Chapter 4: Timeline and Sources of History
How do we know what happened thousands of years ago? In this chapter we meet the people who uncover the past, learn to measure historical time on a timeline, discover the sources historians use, and follow the first humans to the first crops.
In this chapter you will
- explain what history is and who helps us learn about the past
- read and draw timelines with BCE and CE
- sort sources into archaeological, written and oral
- describe how early humans lived and how farming began
Topics
- How Do We Learn About the Past? NCERT 4.1
History is the study of the human past, a tiny recent part of Earth's long history.
- How Is Time Measured in History? NCERT 4.2
A timeline shows events in order; a decade is 10 years, a century 100, a millennium 1,000.
- What Are the Sources of History? NCERT 4.3
Sources of history can be archaeological, written (literary) or oral.
- The Beginnings of Human History NCERT 4.4
Modern humans have lived for about 3 lakh years; early humans were hunter-gatherers living in groups.
- The First Crops NCERT 4.5
After the last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago, people began farming and domesticating animals.
Key words
- History
- the study of the human past
- Timeline
- a line showing events in order of time
- BCE / CE
- Before Common Era / Common Era
- Source
- anything that gives us information about the past
- Fossil
- remains of ancient life preserved in rock
- Domesticate
- to tame and raise animals or plants
Summary
- History is the study of the human past; many experts help uncover it.
- Timelines show events in order; BCE years count backwards and there is no year 0.
- Historians use archaeological, written and oral sources.
- Early humans were hunter-gatherers; after the Ice Age, farming led to villages.