500 BCE
Bronze Age begins around 3500 BCE
Sumerian period: from about 3000 BCE
Akkadian: 2334 BCE onward
Babylonian period: around 1900 BCE onward.

City-States

A city-state is a state centred on a city that controls the surrounding territory.

Four major Mesopotamian civilisations were:

Sumerian
Akkadian
Assyrian
Babylonian.

Sumerians

One of the earliest city-based civilisations.
Developed at Ur and other cities in Sumer.
Built dams and canals for irrigation.
Used mud bricks and burnt bricks.
Built ziggurats—large stepped temple structures.
Worshipped many gods.
Developed the cuneiform writing system.

Cuneiform

Wedge-shaped marks were pressed into wet clay tablets.
Used by different Mesopotamian peoples.
Records included:
- Laws
- Myths
- Hymns
- Education
- Farming
- Craft production
- Trade.

Important inventions

Sumerians are credited in the chapter with:

Wheeled cart
Sailboat
Mathematical calculations
Systems of measurement
60-based number system.

Babylonians

Hammurabi became ruler around 1792 BCE.

His major contribution was the Code of Hammurabi, a collection of rules for civil and social conduct.

Mesopotamia–Harappan Contact

There was strong contact and trade between Mesopotamia and the Harappan civilisation.

Mesopotamian records mention Meluhha, generally associated in the chapter with the Harappan region.

12. Egyptian Civilisation

Location

Developed along the Nile River.

Timeline

Neolithic: 5500 BCE
Chalcolithic: 4000 BCE
Bronze Age/Egyptian civilisation: around 3100 BCE
Old Kingdom: 2686–2181 BCE
Middle Kingdom: 2030–1650 BCE
New Kingdom: 1570–1069 BCE.

Writing

Egyptians used hieroglyphic writing.

They also used papyrus—a writing material made from the papyrus plant.

Papyrus

The plant was cut into strips, pressed, dried and polished to make sheets.

Papyrus Ebers contains more than 700 cures and spells related to Egyptian medicine.

Pharaohs

Egyptian rulers were called Pharaohs.

Pyramids

Pharaohs were buried in large structures.
Mastabas gradually developed into pyramids.
Step Pyramid at Saqqara is an important example.

Mummification

Egyptians preserved dead bodies because they believed the person's ka (spiritual double) continued after death.

Process included:

Removing internal organs except the heart
Drying the body with natron
Oiling the body
Wrapping it in linen
Placing it in a coffin.

Rosetta Stone

Found in 1799.
Had three types of writing, including Greek.
Jean-François Champollion deciphered Egyptian script in 1822.

13. Chinese Civilisation

Location

Developed mainly along:

Huang He (Yellow River)
Yangtze River

Timeline

Neolithic cultures: around 7000 BCE
Bronze Age: around 2000 BCE
Urban centres: around 1600 BCE
Iron Age: around 600 BCE
Shang Dynasty: 1600–1046 BCE
Zhou Dynasty: 1046–256 BCE
Qin Dynasty: 221–206 BCE
Han Dynasty: 206 BCE–220 CE.

Development

Copper-bronze technology appeared around 2000 BCE.
Urban centres developed around 1600 BCE.
Agriculture, metallurgy and crafts expanded.
Iron became popular around 600 BCE.

Important dynasties

Shang

Bronze Age dynasty.

Zhou

Ruled after the Shang.
Zhou rulers were regarded as kings and priests.
They were believed to be appointed by Heaven.

Qin

First imperial dynasty of China.
Credited with unifying China.

Han

Important Iron Age dynasty.
Ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE.

⭐ One-Page Timeline for Revision

6 million years ago → Early human history begins in the chapter's broad timeline
↓
2–6 million years ago → Homo habilis
↓
2 million years ago → Homo erectus; movement out of Africa
↓
1.7–1.5 million years ago → Attirampakkam
↓
1.2 million years ago → Isampur
↓
~40,000 years ago → Neanderthals until about this time
↓
~12,000 years ago → Warmer climate; Mesolithic developments
↓
7000 BCE → Mehrgarh; early Neolithic farming
↓
4000 BCE → Copper objects at Mehrgarh; Chalcolithic
↓
3300 BCE → Bronze Age / Early Harappan phase
↓
2600–1900 BCE → Mature Harappan phase
↓
1900–1300 BCE → Late Harappan phase
↓
~3000 BCE onward → Sumerian city-based civilisation
↓
2334 BCE → Akkadian period
↓
~1792 BCE → Hammurabi's rule begins
↓
3100 BCE onward → Egyptian civilisation timeline
↓
1600 BCE → Shang dynasty
↓
1046 BCE → Zhou dynasty
↓
600 BCE → Iron Age becomes prominent in China
↓
221 BCE → Qin imperial period
↓
206 BCE–220 CE → Han dynasty

Facts

Palaeolithic = Old Stone Age
Mesolithic = Middle Stone Age
Neolithic = New Stone Age
Chalcolithic = Copper + Stone
Bronze = Copper + Tin
Homo habilis → chopper tools
Homo erectus → handaxes & cleavers
Bhimbetka → rock paintings
Mehrgarh → early farming village, ~7000 BCE
Harappan → planned cities, drainage, weights and seals
Harappan script → undeciphered
Mesopotamia → Tigris + Euphrates
Cuneiform → Mesopotamian writing
Egypt → Nile + hieroglyphics + pyramids
China → Huang He + Yangtze; Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han

Rebellion Classes