NCERT 6th Class (CBSE) Social Science: The Birth of a Civilization

Question: When and how was the site of Harappa first encountered?

Answer: Around a hundred and fifty years ago, when railway lines were being laid in Punjab, engineers stumbled upon the site of Harappa.

Question: How old are Harappa cities believed to be?

Answer: Harappa and other such cities are believed to have developed 4700 years ago.

Question: What was the citadel?

Answer: The western part of most cities was smaller but higher, described as ‘citadel’ by archaeologists.

Question: Give some important features of the Great Bath.

Answer: The Great Bath was lined with bricks, Coated with plaster, and made water tight with natural tar.

Question: Name two cities which had fire altars.

Answer: Lothal and Kalibangan were cities with fire altars.

Question: What were the three mayor categories of people in a Harappan city?

Answer: In Harappan cities, rulers, Crafts-persons and scribes were the three categories of people.

Question: What were objects in Harappan cities made of?

Answer: Most Harappan objects were made of stone, shell and metal.

Question: How do we know that cotton was grown in Mohenjodaro?

Answer: Archaeologists have found pieces of cloth with vases and other objects in Mohenjodaro. So cotton must have been grown.

Question: Who was a ‘specialist’ in Harappan context?

Answer: A specialist was one who was trained to do one kind of work, e.g. cutting stone, polishing beads, or carving seals.

Question: Define ‘raw material’.

Answer: Raw materials are substances that are either found naturally or produced by farmers or herders.

Question: Name some foreign countries from where raw materials were imported.

Answer: Raw materials were imported from Oman, Afghanistan, Iran etc.

Question: What was the use of the plough?

Answer: A plough was used to dig the earth for turning the soil and planting seeds.

Question: Give one point of difference between Dholavira and other Harappan cities.

Answer: Unlike other Harappan cities which were divided into two parts, Dholavira was divided into three.

Question: Where did people move to from Sind?

Answer: People moved into newer and smaller settlements to the east and the south.

Question: What is the Indus Valley civilization also know as? Why?

Answer: The Indus Valley was also known as Harappan civilization as Harrapa was the first city to be excavated.