Overview
How do we know what happened thousands of years ago, and how do we even count those years? This chapter answers both questions. You begin by seeing how short human history is compared with the Earth's, and you meet the experts who uncover the past: geologists, palaeontologists, anthropologists and archaeologists. Next you learn how time is measured: eras, the Gregorian calendar and its leap years, and the CE and BCE system. You practise counting years across BCE and CE, remembering that there is no year zero, and you learn to name decades, centuries and millenniums and to draw timelines. You also meet the Indian panchanga. Then you discover the many sources of history, oral, literary, archaeological, artistic and scientific, and how historians compare them like a detective fitting together jigsaw pieces. Finally you travel back to the first humans, hunter-gatherers who lived in bands, used fire and painted rock shelters, and follow how, after the last Ice Age, people began farming, settled in villages and learnt pottery and metals.
हिंदी में पढ़ें
इतिहासकार CE, BCE, शताब्दियों और समयरेखा से समय कैसे मापते हैं, वे कौन-से स्रोत उपयोग करते हैं, और प्रारंभिक मानव कैसे रहते थे।
Learning Objectives
- Explain what history is and name the experts who study the distant past
- Explain eras, the Gregorian calendar, leap years and the CE and BCE system
- Calculate the number of years between dates, allowing for the missing year zero
- Read and draw timelines and identify decades, centuries and millenniums
- Classify the sources of history and explain how historians use them
- Describe the life of early hunter-gatherers
- Explain how farming, villages, pottery and metals began after the last Ice Age
Topics in this chapter
7 topics · tap a topic title to jump straight to it.
Why study the past, and who uncovers it
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
What is the earliest thing you can remember? Perhaps a birthday, a new house or your first day at school, maybe five or six years ago. Those memories are part of your past. They help explain who you are today. In the same way, the past of all humanity helps explain the world we live in now.
What history is. History is the study of the human past. One historian described it as a never-ending conversation between the present and the past: we understand today better when we know what happened before.
A very long story. The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. Simple life appeared very early; fish, reptiles, dinosaurs, mammals, birds and flowering plants came much later. Modern humans arrived only about 3 lakh years ago, the most recent tiny part of the Earth's story. If the Earth's whole history were squeezed into one day, humans would appear only in the last few seconds before midnight.
Detectives of the past. Different experts help us learn about this long past:
| Expert | What they study |
| Geologist | The physical Earth: soil, rocks, hills, mountains, rivers and oceans |
| Palaeontologist | Fossils of plants, animals and humans from millions of years ago |
| Anthropologist | Human societies and cultures, from the oldest times to today |
| Archaeologist | Things people left behind, dug out of the ground: tools, pots, beads, toys, bones, burnt grain, bricks and parts of houses |
Fossils. A fossil is the preserved remains or impression of a plant or animal, such as a footprint, a bone or a leaf print, found in layers of soil or rock. Fossils help us know which living things existed long ago.
Museums. Museums such as the National Museum in New Delhi keep and display objects from the past, such as statues, coins and ornaments, so that everyone can see them and learn.
Why it matters. Knowing the past helps us understand why our languages, festivals, buildings and ways of life are as they are. It also teaches us about the courage and cleverness of the people who came before us.
- History = the study of the human past
- Earth: about 4.5 billion years old; modern humans: about 3 lakh years
3Worked example
- A footprint preserved in rock is a fossil.
- An archaeologist digging up old pots and beads learns how people lived.
- The National Museum in New Delhi preserves statues, coins and ornaments.
4Your turn
Who studies fossils?
5Remember this
Measuring time: calendars, CE and BCE
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Ask your grandparents how they remember the year of an event. They may say 'the year of the big flood' or 'the year your father was born'. Long ago, whole societies counted time in a similar way, from some important event.
Eras. An era is a long period of time counted from a special starting point, such as the birth of an important person or the start of a ruler's reign. Different cultures have had different eras and calendars.
The Gregorian calendar. Today the Gregorian calendar is used all over the world. It has 12 months and 365 days, with a leap year of 366 days every four years. But a century year (like 1800, 1900 or 2000) is a leap year only if it can be divided by 400. So 2000 was a leap year, while 1800 and 1900 were not. Side by side, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Chinese and other calendars are used to fix the dates of festivals and auspicious events.
CE and BCE. The Gregorian calendar counts years from the traditional year of the birth of Jesus Christ.
| Years | Old label | Label used today | How they are counted |
| After the starting point | AD | CE (Common Era) | Forward: 1 CE, 2 CE ... 1947 CE ... 2026 CE |
| Before the starting point | BC (Before Christ) | BCE (Before Common Era) | Backward: 1 BCE, 2 BCE ... 560 BCE ... |
So India's year of independence, 1947, can be written 1947 CE. The Buddha is thought to have been born in about 560 BCE, which means about 560 years before the start of the Common Era.
Bigger BCE numbers are older. With BCE dates, the larger the number, the further back in time it is. 1900 BCE is much older than 100 BCE. With CE dates it is the opposite: the larger the number, the more recent.
Indian calendars and the panchanga. Many Indian calendars use the positions of the Sun and the Moon to set the months. A panchanga is a book of tables that lists the days of each month with astronomical details. It predicts sunrise and sunset times and solar and lunar eclipses very precisely, and also gives the dates of festivals and even weather forecasts for the year. Panchangas are still widely used in India today.
- CE = Common Era (formerly AD); BCE = Before Common Era (formerly BC)
- BCE: bigger number = older; CE: bigger number = more recent
- Century year is a leap year only if divisible by 400
3Worked example
- 1947 CE is the year India became independent.
- 560 BCE is about the year the Buddha was born.
- 2000 was a leap year, but 1900 was not.
4Your turn
Was the year 1900 a leap year?
5Remember this
Counting years across BCE and CE: no year zero
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
How many years ago was the Buddha born? It looks like a simple sum, but there is a small trap that catches many people.
No year zero. In the Gregorian calendar there is no year 0. The year 1 BCE is followed directly by the year 1 CE. Draw it to see:
| 2 BCE | 1 BCE | 1 CE | 2 CE |
| one year | next year | next year | next year |
From the start of 2 BCE to the start of 2 CE, only 3 years pass (2 BCE, 1 BCE, 1 CE), not 4.
The rule. To find the number of years between a BCE date and a CE date, add the two numbers and subtract 1.
- From 2 BCE to 2 CE: 2 + 2 - 1 = 3 years.
- Buddha's birth (about 560 BCE) to 2024 CE: 560 + 2024 - 1 = 2,583 years.
- Buddha's birth to 2026 CE: 560 + 2026 - 1 = 2,585 years.
Both dates in the same era. If both dates are CE, simply subtract the smaller from the larger: from 1828 CE to 1947 CE is 1947 - 1828 = 119 years. If both are BCE, also subtract: from 560 BCE to 320 BCE is 560 - 320 = 240 years. No '-1' is needed when both dates are on the same side.
Turning 'years ago' into a date. Suppose something happened 12,000 years ago and the year is now 2026 CE. Going back 2,026 years takes us to about the start of the Common Era. That leaves 12,000 - 2,026 = 9,974 years more, so the date is about 9,974 + 1 = 9,975 BCE. Since such old dates are only approximate, historians would simply say 'about 10,000 BCE'.
Check your answer. A good habit is to draw a small timeline with 1 BCE and 1 CE side by side, mark your two dates, and count. The drawing shows at once whether you need to subtract 1.
- Years from X BCE to Y CE = X + Y - 1
- Same era: years between = larger - smaller
- No year 0: 1 BCE is followed by 1 CE
3Worked example
- 2 BCE to 2 CE = 2 + 2 - 1 = 3 years.
- 560 BCE to 2024 CE = 2,583 years.
- 1828 CE to 1947 CE = 119 years (same era: just subtract).
4Your turn
How many years passed from 100 BCE to 100 CE?
5Remember this
Timelines, decades, centuries and millenniums
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
If you lay out photographs of yourself from the youngest to the oldest, you have made a timeline of your life. Historians use timelines in the same way, for whole civilisations.
Timelines. A timeline is a line on which dates and events are marked in order. Older events are on the left and more recent ones on the right. A timeline shows the sequence of events at a glance: even without reading dates, you can see that the Buddha's birth comes before the birth of Jesus. When a very long period must fit on a page, part of the line is shown dotted or broken to mean 'some time skipped here'.
Units of long time.
| Unit | Length | Example |
| Decade | 10 years | 2011 to 2020 |
| Century | 100 years | 21st century CE = 2001 to 2100 |
| Millennium (plural: millenniums or millennia) | 1,000 years | 3rd millennium CE = 2001 to 3000 |
Naming centuries. Centuries are counted from the year 1 CE. The 1st century CE is 1 to 100, the 2nd is 101 to 200, and so on. So the 20th century CE is 1901 to 2000, and we live in the 21st century (2001 to 2100). A quick trick: for a year like 1828, take the first two digits (18) and add 1, giving the 19th century. (For years ending in 00, such as 1900, the year is the last year of its century: 1900 belongs to the 19th century.)
Centuries BCE. These are counted backwards from 1 BCE. The 1st century BCE is 100 to 1 BCE, the 2nd is 200 to 101 BCE, and the 3rd century BCE is 300 to 201 BCE.
Millenniums. The 1st millennium CE was 1 to 1000 CE; the 2nd was 1001 to 2000; we are in the 3rd millennium CE, which began in 2001. Going back, the 1st millennium BCE is 1000 to 1 BCE, and the 8th millennium BCE is 8000 to 7001 BCE.
Make your own. Draw a timeline from 1900 CE to today. Mark the birth years of your grandparents, parents, brothers or sisters and yourself. Also mark where the 20th century begins (1901) and ends (2000).
- Decade = 10 years; century = 100 years; millennium = 1,000 years
- Century of a CE year (not ending in 00) = first two digits + 1
- nth century BCE = n x 100 BCE to (n - 1) x 100 + 1 BCE
3Worked example
- 1947 is in the 20th century CE.
- 300 BCE to 201 BCE is the 3rd century BCE.
- 2001 to 3000 is the 3rd millennium CE.
4Your turn
Which years make up the 3rd century BCE?
5Remember this
Sources of history: pieces of a jigsaw
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Suppose you want to write the story of your great-grandparents. Where would you look? Old photographs, letters, a diary, an identity card, a land paper, a wedding song your grandmother still sings, or simply asking older relatives. Each of these is a source.
What a source is. A source of history is any place, person, text or object from which we get information about a past event or period. Every source is like one piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Put enough pieces together and a picture of the past appears, though in history some pieces are always missing.
Kinds of sources.
| Kind | Examples |
| Oral | Folk songs, stories, legends passed on by word of mouth |
| Literary | Vedas and Itihasas, poems and plays, historical texts, scientific and technical texts, manuscripts, chronicles |
| Inscriptions and coins | Writing carved on rock, pillars or copper plates; coins with rulers' names and images |
| Archaeological | Excavated tools, weapons, pottery, ornaments, toys, figurines, burials, mounds, human, animal and plant remains; monuments and buildings |
| Artistic | Paintings, sculptures, carved panels |
| Foreign accounts | Travelogues written by visitors from other lands |
How historians work. A historian studies and writes about the past. To study, say, a queen of 1,500 years ago, historians collect as many sources as they can. Sometimes sources agree, and the jigsaw pieces fit. Sometimes they disagree, and the historian must decide which source is more trustworthy. In this way historians are a bit like detectives, checking clues and testing stories.
Many helpers. Historians are helped by archaeologists, epigraphists (who read ancient inscriptions), anthropologists and experts in languages and literature. In the last 50 years or so, science has added new clues: studies of ancient climates, chemical tests on excavated objects, and genetics, the study of how features pass from parents to children, applied to ancient people.
Recent history. For the last two or three centuries, historians can also use newspapers, and for recent decades television, films and the internet.
- Source = any place, person, text or object that gives information about the past
- Sources: oral, literary, inscriptions and coins, archaeological, artistic, foreign accounts, scientific
3Worked example
- A copper plate with a king's grant written on it is an inscription.
- A folk song about a famous battle is an oral source.
- A travelogue by a foreign visitor is a foreign account.
4Your turn
Why can historians be compared to detectives?
5Remember this
The first humans: hunters and gatherers
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Imagine a cold evening thousands of years ago. A small group sits around a fire at the mouth of a rock shelter. Some are sharpening stone tools, some are roasting meat, a child is watching an elder paint an animal on the rock wall. These are our early ancestors.
How long humans have been here. Modern humans, called Homo sapiens, have walked the Earth for about 3 lakh (300,000) years. That sounds long, but it is a tiny fraction of the Earth's history.
Living in bands. Early humans lived in small groups or bands, helping each other against the dangers of nature. They moved from place to place, searching for shelter and food.
Hunters and gatherers. They got food by hunting animals and gathering edible plants, roots, nuts and fruits. That is why they are called hunter-gatherers.
Their way of life.
- They lived in temporary camps, rock shelters or caves.
- They spoke languages that are now lost.
- They used fire for warmth, light, cooking and protection.
- They made better and better tools: stone axes, blades and arrowheads.
- They made simple ornaments, like beads of stone or shell and pendants of animal teeth, and sometimes exchanged them with other groups.
- They had beliefs about natural forces and possibly an idea of an afterlife, a life that begins after death.
Rock paintings. Some of the best evidence of their life comes from rock paintings found in hundreds of caves around the world. Some show just a few figures or symbols; others show detailed scenes of animals, hunting and dancing. India has many such sites, such as the rock shelters of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh.
Who did what? Pictures of early life often show men hunting and women cooking or caring for children. But we have very limited evidence. Women may also have painted the rocks or made colours, and men may also have cooked or looked after children. We should be careful not to assume that roles we see today were always the same.
- Hunter-gatherers = hunting + gathering wild food
- Modern humans (Homo sapiens): about 300,000 years
3Worked example
- Homo sapiens have existed for about 3 lakh years.
- Hunter-gatherers ate wild fruits, roots and hunted animals.
- Rock paintings show scenes of animals and hunting.
4Your turn
Why are early humans called hunter-gatherers?
5Remember this
After the Ice Age: first crops, villages and metals
1Think first
2The idea, in plain words
Picture a time when thick sheets of ice covered much of the Earth. Then, slowly, the climate warmed, the ice melted, rivers swelled and green plants spread. This change opened a new chapter in the human story.
The last Ice Age. At some times in the Earth's past, it was so cold that much of the land was covered with ice. These periods are called Ice Ages. The last Ice Age lasted from more than 1 lakh years ago to about 12,000 years ago. As the climate warmed, the ice partly melted, rivers filled up and flowed into the oceans.
The first crops. With better conditions, people in many parts of the world began to settle down and grow cereals and grains. They also domesticated animals, that is, tamed and raised them, such as cattle and goats. With more food, communities grew larger and more numerous.
Why near rivers? Many farming communities settled near rivers, because there was water for people, animals and crops, and the soil there was more fertile, which made growing crops easier.
Living together. As communities grew, life became more organised. Leaders called chieftains looked after the welfare (health, prosperity and well-being) of the people. Everyone worked for the community; land was often sown and harvested together, without the idea of personal ownership.
From hamlets to towns.
| Stage | What changed |
| Hamlet | A small settlement of a few families |
| Village | Larger settlements exchanging food, cloth and tools |
| Network of villages | Regular communication and exchange between villages |
| Small town | Some villages grew into towns with new crafts |
New technologies. People learnt to make pottery, pots and other objects of baked clay, to store grain and water and cook food. Later they learnt to use metals: copper first and iron much later. Metal tools and ornaments lasted far longer than stone ones.
Survivors. These steps prepared the way for the first civilisations, which you will meet in Chapter 6. The journey was not easy; at some critical times humanity might almost have disappeared, as some earlier human species did. We owe our existence to the courage and persistence of early people whose names we will never know.
- Warmer climate -> farming and settling -> more food -> bigger communities
- Hamlet -> village -> network of villages -> town
- Metals: copper first, iron later
3Worked example
- The last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago.
- Cattle and goats were among the first domesticated animals.
- Copper came into use before iron.
4Your turn
Why did many early farming villages grow up near rivers?
5Remember this
Key Concepts
- History
- The study of the human past.
- Fossil
- Preserved remains or impressions of plants or animals found in layers of soil or rock.
- Geologist
- A scientist who studies the physical features of the Earth, such as rocks, soil and landforms.
- Palaeontologist
- A scientist who studies fossils of ancient plants, animals and humans.
- Anthropologist
- A person who studies human societies and cultures from the oldest times to today.
- Archaeologist
- A person who studies the past by digging up objects people left behind.
- Era
- A long period of time counted from a particular starting point.
- Gregorian calendar
- The calendar used worldwide: 12 months, 365 days, a leap year every four years (century years only if divisible by 400).
- CE and BCE
- Common Era (years counted forward) and Before Common Era (years counted backward); there is no year zero.
- Panchanga
- An Indian book of tables listing days, festivals, sunrise, eclipses and other astronomical data.
- Timeline
- A line on which events are marked in the order in which they happened.
- Century
- A period of 100 years; the 21st century CE runs from 2001 to 2100.
- Millennium
- A period of 1,000 years; plural millenniums or millennia.
- Source of history
- Any place, person, text or object that gives information about the past.
- Epigraphist
- An expert who reads and studies ancient inscriptions.
- Hunter-gatherers
- People who live by hunting animals and gathering wild plants and fruits.
- Ice Age
- A long period when much of the Earth was covered with ice; the last one ended about 12,000 years ago.
- Domestication
- Taming and raising plants or animals, such as cattle and goats, for human use.
End-of-Chapter Trial Paper & Test Questions
Topic-wise questions to test your understanding of every concept in this chapter.
-
What is history, and why is it worth studying? / इतिहास क्या है, और इसे पढ़ना क्यों ज़रूरी है?
Show answer
History is the study of the human past, and it helps us understand why our present world, our languages, customs and societies, are the way they are. / इतिहास मानव अतीत का अध्ययन है, और यह हमें समझने में मदद करता है कि हमारी वर्तमान दुनिया, हमारी भाषाएँ, रीति-रिवाज और समाज ऐसे क्यों हैं।
-
What do archaeologists and palaeontologists study? / पुरातत्वविद् और जीवाश्म विज्ञानी क्या अध्ययन करते हैं?
Show answer
Archaeologists study objects people left behind, such as tools, pots and bricks, while palaeontologists study fossils of plants, animals and humans from millions of years ago. / पुरातत्वविद् लोगों द्वारा छोड़ी गई वस्तुओं जैसे औज़ार, बर्तन और ईंटों का अध्ययन करते हैं, जबकि जीवाश्म विज्ञानी लाखों वर्ष पुराने पौधों, जानवरों और मनुष्यों के जीवाश्मों का अध्ययन करते हैं।
-
What do CE and BCE mean? / CE और BCE का क्या अर्थ है?
Show answer
CE means Common Era, the years counted forward from the traditional birth year of Jesus, and BCE means Before Common Era, the years counted backward before it. / CE का अर्थ है सामान्य युग, यानी ईसा के पारंपरिक जन्म वर्ष से आगे गिने गए वर्ष, और BCE का अर्थ है सामान्य युग से पूर्व, यानी उससे पहले पीछे की ओर गिने गए वर्ष।
-
How many years passed between 2 BCE and 2 CE, and why? / 2 BCE और 2 CE के बीच कितने वर्ष बीते, और क्यों?
Show answer
Only 3 years passed, because there is no year zero; we add 2 and 2 and then subtract 1. / केवल 3 वर्ष बीते, क्योंकि कोई शून्य वर्ष नहीं है; हम 2 और 2 जोड़कर 1 घटाते हैं।
-
If the Buddha was born in about 560 BCE, how many years ago was that in 2024 CE? / यदि बुद्ध का जन्म लगभग 560 BCE में हुआ, तो 2024 CE में वह कितने वर्ष पहले था?
Show answer
It was 560 + 2024 - 1 = 2,583 years ago, because we subtract 1 for the missing year zero. / यह 560 + 2024 - 1 = 2,583 वर्ष पहले था, क्योंकि शून्य वर्ष न होने के कारण हम 1 घटाते हैं।
-
Which century and which millennium are we living in now? / हम अभी किस शताब्दी और किस सहस्राब्दी में रह रहे हैं?
Show answer
We live in the 21st century CE, which runs from 2001 to 2100, and in the 3rd millennium CE, which began in 2001. / हम 21वीं शताब्दी CE में रहते हैं, जो 2001 से 2100 तक है, और तीसरी सहस्राब्दी CE में, जो 2001 में शुरू हुई।
-
What is a panchanga? / पंचांग क्या है?
Show answer
A panchanga is an Indian book of tables based on the Sun and the Moon that lists the days of each month, sunrise and sunset times, eclipses and festival dates. / पंचांग सूर्य और चंद्रमा पर आधारित एक भारतीय तालिका-पुस्तक है जिसमें हर महीने के दिन, सूर्योदय-सूर्यास्त का समय, ग्रहण और त्योहारों की तिथियाँ होती हैं।
-
Name four kinds of sources of history with one example each. / इतिहास के चार प्रकार के स्रोतों के नाम एक-एक उदाहरण सहित बताइए।
Show answer
Oral sources such as folk songs, literary sources such as the Vedas, archaeological sources such as pottery and tools, and artistic sources such as paintings and sculptures all help us know the past. / मौखिक स्रोत जैसे लोकगीत, साहित्यिक स्रोत जैसे वेद, पुरातात्विक स्रोत जैसे मिट्टी के बर्तन और औज़ार, और कलात्मक स्रोत जैसे चित्र और मूर्तियाँ, सभी अतीत जानने में मदद करते हैं।
-
How did early humans live? / प्रारंभिक मानव कैसे रहते थे?
Show answer
They lived in small bands in camps, rock shelters or caves, hunted animals and gathered wild plants, used fire and stone tools, and made rock paintings and simple ornaments. / वे छोटे समूहों में शिविरों, शैलाश्रयों या गुफाओं में रहते थे, जानवरों का शिकार करते और जंगली पौधे इकट्ठा करते थे, आग और पत्थर के औज़ार इस्तेमाल करते थे, और शैलचित्र व साधारण आभूषण बनाते थे।
-
What changes came after the last Ice Age ended? / अंतिम हिमयुग समाप्त होने के बाद क्या परिवर्तन आए?
Show answer
As the climate warmed, people began to grow crops, domesticate animals and settle near rivers; villages grew into towns, and people learnt pottery and the use of copper and later iron. / जलवायु गर्म होने पर लोग फसलें उगाने, पशु पालने और नदियों के पास बसने लगे; गाँव कस्बों में बदले, और लोगों ने मिट्टी के बर्तन बनाना तथा पहले ताँबे और बाद में लोहे का उपयोग सीखा।
Related Laws & Principles
Explore allFoundational laws & principles behind this chapter. Each one opens a full page — what it says, why it matters, five practice questions and the mistakes to avoid.