Early Humans and the Beginning of Civilization Class 10 Notes

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Why Do We Study Early Human History? 

The study of early human history helps us understand the long process of humankind's biological and cultural evolution in relation to changes in climate and the environment. This is a direct three-mark question that can appear in your exam: "Why should we study early human history?"

Sources of Reconstructing Human History 

More than 99% of human history falls under the period from about 3 million years ago to 5,000 years ago — a period we know relatively little about. Less than 1% of human history, covering the last 5,000 years, is far better understood.

Why the difference? For the earlier, longer period, tools, implements, and other material objects made by early humans are the major source for reconstructing how people lived. For the last 5,000 years, we additionally have written documents, which is why events like the Battle of Plassey, the Battle of Buxar, the Battle of Haldighati, and the Revolt of 1857 can be dated far more accurately than anything from the earlier period.

💡 Concept Tip: Reconstructing history means recreating past events by connecting all the available evidence — the way historians piece together tools, fossils, and writings to build a picture of how early humans actually lived.

Biological Evolution of Humans: From Apes to Homo Sapiens 

Biological evolution refers to the gradual physical and genetic change through which our early ancestors, known as Australopithecines ("Australo" meaning southern, "pithecus" meaning primate), evolved into modern human beings called Homo sapiens.

How Did Cultural Evolution Happen? 

Cultural evolution explains how humans adapted to their surroundings during the Quaternary period, a geological period that has lasted about 26 lakh (2.6 million) years. To survive changing climate and environmental conditions, humans developed tools and other forms of technology to make use of natural resources.

Over time, the human way of life changed from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The ability to produce surplus food and material goods laid the foundation of civilization.

What Is the "Old World"?

Africa, Asia, and Europe together constitute what is called the "Old World." Different kinds of human ancestors existed in this region, and around 3.3 million years ago, one of these ancestors made the earliest known stone tools. This marked the beginning of what is called human behaviour, as opposed to animal behaviour — because animals do not possess the cognitive ability to make such tools.

These early toolmaking human beings came to be known as hominins. The tools they created are sometimes called "extra-corporeal limbs" because they functioned as an extension of the human body. When humans discarded worn-out tools, they got buried in the upper layers of the earth and were later discovered by archaeologists. Similarly, the remains of early ancestors buried underground turned into fossils over thousands and even millions of years. The discovery of such tools and fossils is a major source of evidence that helps archaeologists reconstruct human history.

The Stone Age: Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods

Early human history is divided into distinct periods based on technological progress — the development and use of tools, the beginning of agriculture, and changes in human lifestyle and settlement patterns.

The Stone Age is broadly divided into three stages:

1. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) — hunting and gathering with simple stone tools
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) — use of microlithic tools (tiny stone tools); a transitional phase between Paleolithic and Neolithic
3. Neolithic (New Stone Age) — the beginning of farming and settled life

This is followed by:

4. Chalcolithic Age — early metallurgy; extraction and shaping of copper objects
5. Bronze Age — copper combined with tin to make bronze
6. Iron Age — widespread use of iron metallurgy for stronger tools and weapons

💡 Memory Tip : Remember the order as P-M-N / C-B-I — Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, then Chalcolithic, Bronze, Iron. No complicated trick is needed — just repeat the starting letters until they stick.

Important Paleolithic Sites in the Indian Subcontinent

The oldest human settlements in the Indian subcontinent date back to about 2 million years ago.

• Attirampakkam (Tamil Nadu) — dated to about 1.7 million years ago
• Isampur (Karnataka) — dated to about 1.2 million years ago
• Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) — a major rock-art site
• Mehrgarh (Balochistan, present-day Pakistan) — the earliest known Neolithic farming village

At these sites, animal fossils and large cutting tools, including hand axes and cleavers such as stone scrapers and choppers made of quartzite and limestone, have been found. These tools were used to chop animals, dig out tubers, scrape animal skin, and cleave animal bones to extract protein.

The First Population Explosion

Around 12,000 years ago, Earth's climate became warmer, leading to significant environmental change. Forests and grasslands expanded into areas previously covered by ice sheets. This new landscape offered a wider variety of resources, including small game animals, fish, and edible wild grains. As a result, the world witnessed the first-ever population explosion in human history.

The Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh are a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing hundreds of painted rock shelters with Mesolithic and early human occupation. A variety of microlithic tools enabled people to procure aquatic food, both marine and freshwater. Art activity flourished during this time, and new habitats such as caves and rock shelters were frequently occupied.

The Neolithic Revolution and the Rise of Farming

As hunter-gatherers gained familiarity with the seasons and different types of food resources, there was a gradual shift toward a food-producing way of life, known as the Neolithic Revolution. This is often asked as an exam question: why is the Neolithic period called a revolution? — because it brought drastic changes in the human way of life.

The hallmark of this revolution was the domestication of animals — bringing them under human control and developing new breeds through cultivation and husbandry. While hunter-gatherers made tools for procuring food, Neolithic farmers made tools for producing and processing food, and developed a variety of earthenware pottery in various shapes.

Neolithic communities established the first village settlements, laying the foundation for what the chapter calls the urban revolution.

Mehrgarh: The Earliest Farming Village

The beginning of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent varied by region. The earliest known Neolithic farming village was Mehrgarh, located on the Bolan River in present-day Pakistan, dated to about 7000 BCE (roughly 9,000 years ago).

Its inhabitants:

• Built sun-dried bricks and granaries
• Buried their dead
• Made ornaments from semi-precious stone and shell
• Cultivated wheat and barley
• Herded sheep, goats, and zebu cattle (cattle with a hump)

By about 4000 BCE, the people of this region were producing copper objects, marking the transition to the Chalcolithic period. By 2500 BCE, Neolithic farming communities had spread across most of the Indian subcontinent, practising agriculture.

The Indus Saraswati (Harappan) Civilization 

One of the earliest known writing systems is associated with the Indus Saraswati Civilization, also known as the Indus Valley Civilization and the Harappan Civilization.

Writings and engravings found on objects such as seals and pottery indicate that the Harappans used the Pictographic script for writing. However, this script has not yet been deciphered — meaning it has not been decoded.

Quick MCQ Recall: Which script did the Harappans use? → Pictographic, still not deciphered.

The Neolithic lifestyle that began at Mehrgarh spread across the Indus region and evolved into Chalcolithic cultures with the adoption of copper metallurgy. Copper tools increased agricultural productivity and prosperity in the Indus and Ghaggar-Saraswati plains. Distinct regional styles of pottery and craft developed, many of which later became characteristic features of the mature Harappan civilization.

Some Saraswati basin sites such as Birrana and Kunal may have had pre-Harappan occupations as early as 7000 to 5500 BCE. Cultural continuity from the pre-Harappan to the Harappan phase is seen in pottery, bead-making, shell ornaments, terracotta objects, and copper working — hence this phase is called the Early Harappan period.

Important Harappan institutions, including settlement walls, seals, and possibly the script itself, likely originated during this Early Harappan stage. The Harappans were skilled artisans as well as farmers; pottery, copper work, shell craft, and work with semi-precious stones were their major economic activities. These technological advances and growing economic integration ultimately led to the rise of urban centres.

The Mesopotamian Civilization 

Three other major Bronze Age civilizations were contemporary with the Harappans: the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations. All four early world civilizations emerged in river plains — the Harappan near the Indus, the Mesopotamian near the Euphrates and Tigris, the Egyptian near the Nile, and the Chinese near the Yellow River (Huang He) and the Yangtze.

Geographically, Mesopotamia and the Indus-Ghaggar valleys are closer to each other, which facilitated strong contact and trade between the two civilizations. The Egyptian and Chinese civilizations, on the other hand, have little tangible evidence of direct contact with the Indus Saraswati civilization.

Mesopotamia is a Greek name meaning "the land in between," referring to the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in West Asia. In modern times, this region includes mainly Iraq and Kuwait, and parts of Turkey and Iran. These rivers rise from the crescent-shaped foothills of the Zagros and Taurus mountains, stretching from the Mediterranean in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east, and this region is known as the Fertile Crescent.

Farming began in this region 12,000 years before present, and copper tools arrived around 4500 BC, improving agriculture and other economic activities such as craft production and trade. Over the next 2,000 years, some large cities became city-states by developing governing systems. The four major city-based civilizations of Mesopotamia were the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.

The Sumerian Civilization (3500 BC – 2334 BC)

The Sumerians were the earliest to develop city-based civilizations, such as Ur and several other cities in Sumer, present-day southern Iraq (including Lagash and Eridu).

• They were the first to build a system of dams and canals for irrigation.
• They were also the first to use mud bricks and burnt bricks in the construction of houses, defensive walls, and other structures.
• Sumerians worshipped multiple gods, believed to have power over natural forces such as floods and wind, and built temples for each.
• Each city built a grand temple called a Ziggurat for its chief god, and the city grew around this main temple.

💡 Important for Exams: What is a Ziggurat? A Ziggurat is a tower-like, stepped pyramid-shaped temple with several floors, with the main temple located above them. The top of the ziggurat was considered a holy place. The area around it contained palaces and royal storehouses, and the surrounding wall had only one entrance, as the ziggurat also served as the city treasury.

All economic activity, such as agriculture, trade, and the transport of goods, was tied to the temple authority. Entry to the sacred temples was restricted to priests and priestesses, who were probably part of the ruling class — reflecting a clear division of social hierarchy in Mesopotamian society.

The Sumerians were the first to start writing, around 3300 BC. Their writing system is known as Cuneiform — wedge-shaped marks pressed onto damp clay tablets using sharp, wedge-shaped reeds by scribes, who enjoyed a high status in society, similar to priests and priestesses. By 3000 BC, cuneiform was used all over Mesopotamia by different city-states, even though they spoke different languages.

These clay tablets give us glimpses into the life and beliefs of the Mesopotamians — their myths and epics, hymns, law codes, and educational treatises. Tablets were also used to keep records of farming and craft activities, especially for potters, seal cutters, shipbuilders, and carpenters.

The Akkadians

The power of the Sumerians was overshadowed around 2334 BC by the emergence of a new city-state centred on the city of Akkad, which lay farther north. The people of this region spoke Akkadian, a language different from Sumerian — however, both the Akkadians and the Sumerians used the same cuneiform script.

Akkadian records document the consolidation of power over different regions of Mesopotamia and the establishment of the world's first dynastic empire. This period also saw the evolution of creative literature, including the cuneiform tablets of one of the most prominent Akkadian kings, Sargon, which talk about Mesopotamian trade with the eastern territories of Dilmun, Magan, and Meluhha.

Meluhha is generally identified with the Indus Saraswati civilization, while Dilmun and Magan correspond to present-day Bahrain and Oman. With the Harappans, the Akkadians traded semi-precious stones, beads, ivory, timber, gold dust, and probably copper.

The Assyrians (2154 BC – 700 BC)

The Akkadian empire lost its supremacy around 2154 BC to a new city-state, Assur, in the north of Mesopotamia. The Assyrian civilization that replaced the Akkadians lasted until the early 1700s BC. In this short period, Assyrian dominance spread across Mesopotamia and over the neighbouring regions in the west and south.

The Babylonians

While the Assyrians were dominant in the north, a new state, Babylonia, gained dominance in central Mesopotamia from 1900 BCE. Babylonia's glory began with the rise of Hammurabi in 1792 BC, who conquered neighbouring regions and expanded the small city-state into a large empire.

Hammurabi's most significant contribution was the compilation of more than 200 rules and regulations for civil and social conduct, known as the Code of Hammurabi, which served as a foundational model for many future legal systems.

By the end of 1400 BC, the Babylonians had lost their earlier prominence due to repeated attacks by the Hittites, who had gained an advantage by mastering new technologies and adopting more efficient ways of using natural resources. This, along with increasing environmental degradation, pressure on agricultural land, and internal political and economic problems, gradually weakened Babylonian control, and new powers emerged in West Asia.

The Egyptian Civilization 

The Egyptian civilization is one of the earliest civilizations of the world, known for its rich historical records and lasting influence on other civilizations. Egypt was known to the Greeks and Romans, and Greek writers like Herodotus visited and wrote about Egypt as early as the 5th century BC.

Egyptian history is also reconstructed from papyrus and old paper records. These documents preserve both stories and practical details, offering a window into how the Egyptians understood the world. Libraries dating back to 200 BC stored papyrus scrolls in labelled jars and on shelves — one jar even contained the oldest known version of the story of Sinbad the Sailor. Short stories from this period are diverse, including animal fables, tales of ghosts, miracles, and romance, and even the oldest known version of Cinderella.

The Egyptian Calendar

The Egyptian calendar was based on the rising of the star Sirius (the "Dog Star"), with a year equal to 365 days — quite accurate, though it lost time since the real year is about a quarter-day longer.

Cities, Pharaohs, and Pyramids

Egypt saw the emergence of city-states around 3000 BC, as population increased and resources became available. The river Nile watered the land along its banks, and every summer it flooded, leading to annual inundations of rich mud called "Kemet" — fertile soil excellent for growing crops.

About 5,000 years ago, farmers discovered that by digging ditches, they could divert water from the Nile into their fields and store it for later use. By counting the days between Nile floods, the Egyptians developed their calendar. The need to dig ditches and construct dams required collective effort, and these early cooperative efforts must have led to the growth of local government, accompanied by the rise of an administrative class — probably the earliest form of local government in Egypt.

Over time, powerful individuals called Pharaohs emerged as rulers of Egypt. After their death, pharaohs were buried deep underground in a rectangular structure called a mastaba. Gradually, mastabas were placed on top of one another to form a pyramid — one prominent example being found at Saqqara.

Pyramids were built primarily because Egyptians believed each person had a "ka," a spiritual force that lived on after death if the body was preserved through mummification.

Festivals and the Role of Women

Early Egyptians enjoyed leisure activities — they swam, played games, and enjoyed music. Festivals were central to Egyptian culture, dedicated to gods and the pharaoh; each god had a festival in which their statue was paraded. Festivals also celebrated the reign of the pharaoh — for example, the Sed Festival was held to mark a king's 30th year on the throne.

Egyptian women, in general, enjoyed more rights than their Greek and Roman counterparts, including the right to own property and run businesses. Cleopatra, for instance, was trained from childhood and became queen at the age of 18.

The Chinese Civilization 

The Chinese civilization developed near the Yellow River (Huang He) and the Yangtze River. These two river valleys were the centre of early Chinese Neolithic culture, dating to around 7000 BCE.

Around 2000 BC, the introduction of copper brought many Neolithic settlements — especially those in the Yellow River basin — to the threshold of the Bronze Age. However, it was only around 1600 BC that urban centres began to emerge, leading to the rise of the first Chinese Bronze Age territorial empire.

Chinese Dynasties

Chinese history is organised into various dynasties:

1. Shang Dynasty
2. Zhou Dynasty (the longest-lasting dynasty)
3. Qin Dynasty
4. Han Dynasty

By 600 BC, the use of iron became popular throughout China, and the Chinese Iron Age generally dates from this period onward. The name "China" probably comes from the Iron Age Qin Dynasty — also known as the first imperial dynasty of China, credited with unifying the country. Another important Chinese Iron Age dynasty was the Han Dynasty.

Silk was known to the Chinese from the Neolithic period and became an important craft during the Bronze Age. Around the 2nd century, during the Han Dynasty, silk became a major item of foreign trade.

By 1500 BC, Chinese Bronze Age society was highly stratified, with the ruling class, nobles, and aristocrats at the top, followed by farmers and labourers — laying the foundation for the hierarchical structure that evolved later.

Oracle Bones and Craft

China has an abundance of historical records, such as official historiographers who recorded events. However, the earliest source of information about China is the oracle bones. These bones were heated until they cracked, and interpretations were made based on the crack patterns to foretell the future. Today, they tell us a lot about the hopes, desires, and fears of the early Chinese people.

Other craft items unique to Chinese civilization include jade objects and figures, used for ritual or prestige purposes — jade was not locally available and was obtained from outside China. Marble was also carved into ornaments in the form of birds and animals, and used as a foundation for wooden pillars. The Chinese also mastered bronze metallurgy to produce weapons, tools, and elaborate ritual vessels.

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China was built over a period spanning 2,000 years, with construction beginning during the Zhou Dynasty as a defence against nomadic tribes that repeatedly raided the region. Sections were built at different times and later joined together to form the Great Wall.

A metal-based system of currency also appeared during the Zhou Dynasty. China was also the first to introduce paper currency and the first to develop civil services.

Many of the cultural practices we recognise today trace their roots back to these Bronze Age civilizations. If you go through this chapter alongside your NCERT textbook and revise the names, dates, and river associations covered here, this chapter becomes one of the more scoring parts of your History syllabus. For more chapter-wise material, explore eSaral's NCERT Solutions for Class 10 and the complete NCERT Books for Class 10.