NCERT Solutions Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 6 · SOCIAL SCIENCE

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 4: Timeline and Sources
of History

NCERT Textbook — Exploring Society: India And Beyond

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

59 – 74 15 29 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 42 pages

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 6 · SOCIAL SCIENCE · EXPLORING SOCIETY: INDIA AND BEYOND

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 4: Timeline and Sources of
History
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History from the
NCERT textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond. Every question of the chapter is answered — The Big
Questions, all three THINK ABOUT IT boxes (pages 60, 67 and 72), all six LET'S EXPLORE boxes (pages 63, 65,
66, 68–69, 70 and 71), the in-text questions on pages 62, 65 and 66, Before we move on … and all five
Questions, activities and projects — with every BCE/CE calculation worked out step by step.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class 6) 59 – 74

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

15 29

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 59
Chapter opening

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 How do we measure historical time?

We measure historical time with a calendar, an era and a timeline. Every society has had its
own way of counting years; the modern world mostly uses one shared system so that people
everywhere can put the same event at the same point.
Step 1 — pick a starting point (an era). An era is a distinct period of time. Major events — the
birth of an important person, the start of a ruler's reign — have often marked the beginning of
a new era. The Gregorian calendar, now used the world over, takes the conventional year of
Jesus Christ's birth as its starting point. Alongside it, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Chinese and other
calendars are still used in India and elsewhere for festivals and auspicious events.
Step 2 — count forwards and backwards from it.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Years after the starting point → once written AD → now CE (Common Era)

Years before the starting point → once written BC → now BCE (Before Common Era)

India's independence = 1947 AD = AD 1947 = 1947 CE
The Buddha's birth ≈ 560 BCE

Step 3 — remember there is no year zero. The year 1 CE follows immediately after 1 BCE. So
the number of years between a BCE date and a CE date is BCE + CE – 1.
Step 4 — use the right sized unit.

UNIT LENGTH HOW IT IS COUNTED EXAMPLE FROM THE
CHAPTER

Year 1 year The basic unit of the calendar 1947 CE

Decade 10 years Any period of ten years The 1990s

Century 100 years CE centuries counted from 1 CE; BCE 21st century CE = 2001–
centuries counted back from 1 BCE 2100
3rd century BCE = 300–201
BCE

Millennium 1,000 Same rule, in thousands 3rd millennium CE = 2001–
years 3000
1st millennium BCE = 1000
BCE–1 BCE

Step 5 — draw a timeline. A timeline shows a sequence of dates and events across a period, so
you can see the order of events even without reading the numbers. Here is the chapter's own
Fig. 4.3 (pages 62–63) redrawn to scale:

c. 250 BCE
Aśhoka
c. 8000 BCE c. 4500 BCE
12,000 BCE First settlements and the Beginning of copper 560 BCE
End of last ice age beginning of agriculture metallurgy Birth of the Buddha

10,000 BCE 8000 BCE 6000 BCE 4000 BCE 2000 BCE 1 CE 2000 CE

c. 6000 BCE c. 2500 BCE 2000 CE
Pottery technology in Indus–Sarasvatī We are here
the Indian Subcontinent civilisation
c. 4700 BCE 1 CE
The world's first cities Birth of Jesus
in Mesopotamia

Page 2 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The chapter's timeline (Fig. 4.3, pages 62–63) drawn to a true scale: 780 pixels stand for 14,000 years.
BCE dates run to the left of the red line, CE dates to the right, and the red line is the join where 1 BCE
is followed straight away by 1 CE — with no year zero in between.

Tip: the book's Fig. 4.3 has a dotted portion between 14,000 BCE and 12,000 BCE.
That marks a skipped period. If the whole 300,000 years were drawn to scale on the
same page, the timeline would have to be almost 3 metres long!

Q2 How can various sources help us understand history?

Every object or structure tells a story and is like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. One piece alone
proves very little; put many together and a picture of the past appears. A source of history is
any place, person, text or object from which we gather information about a past event or
period.
The figure on page 67 groups them into four families:

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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SOURCES INCLUDES (PAGE TELL A

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HISTORIAN
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Archaeological Inscriptions — Dates, names and Aśhoka's rock and pillar edicts
manuscripts, copper titles of rulers, royal (3rd century BCE); the Prayagraj
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Structures — technology, food, Samudragupta; the Junagadh
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Excavations — Gupta gold coins; Sanchi Stupa;
human, animal and the mounds of Harappa,
plant remains; tools Rakhigarhi and Dholavira

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ornaments; pottery

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Artistic Paintings, sculptures, Dress, jewellery, The rock paintings of Bhimbetka;
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Recent history (the last two or three centuries) also uses newspapers, and for the last few
decades electronic media — television, the internet and so on.

Why historians insist on many sources: sometimes the sources confirm each other
— the jigsaw pieces match. At other times they contradict each other — the pieces
don't match — and the historian has to decide which source to trust more. That
careful weighing is how the history of a period is re-created. And it is honest work: in
history, quite a few pieces of the puzzle may remain missing for ever.

Did you know? Historians are not the only people who make these sources speak.
Archaeologists excavate, epigraphists read ancient inscriptions, anthropologists
study societies and cultures, and experts in literature and languages read old texts
— all of them feed the same jigsaw.

Q3 How did early humans live?

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) have walked the planet for about 300,000 (three lakh) years.
For almost all of that time they lived as hunters and gatherers, and only in the last ten
thousand years or so did they begin to farm. The chapter tells the story in two stages.
Stage 1 — before farming

They lived in bands or groups to help each other against the many challenges nature threw
at them.
They were hunters and gatherers — they hunted animals and collected edible plants and
fruits, and were constantly moving in search of shelter and food.
They sheltered in temporary camps, rock shelters and caves.
They spoke languages that are now lost, and they used fire.
They made better and better tools — improved stone axes and blades, arrowheads and
other implements.
They painted. Rock paintings survive in hundreds of caves all over the world — some just
simple figures or symbols, others detailed scenes with animals and humans.
They made ornaments — stone or shell beads, pendants of animal teeth — and sometimes
exchanged them with other groups.
They had beliefs about the natural elements, and possibly some notion of an afterlife.

Stage 2 — after the last Ice Age

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Last Ice Age: from over 100,000 (one lakh) years ago → to about 12,000 years ago

Then the climate warmed, ice melted, rivers swelled and drained into the oceans

Living conditions improved → people settled down

In many parts of the world people began cultivating cereals and grains and
domesticating animals such as cattle and goats.
With more food available, communities grew in size and number and often settled near
rivers — not only for water but because the soil there is more fertile, which makes growing
crops easier.
Society grew more complex. Chieftains became responsible for the well-being of the people,
and everyone worked collectively for the community's welfare. There was no sense of
individual ownership: land was sowed and harvested together.
Hamlets grew into sizeable villages that exchanged food, clothing and tools; networks of
communication and exchange grew up between them, and some villages became small
towns.
New technologies appeared — pottery, and the use of metal (copper first, iron later) for
durable tools, objects of daily use and ornaments.

Why this early progress was never safe: the chapter ends the story with a
warning. Humanity faced many challenges, and at some critical moments it could
have almost disappeared, as some earlier species did. We will never know the names
of those early humans to whose courage and persistence we owe our existence
today.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 60
How Do We Learn About the Past?

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 What is the earliest memory you can recollect? Do you remember how old you were
at that time? Those memories together are a part of your past, maybe going five or
six years back.

This is a personal question, so the answer has to be your own. What matters is how you dig the
memory out — which is exactly what a historian does with a much older past.
How to find your earliest memory honestly:

Think of a single sharp picture, not a whole story — a smell, a room, a face, a fall, a festival.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Fix its date using something outside yourself: which house you lived in, which school, who
else is in the memory, a younger brother or sister who was or was not born yet.
Check it against a source — ask a parent, or look at a photograph. Sometimes you will find
that what you "remember" is really a story you were told, or a photo you have seen many
times.

Sample answer: “My earliest memory is of standing on a chair to reach a plate of
laddoos at my cousin's naming ceremony. I remember the yellow curtain and my
grandmother laughing. I thought I was very small; when I asked my mother, she said
I was three and a half — the ceremony was in 2016. So my own remembered past
goes back about six years.”

Why the book begins here: your earliest memory is your personal “source of
history”, and it behaves just like a historical source. It is incomplete (you remember
the curtain, not the date), it can be mistaken, and it becomes reliable only when you
cross-check it with other evidence — a photograph, an elder's account. That is the
whole method of history, tried out on a past five years long instead of five thousand.

Q2 How do you think understanding the past will help us understand the present
world?

Because nothing in the present begins in the present. The chapter opens with E.H. Carr's line
that history is “an unending dialogue between the present and the past … We can fully
understand the present only in the light of the past.”
Four concrete ways the past explains the present:

It explains where things came from. The wheat and rice on your plate, the pot in the
kitchen, the copper and iron in your tools — all begin in the story this chapter tells, when
people first started farming, making pottery and working metal.
It explains why places are where they are. Early communities settled near rivers for water
and fertile soil. That is why so many of India's oldest and biggest cities still sit on riverbanks.
It explains our customs and languages. Festivals, calendars, food habits, the names of our
towns and the words we speak all carry the marks of earlier centuries.
It helps us judge the future. The chapter says early humanity “could have almost
disappeared”. Knowing how societies survived droughts, floods and climate change tells us
something useful about facing climate change now.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this matters for a citizen, not just a student: people argue about the present
using claims about the past — about who lived where, who built what, who was
wronged. Someone who has learned to ask “what is the source for that, and can it
be cross-checked?” is much harder to mislead. History is training in careful thinking,
not just a list of dates.

In-text Questions — Page 62
How Is Time Measured in History?

Q1 For example, 560 BCE is an approximate year of birth of Gautama Buddha (whom we
will meet in Chapter 7). Can you calculate how many years ago that was?

Yes — but only if you remember the catch that the very next box on page 63 explains: there is
no year zero. So you add the two numbers and then subtract 1.

Years ago = (BCE year) + (current CE year) – 1

Taking the book's year, 2024 CE:

= 560 + 2024 – 1

= 2584 – 1

= 2,583 years ago

Check the answer by walking the line:

From 560 BCE to 1 BCE = 560 – 1 = 559 years

From 1 BCE to 1 CE = 1 year (there is no year 0 in between)

From 1 CE to 2024 CE = 2024 – 1 = 2023 years

Total = 559 + 1 + 2023 = 2,583 ✓

Try this: the same sum with a different “now”. In 2026 CE the Buddha's birth was 560
+ 2026 – 1 = 2,585 years ago. The answer grows by exactly one every year, which is a
good way to check you have not slipped.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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Why subtract 1? If you simply add 560 + 2024 you are counting the changeover year

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twice — once as “1 BCE” and once as “1 CE”. Subtracting 1 removes that double
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LET'S EXPLORE — Page 63
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How Is Time Measured in History? — the missing

LET'S EXPLORE agl

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why there is no year zero: the system was worked out in Europe in the 6th century
CE, long before the number zero was in ordinary European use for counting.
Counting began at “one”, both forwards and backwards. Ironically, zero as a number
had already been developed in India — but it had not yet reached the people who
drew up this calendar.

Q2 So to calculate the number of years between a BCE date and a CE date, you should
add them but subtract 1 — in the above case, 2 + 2 – 1 = 3.

That is the rule for the whole chapter. Write it once and use it every time:

Gap between a BCE date and a CE date = BCE + CE – 1

Check on the example above: 2 + 2 – 1 = 3 ✓

But be careful — the rule only applies when the two dates are on opposite sides of the line.
Here are all three cases:

BOTH DATES ARE RULE WORKED EXAMPLE
…

One BCE, one CE add, then subtract 1 560 BCE → 2024 CE = 560 + 2024 – 1 =
2,583 years

Both CE subtract 1828 CE → 1947 CE = 1947 – 1828 = 119
years

Both BCE subtract (the bigger number is the 560 BCE → 320 BCE = 560 – 320 = 240
earlier date) years

Check it yourself: from 1 BCE to 1 CE the rule gives 1 + 1 – 1 = 1 year, which is right
— one year passes between them. Without the “– 1” you would get 2, which would
be wrong.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Practice a few examples with your classmates. For example, to return to the
question about the Buddha, suppose we are now in the year 2024 CE, then the
Buddha was born 560 + 2024 – 1 = 2,583 years ago.

Here is a set of practice sums you can use in class, each one worked out in full. Cover the right-
hand column, try them, then check.

QUESTION WORKING ANSWER

How long from 560 BCE (the Buddha's 560 + 2024 – 1 2,583
birth) to 2024 CE? years

How long from 560 BCE to 2026 CE? 560 + 2026 – 1 2,585
years

How long from 2500 BCE (Indus– 2500 + 2024 – 1 4,523
Sarasvatī cities) to 2024 CE? years

How long from 250 BCE (Aśhoka) to 250 + 2024 – 1 2,273
2024 CE? years

How long from 560 BCE (Buddha) to 250 560 – 250 310 years
BCE (Aśhoka)? Both BCE

How long from 1947 CE to 2026 CE? Both 2026 – 1947 79 years
CE

How long from 323 BCE to 323 CE? 323 + 323 – 1 645 years

A coin is said to be 2,000 years old in Y + 2024 – 1 = 2000 → Y = 2000 – 2023 = –23, i.e. 24 CE
2024 CE. What year was it made? the date falls after 1 CE: 2024 – 2000 = 24

Try this in class: make two paper strips, one for BCE years and one for CE years, and
join them so that “1 BCE” touches “1 CE” with no gap. Slide a marker along and count
aloud. Once you have seen that there is no space for a year zero, you will never
forget the “– 1”.

In-text Questions — Page 65

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Don't Miss Out — century, millennium and the pañchānga

DON'T MISS OUT

Q1 In the timeline given on pages 62 and 63 (Fig. 4.3), can you mark the beginning of
the 8th millennium BCE?

First examples
of rock art in
the world

Ice Age

300,000 40,000 14,000
BCE BCE BCE

End of last Birth of the
ice age Beginning Buddha
of copper
First settlements metallurgy Aśhoka
and beginning
of agriculture

12,000 10,000 8000 6000 4000 2000 2000
BCE BCE BCE BCE BCE BCE CE

We are
here
Pottery technology Indus-Sarasvatī
in Indian civilisation
Subcontinent

Birth of
The world's first Jesus
cities in
Mesopotamia

Fig. 4.3, pages 62–63 — Timeline of some main events since 300,000 BCE. The upper band
is broken to show that long stretches of time have been skipped; the lower band runs
evenly, 1,000 years to each small tick.

Yes — it falls exactly on the 8000 BCE mark, which is already printed on the timeline.
How to work it out. Millenniums BCE are counted beginning from 1 BCE and going backwards,
in blocks of 1,000 years:

Page 12 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

MILLENNIUM BCE YEARS IT COVERS

1st millennium BCE 1000 BCE – 1 BCE

2nd millennium BCE 2000 BCE – 1001 BCE

3rd millennium BCE 3000 BCE – 2001 BCE

… …

8th millennium BCE 8000 BCE – 7001 BCE

nth millennium BCE runs from (n × 1000) BCE to ((n – 1) × 1000 + 1) BCE

For n = 8: from 8 × 1000 = 8000 BCE down to (7 × 1000 + 1) = 7001 BCE

Its beginning — the earliest of those years — is 8000 BCE

8000 BCE — beginning of the 8th millennium BCE
1 BCE | 1 CE

10th 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st 1st 2nd

millenniums BCE — counted backwards from 1 BCE millenniums CE

8000 BCE → 7001 BCE

Millenniums laid out as blocks of 1,000 years. The 8th millennium BCE is the highlighted block; its
beginning is the 8000 BCE line, which is already a labelled mark on Fig. 4.3.

Where to put your pencil on Fig. 4.3: on page 63 the bar is marked 12,000 BCE, 10,000 BCE,
8000 BCE, 6000 BCE, 4000 BCE, 2000 BCE and 2000 CE. Draw your line straight down at the 8000
BCE mark and label it “beginning of the 8th millennium BCE”. On the book's timeline this is close
to where pottery technology in the Indian Subcontinent and the first settlements and
beginning of agriculture are placed.

Tip: for BCE, “beginning” means the year with the bigger number, because BCE
years count backwards. The 8th millennium BCE begins at 8000 BCE and ends at 7001
BCE — the opposite of what feels natural at first.

A small slip in the book: on page 65 the millennium entry reads “specific centuries
are counted every 1,000 years from the year 1 CE”. It clearly means “specific
millenniums”. The rule itself is right — the word is a printing slip.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

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Do you know how calendars have been traditionally made in India? em
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Yes — many Indian calendars are luni-solar: they use the positions of the sun and the moon

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the Gregorian calendar does.
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The book that carries all this is the pañchānga.
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WHAT A PAÑCHĀNGA IS WHAT IT CONTAINS WHAT IT IS USED FOR

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Indian calendars solve this byladding an extra month from time to time (the adhika
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each year, but always in the same season.
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Did you know? Pañchāngas are still printed and widely used across India today.

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LET'S EXPLORE — Page 65
Making your own timeline
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Create a timeline stretching from 1900 CE to the current year and place the dates of
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birth of your grandparents, parents, siblings and yourself. Also, mark the years that

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The dates on this timeline
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The two fixed answers first:

Centuries CE are counted from the year 1 CE, in blocks of 100:

1st century CE = 1 – 100 • 2nd century CE = 101 – 200 • … • 20th century CE = 19 ×

100 + 1 to 20 × 100

The 20th century CE begins with 1901 and ends with 2000

(The 21st century CE therefore begins with 2001 and ends with 2100 — exactly as the book

says.)

How to draw the timeline:

Take a long strip of paper or a full page turned sideways. Mark 1900 at the left end and the
current year at the right end.
Divide the line into equal ten-year (decade) steps: 1900, 1910, 1920 … This keeps the scale
honest, so a long gap on the paper really is a long gap in time.
Write each birth year on the line with a small tick, and the person's name above or below it.
Mark 1901 and 2000 in a different colour and label them “20th century CE begins” and “20th
century CE ends”.
Below the line, work out each person's age or the gap between two generations by simple
subtraction — both dates are CE, so you just subtract.

1950 2010
grandmother sister
1930 1980
great-grandfather father
1901 2000

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

20th century begins 20th century ends

2013 — me

Sample entries only — fill in your own family's years

A family timeline from 1900 CE to the present, drawn to a decade scale. The two red lines are the
fixed answers — the 20th century CE begins with 1901 and ends with 2000.

Why the 20th century does not begin in 1900: the counting starts at 1 CE, not 0 CE
— the same missing year zero as before. Years 1 to 100 make the 1st century, so
years 1901 to 2000 make the 20th. The year 1900 is the last year of the 19th century,
and 2000 was the last year of the 20th.

Page 15 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try this: once your timeline is drawn, measure the gaps. If your grandmother was
born in 1950 and you in 2013, that is 2013 – 1950 = 63 years — and your whole
family tree fits inside a single century, while the chapter's Fig. 4.3 covers 300,000
years. That contrast is the real lesson of the exercise.

LET'S EXPLORE — Page 66
What Are the Sources of History?

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 Can you collect information about at least three generations of your family on your
mother's and father's sides? Create a family tree with your parents, grandparents
and great-grandparents. Find out their names, what they did for a living and where
they were born. Also, write the sources from where you got this information.

This is a research project, not a question with one right answer. The table you fill in has five
columns — Relation, Name, Occupation, Place of birth, Source of information — and the
last column is the one that makes it history rather than family gossip.
Step 1 — draw the family tree. Put yourself at the bottom and work upwards, keeping the two
sides separate:

Great-grandparents Great-grandparents Great-grandparents Great-grandparents
(paternal) (maternal) (paternal) (maternal)

Grandparents Grandparents
(paternal) (maternal)

Father Mother

You

A three-generation family tree. Each box becomes one row of the book's table on page 66.

Step 2 — hunt for the information, and note where each fact came from. These are your
sources of history:

Page 16 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

SOURCE WHAT IT GIVES YOU HOW RELIABLE IT IS

Elders' memories — parents, Names, occupations, Rich but not exact. Dates
grandparents, great-aunts village names, stories drift; two relatives may
about why the family remember differently.
moved

Documents — Aadhaar cards, ration Exact names, dates and Very reliable, and easy to
cards, school leaving certificates, birth and places quote in your table.
marriage certificates, land papers,
pension books

Photographs — with dates or occasions Faces, clothes, houses, Reliable for people and
written behind them who was present places; the date is often
missing.

Letters, diaries, old account books, Dates of weddings, births, Very good, especially for
invitation cards journeys, prices, dating an event.
handwriting

Objects — utensils, jewellery, tools of the What the family did for a Suggestive rather than
family trade, old coins living, how well-off it was exact — best used with an
elder's explanation.

Village or community records — Names going back several Can reach much further
panchayat registers, temple or gurudwara generations back than living memory.
records, family genealogies kept by
hereditary bards

Sample row: Relation — Grandparents (paternal). Name — Shri Ram Prasad Verma
and Smt. Kamla Devi. Occupation — He was a school teacher; she farmed the family's
two bighas. Place of birth — Bakhtiyarpur, Bihar. Source of information — my father's
account, my grandfather's school service book, and a 1968 photograph with the date
written on the back.

Why the last column matters most: without it, a family tree is only a claim. With it,
anyone can check your work — which is precisely the difference between a story and
history. Notice too what happens as you go back: for your parents you have
documents, for your great-grandparents perhaps only a name and a village. The
further back you go, the fewer the sources — exactly the problem historians face
with ancient India.

In-text Questions — Page 66

Page 17 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What Are the Sources of History?

Q1 How did you find details about your family's past? Did you rely on things like
photographs, diaries, ID cards or memories from your parents and relatives?

Almost certainly you used a mixture of both kinds — written and material things on one side,
spoken memory on the other. That mixture is the whole point of the question.

WHAT YOU USED WHICH FAMILY OF HISTORICAL SOURCES IT
MATCHES (PAGE 67)

Aadhaar cards, ration cards, certificates, land Literary / written sources — like inscriptions, copper
papers, letters, diaries plates and manuscripts

Old photographs, an ancestor's portrait, a Artistic sources — like paintings and sculptures
painted family scene

Utensils, jewellery, tools, old coins, the old Archaeological sources — like coins, ornaments, tools and
family house structures

What your parents, grandparents and Oral sources — like folklore and genealogies
neighbours told you

Sample answer: “Most of what I found came from my grandmother talking. She
gave me all four great-grandparents' names and their village. But she was not sure
of years, so I checked my grandfather's pension book for his date of birth and found
an old photograph with ‘1971’ written on the back. Where the two disagreed, I wrote
both in my table and marked which source each came from.”

Why the disagreement is not a failure: the chapter says that sometimes sources
confirm each other and sometimes they contradict each other, and then the
historian must decide which source to trust more. A written date on a document
usually beats a remembered date — but a photograph can also be mislabelled.
Recording the conflict instead of hiding it is what a good historian does.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 67

Page 18 of 42

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What Are the Sources of History?
co m
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THINK ABOUT IT

.co a g l
a s em you ever seen old coins, books, clothes, jewellery or utensils in and around
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Have
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Q1
your house? What type of information can we gain from such objects? Or from old
houses or buildings?

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m . ag
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g a few such things, and each one is a piece of the jigsaw
Yes — most homes in India hold ataleast
puzzle of the family's history. Here is what a careful eye can read from each.

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OBJECT WHAT IT CAN TELL US

. a g l
m
ase
Old coins The ruler or government that issued them, the year and the language of the writing

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on them, the metal used, and where the family travelled or traded. A coin is often the
easiest object of all to date.

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Old books, The languages and scripts the family read, what they studied or believed, prices and
letters and
s em
wages of the time, and the exact dates of events.
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papers

Old clothes The climate, the local weave and dye, whether the cloth was hand-made or mill-

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.
and textiles made, the family's occupation and how well-off it was, and what people wore on
festivals and weddings.
se m
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Jewellery Metals and stones available at the time, the skill of local

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community designs, and the family's wealth.

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Utensils What was cooked and how, what fuel was used, whether the metal was brass, bronze,

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copper, iron or clay, and the size of the household that ate together.
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Old houses The building material (mud, stone, brick, lime, cement), the climate they were
and buildings designed for, family size and how rooms were shared, wells and courtyards, and the
wealth and craft traditions of the whole locality — a temple, mosque, church, stepwell

m
or fort tells the story of a community, not just one family.

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Why an ordinary object can be better evidence than a written record: a chronicle

s e m is written by someone with a point of view, often about kings. A cooking pot was
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quietly record what ordinary people actually ate — which is why archaeologists get
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so excited about broken pottery.
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try this: pick one old object in your house. Write down (1) what it is made of, (2)
roughly how old you think it is and why, (3) who used it and for what, and (4) how
you know — memory, a mark on the object, or a document. You have just written a
short source-analysis, exactly the way a historian would.

LET'S EXPLORE — Pages 68–69
Reading three objects as sources

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 There are a few images of different sources of history on the next page. Who and
what do you think the objects show? Write down in the boxes next to the images
any information that you get from these objects.
What is printed on page 69: three objects photographed on a sheet of old, torn
parchment, with ruled lines beside each one to write on.

Top left — a gold coin. A figure sits cross-legged on a low couch, a large
halo behind the head, a long stringed instrument resting across the lap
and being plucked with the right hand. A line of letters in an old Indian
script runs round the rim.
Right — a carved stone slab with a rounded arch on top, framed by a pillar
on each side and divided into two storeys. In the upper storey, richly
ornamented figures (some with more than two arms) stand and sit
around a central seated figure beneath a canopy. In the lower storey, a
group of figures works around what looks like a long boat.
Bottom left — a polished stone capital. Lions carved back to back (three of
them visible) stand on a round drum; the drum carries a spoked wheel
and an animal in relief, and rests on a bell-shaped inverted lotus.

Page 69 of the textbook — the three objects are described here; see the book itself for
the photographs.

Page 69 shows three objects, one from each of three different families of sources. Look at them
carefully before reading on — then compare with the notes below.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

OBJECT ON WHAT YOU CAN SEE WHAT A HISTORIAN READS FROM IT
PAGE 69

Top left — a A king with a halo behind his That gold was available and could be minted, so
gold coin head, sitting cross-legged the kingdom was wealthy. That the ruler chose to
Archaeological on a couch and playing a show himself as a musician, not a warrior, tells us
source (coins / vīṇā. Around the rim runs a the arts were valued at court. The writing gives the
inscriptions) line of writing in an old ruler's name and titles — this is the well-known
script (Brahmi). “lyrist” type gold coin of the Gupta ruler
Samudragupta (4th century CE). Coins also show
us the script, the language and the trade of a
period.

Right — a A tall stone slab with an The parasol and throne mark royalty or divinity;
carved stone arched top, framed by two carved panels usually tell a story from an epic or a
panel carved pillars and divided religious text. Such a panel is evidence of temple
Artistic source into two storeys. Above: a architecture, of the sculptor's tools and skill, of
(sculptures and crowned figure seated on a dress, ornaments, hairstyles, musical instruments
panels) throne under a parasol, with and boats of the time — details no written text
attendants around. Below: a bothers to record.
busy scene with figures and
what looks like a boat.

Bottom left — Four lions standing back to This is the Lion Capital of Aśhoka from Sarnath,
the Lion back on a round drum. The near Varanasi, carved in the 3rd century BCE — the
Capital drum carries a wheel top of one of Aśhoka's pillars. It shows a strong,
Archaeological (chakra) and animals; below organised state that could quarry, carve, polish
source it is a bell-shaped inverted and transport huge stones; the wheel and the
(monuments and lotus. The stone is animals carry the message the emperor wanted
structures) beautifully polished. spread. India adopted it as the State Emblem on
26 January 1950, and its wheel is the Ashoka
Chakra at the centre of the national flag — a
2,200-year-old source still in daily use.

Notice what the three objects have in common:

All three are durable — gold and stone. That is a warning: things made of cloth, wood, palm
leaf or mud rot away, so what survives is not a fair sample of the past.
All three come from rulers or temples. Ordinary people's lives have to be reconstructed
from humbler things — potsherds, tools, grains, house floors.
Each one answers a different kind of question: the coin gives a name and a date, the panel
gives a way of life, the capital gives the power and reach of a state.

Page 21 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to write your own boxes: for each image, note four things — (1) what it is
made of, (2) what is shown on it, (3) who probably made it and for whom, and (4) one
question it does not answer. That last point is the honest bit: the coin will not tell you
what a farmer ate.

LET'S EXPLORE — Page 70
The Beginnings of Human History

LET'S EXPLORE

Q1 In the above picture, look at some activities of early humans in a rock shelter.
Which ones can you recognise? Give a brief description for each.

The setting: a wide rock overhang, painted in watercolour. About fifteen
people of every age are inside it; green hillside is visible in the open air on
the right.
On the sloping rock wall behind them: figures painted in black — rows of
humped cattle, a bowman with his bow drawn towards them, and a
cluster of thin human figures with raised arms.
Below that wall: a man in an orange wrap stands with one arm stretched
right up to the rock face; a child stands beside him, also reaching up to
the wall with something in hand.
On the left: a fire burns brightly. An elderly man stands behind it holding
a long stick, another person holds a bundle of dry grass, and two women
sit close to the flames, one of them holding a baby.
On the shelter floor, in front: three people kneel over stones, striking one
stone against another; a man with painted marks on his body sits at the
far left.
On the right: a man and a woman kneel over a large stone bowl that holds
rounded stones, pressing down into it; two children sit beside them with
small pieces in their hands; at the far right a man stands working at
something held in both hands.

The picture at the top of page 70 — a modern artist’s painting of a rock shelter;
described here, see the textbook for the picture itself.

The picture on page 70 shows a whole community at work under an overhanging rock. Here are
the activities that can be recognised in it:

Page 22 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ACTIVITY IN DESCRIPTION
THE PICTURE

Painting on the A man stands with his arm raised, painting on the rock face. Above him the wall is
rock wall already covered with black figures — a row of cattle, a hunter, and human figures
that look like dancers. These are the rock paintings the chapter describes, found
in hundreds of caves all over the world.

Preparing Two people bend over a large stone bowl, crushing lumps into powder. Paint had to
colours be made from coloured earth and minerals ground fine and mixed — so the
painting on the wall depended on this quieter work.

Sitting round a A group is gathered round a blazing fire, one of them stretching a hand towards it.
fire Fire gave warmth, light after dark, protection from animals and cooked food — the
chapter says plainly that early humans used fire.

Making stone Several people kneel on the floor of the shelter striking one stone against another.
tools This is tool-making: improved stone axes and blades, arrowheads and scrapers,
shaped by chipping flakes off a core.

Sharpening or A man stands at the right, working a blade with both hands — grinding or
finishing a tool trimming an edge that has already been roughed out.

Children Two children sit apart with small pieces in their hands, doing what the adults are
watching and doing. Nobody in the picture is teaching from a book; skills passed on by watching
copying and imitating.

Living in a The most important “activity” of all: everyone is together in one shelter, each doing
group a different job. The chapter says early humans lived in bands or groups to help
each other against the challenges of nature.

Why a rock shelter and not a house: these people were hunters and gatherers,
constantly on the move in search of food. A natural overhang gave shelter from rain
and sun for nothing — no building, no carrying. Houses come later in the chapter,
only after farming ties people to one place.

Did you know? India has one of the world's great collections of this rock art at the
Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh — hundreds of shelters painted with
animals, hunters, dancers and drummers. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it
is exactly the kind of scene the artist of this picture was imagining.

LET'S EXPLORE — Page 71

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The First Crops
co m
e m.
m as
LET'S EXPLORE

.co a g l
a s em the scene on the next page. It depicts an agricultural community from a
gl
Observe
a
Q1
few millenniums ago. List the main activities you can identify.

co m
em .
Background: a broad river; cattle stand at the water’s edge; low green ag
g l as
hills and trees beyond; a line of birds in the sky.
a
Left half — the field: tall ripe cereal standing in the sun. A man holds a big

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bundle of cut stalks above his head; a woman bends into the crop cutting

.
it; a child squats gathering the cut stalks; further off, another person

m a s em
gl
walks carrying a bundle of stalks on the head.

. co Centre: a bearded man walks towards you with aalong-handled
m
tool over

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his shoulder and a cloth bundle tied to it. A dog walks at his side.
a g Right — the village: four huts with mud walls and thatched roofs. A man

s
works with a tool at the corner of one hut; two small children play on the
om a
. c agl
ground in front of the huts.
m round clay pot standing over a wood fire; a
Right foreground: aelarge
s
a
glnext to it over a shallow pan, with a bowl and red and
woman kneels
ayellow vegetables on the ground beside her.
Foreground: a flock of white sheep grazing on the grass; a thorny bush at
co m
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seof an early farming
the bottom right.

o m l a
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The picture at the top of page 72 — a modern artist’s painting

a s em village; described here, see the textbook for the picture itself.

agl
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The scene on page 72 shows a settled farming village beside a river. The main activities are:

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ACTIVITY WHAT IS SHOWN WHAT IT TELLS US

Harvesting the People bent over tall standing The community cultivates cereals and grains
crop cereal, cutting it with hand tools — the great change the chapter describes
after the Ice Age

Carrying the Two figures walking with big The crop is being brought in to be stored —
harvest bundles of cut stalks balanced people now have a surplus worth storing
on their heads

Carrying tools A man walks towards the village Farming needs made tools; later in the chapter
with a long-handled tool over these become metal — copper first, iron
his shoulder and a bundle tied later
to it

Building or A man works with raised arms People have settled down; permanent houses
repairing a hut at the wall of a mud house with replace temporary camps and rock shelters
a thatched roof

Cooking A large round pot on an open Pottery — one of the new technologies the
hearth, with a fire burning chapter names — for cooking and storing food
under it

Grinding grain A woman kneels at a flat Grain must be processed before eating;
and preparing grinding stone; a basket of grinding stones are among the commonest
food vegetables and a bowl stand finds at early farming sites
beside her

Herding sheep A flock grazing in the Domestication of animals — the chapter
and goats foreground; cattle near the names cattle and goats — for milk, meat, wool
river behind and labour

Keeping a dog A dog walks beside the man The dog was the first animal to live with
with the tool humans; here it guards the flock and the
village

Children at play Small children near the houses, A settled, safe village life — very different from
away from the fields the constantly moving band of the earlier
picture

Living beside a The river runs across the The chapter's own reason: people settled near
river background with trees and rivers not only for water but because the soil
green banks is more fertile there, which makes growing
crops easier

Page 25 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Compare the two pictures. In the rock-shelter scene (page 70) everything is
temporary: no walls, no fields, no stored food. In this one there are houses, fences,
fields, pots, flocks and children playing. That single change — from following food to
growing it — is what allowed communities to grow in size and number, to develop
chieftains, exchange and craft, and eventually to build the first towns.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 72
The First Crops — men's and women's roles in the pictures

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Both in the earlier picture of a rock shelter and in this one, men and women are
given certain roles. While they may appear to be ‘natural’, they are not necessarily
accurate and do not cover all situations. For instance, in a rock shelter, women may
have helped prepare colours for painting the rock or may have done some of the
painting. In both scenes, men may have done some of the cooking or may have
helped take care of children.

The earlier picture — the rock shelter (page 70). A man in an orange wrap
paints on the rock wall, with a child beside him. On the left, an old man
tends a blazing fire while two women sit beside it, one of them holding a
baby. In front, men kneel on the floor chipping one stone against another.
On the right, a man and a woman press down into a big stone bowl, and a
man stands finishing something held in both hands.
This picture — the farming village (page 72). In the field, a man lifts a
bundle of cut stalks over his head while a woman bends to cut the crop
and a child gathers stalks. A bearded man walks in from the field with a
tool over his shoulder and a dog at his side. By the huts, a man works at a
wall with a tool. At the hearth, a woman kneels beside a pot on the fire
with vegetables laid out next to her, and two small children play near the
houses.

The two pictures the question is about — pages 70 and 72; the artists’ paintings are
described here, see the textbook for the pictures themselves.

The book is warning us about the pictures in its own pages — which is unusual and worth taking
seriously. The illustrations are modern guesses, not evidence.

Page 26 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What the two pictures show: men hunting, making tools, painting the rock, carrying the
harvest and building; women grinding grain, cooking and minding children. What the evidence
actually allows: far more than that.

THE PICTURE WHY IT MAY NOT BE ACCURATE
SUGGESTS

Only men painted Nothing in a painting says who held the brush. At several painted caves in the
the rock walls world, hand stencils on the walls have been measured and many are the size
and shape of women's and children's hands. Women may also have prepared
the colours, which is half the work.

Only women In a band where everybody must eat, whoever is in camp cooks. Men very likely
cooked and cared cooked, minded children and carried infants too.
for children

Only men hunted, Gathering plants, fruits, roots, honey, eggs and small animals supplied a great
only women deal of the food and was done by everyone. Women in many known hunting-
gathered gathering communities hunt small game and fish.

Only men made Tool-making and house-building are learnt skills; children in the picture are
tools and built already copying the adults. There is no reason to assume the learning stopped
houses at boys.

Why an artist ends up drawing it this way: nobody photographed the Stone Age.
An illustrator has to fill the gaps with something, and the easiest thing to reach for is
the pattern he or she already knows from today. That is how a modern assumption
gets painted onto a 12,000-year-old scene — and then read back as if it were proof.

Q2 Keeping in mind that we have only limited information, think about such roles and
situations, and discuss in class.

How to run this discussion so that it goes somewhere. Split the class in two and give each
side a job:

Side A — “What do we actually know?” List only what physical evidence can show: the
tools, the paintings, the grinding stones, the animal bones, the burials. Notice how few of
these come with a label saying who used them.
Side B — “What have we assumed?” Go through the two pictures and list every role that
has been assigned rather than proved.
Then swap lists and argue. The useful question is never “were women hunters?” but “what
evidence would settle it either way?”

Page 27 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Three points worth landing on:

1. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. We have no proof that women painted at
Bhimbetka; we have no proof that they did not.
2. Survival bias. Stone survives, cloth and wood do not — so work done in stone looks more
important than it was, and whoever wove, cooked or nursed leaves almost no trace.
3. Roles were probably flexible. In a small band facing hunger, cold and danger, rigid job lists
are a luxury. Everyone did what was needed — which is exactly why the book says these
roles “do not cover all situations”.

Sample conclusion for your notebook: “Our class agreed that the pictures are a
reasonable guess but not proof. We can be confident that people lived in groups,
used fire, made tools and painted, because those things survive. We cannot be
confident about who did each job, because the evidence does not record it. So we
should read such pictures as an artist's suggestion, and keep an open mind.”

Why this is a history lesson and not just a fairness lesson: the habit being taught
here — separate what the evidence shows from what the illustrator assumed — is
the same habit you will need for every source in the rest of the book, from a king's
inscription praising himself to a foreign traveller's account of a city he barely saw.

Before we move on … — Page 73
The chapter in four points

BEFORE WE MOVE ON …

Q1 We have explored some ways to learn more about our pasts. The concept of a
timeline helps us understand the sequence of historical events at different times.

What a timeline is: a convenient tool that shows a sequence of dates and events covering any
particular period. The chapter's Fig. 4.3 runs from the beginning of humanity to the present,
with a few important landmarks marked on it.
Three things a timeline does that a list of dates cannot:

It shows order at a glance. Even without reading the numbers, you can see that the birth of
the Buddha comes before the birth of Jesus.
It shows distance. The gap between two marks is the real gap in time, so you can see that
the whole of recorded Indian history is a short stretch at the right-hand end of a very long
line.

Page 28 of 42

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

It shows what has been left out. The dotted portion in Fig. 4.3 marks a skipped period —
co m
and the book explains why: drawn honestly to scale, the timeline would have to be almost 3
em.
m l as
.co g
metres long.

em a
a s
gl years drawn at the same scale as the printed part
a300,000
m
→ a strip of paper about 3 metres long
. co ag
em
→ on it, the 2,583 years since the Buddha's birth would be under 3 centimetres

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Why the skipped part matters: a timeline is itself a kind of source, and like every

co m
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source it makes choices. Whoever draws it decides what to include, what to skip and

m as e
l
what scale to use — and those choices change the story the reader sees.

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There are different ways of measuring time: years, decades, centuries, millenniums.
s
Q2

m a
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.co agl
a s
l for each. The rule is the part that trips people up, so it is
agrule
The four units, with the counting
worth memorising the boundaries.

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UNIT
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LENGTH CE SIDE
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BCE SIDE
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Year 1 1 CE, 2 CE, 3 CE …

agl Decade 10 years Any ten-year stretch Any ten-year stretch

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Century 100 years
co= m
Counted from 1 CE: Counted back from 1 BCE:
g l a
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se 21st = 2001–2100 CE
1st 1–100 CE 1st = 100–1 BCE

gl a 3rd = 300–201 BCE

Millennium
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1,000 years 1st = 1–1000 CE 1st = 1000–1 BCE
3rd = 2001–3000 CE
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8th = 8000–7001 BCE

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So the counting starts at 1, both forwards and backwards
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And the gap between a BCE date and a CE date = BCE + CE – 1
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: a century's number is always one more than the first two digits of its CE years —
2001–2100 is the 21st century, 1901–2000 is the 20th. The exception is the last year
of each century (2000, 1900), which belongs to the earlier century. Get that one right
and you will get every century question right.

Why India uses more than one calendar: the Gregorian calendar is used
worldwide for official business, while Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Chinese and other
calendars are used side by side for festivals and auspicious events. The pañchānga,
built on the positions of the sun and the moon, is still printed and used across the
country.

Q3 Sources of history are many; they help us reconstruct and interpret historical
events.

The four families, in one line each, with the point of the whole exercise underneath.

FAMILY MADE UP OF BEST AT TELLING US

Archaeological Inscriptions (manuscripts, copper plates, coins); structures Dates, rulers,
(monuments, mounds); excavations (remains, tools and weapons, technology, food, crafts,
figurines and ornaments, pottery and toys, habitations and daily life
burials)

Literary Indian literature — Vedas and Itihāsas, poems and plays, Ideas, beliefs, law,
historical texts, collections of stories, scientific and technological science, and how
texts; foreign accounts — travelogues, historical chronicles outsiders saw India

Oral Folklore, genealogical records Community memory
that was never written
down

Artistic Paintings, sculptures, panels Dress, ornament, music,
boats, gods and stories

Plus the newer sources the chapter adds: studies of ancient climates, chemical analysis of
excavated material and genetics of ancient people; and, for recent history, newspapers and
electronic media.
Who does the work: historians, and with them archaeologists, epigraphists (who study ancient
inscriptions), anthropologists, and experts in literature and languages.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The two verbs in this line are doing different jobs. To reconstruct is to put the
pieces back together — what happened, when, where. To interpret is to say what it
meant. Two honest historians can agree on every fact and still interpret it differently;
and both must say which sources they used, so that others can check.

Q4 We have also had a brief look into the lives of early humans and how human
societies grew more complex in time.

The chapter's last idea is that complexity grew — it was not there at the start. Here is the whole
sequence in order.

STAGE HOW PEOPLE LIVED WHAT WAS NEW

1. Hunter- In bands, in temporary camps, rock shelters Fire; stone axes, blades and arrowheads;
gatherers and caves; constantly moving for food and rock paintings; bead and tooth
shelter ornaments; exchange with other groups;
beliefs about nature and the afterlife

2. After the last Climate warms, ice melts, rivers swell; People begin to settle down
Ice Age living conditions improve
(over 100,000 →
about 12,000
years ago)

3. First farmers Settled near rivers, for water and because Cultivating cereals and grains;
the soil is more fertile domesticating cattle, goats and other
animals; communities grow in size and
number

4. Early village Chieftains responsible for people's welfare; Leadership and collective work
society land sowed and harvested collectively; no
sense of individual ownership

5. Villages and Hamlets grow into sizeable villages that Pottery; metal — copper first, iron later
small towns exchange food, clothing and tools; — for durable tools, daily objects and
networks of communication grow between ornaments
them; some become small towns

Chapter 6 will show how this stage prepared the ground for what is called civilisation.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The sentence the chapter chooses to end on: this early progress “had to face
many challenges. At some critical times, humanity could have almost disappeared,
as some earlier species did.” Our existence today is not inevitable — it rests on the
courage and persistence of people whose names we will never know.

Questions, activities and projects — Page 74
End-of-chapter exercise

Q1 As a project, write the history of your family (or village if you live in one), using
sources of history at your disposal. Ask your teacher to guide you.

This is a project, so the content must be yours. What follows is a working method and a model
opening you can adapt.
Step 1 — decide the question. “The history of my family” is too big. Choose something
answerable: Where did my family live four generations ago, and why did it move? Or, for a village:
How old is my village, and what has changed in it in the last hundred years?
Step 2 — list your sources before you start writing.

TYPE FOR A FAMILY HISTORY FOR A VILLAGE HISTORY

Oral Interviews with the oldest Elders, the village priest, the barber, the
members of the family schoolteacher, folk songs and legends about the
village's founding

Written Certificates, ID cards, land papers, Panchayat records, land revenue records, school
letters, diaries, school registers and temple records, the census, old newspapers

Material Old utensils, jewellery, tools, coins, Old wells, stepwells, temples, mosques, a fort or
the old house gateway, milestones, memorial stones, mounds

Visual Photographs, portraits Old photographs, survey maps, paintings

Step 3 — interview properly. Fix a time. Take a notebook and, with permission, a recorder. Ask
open questions (“What did the village look like when you were ten?”) rather than yes/no ones.
Write down the date of the interview and the person's name — that is your citation.
Step 4 — cross-check. Where two sources disagree, say so in your report instead of quietly
choosing one.
Step 5 — write it up with (1) a short introduction saying what you set out to find, (2) the story in
chronological order with a timeline, (3) photographs or sketches of your material sources, (4) a
list of every source used, and (5) one honest paragraph on what you could not find out.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample opening: “My family's oldest remembered ancestor is Shri Bhola Ram, who
my great-grandmother says was born ‘around the time of the big famine’. The village
revenue record shows a Bhola Ram holding land in 1897. If these are the same man,
our family has lived in this village for at least five generations. Sources: interview
with Smt. Sita Devi (12 July 2026); village land record, 1897; a photograph dated
1954.”

Why the teacher's guidance is asked for: a school project like this touches other
people's memories and, sometimes, painful ones. A teacher can help you frame
questions respectfully, get permission before recording, and decide what belongs in
a report meant to be read aloud in class.

Q2 Can we compare historians to detectives? Give reasons for your answers.

Yes — the comparison is a good one, and the chapter almost makes it itself when it calls
each source “a piece in a jigsaw puzzle”. But the comparison also breaks down at two
important points, and a full answer says both.
Where the two are alike:

A DETECTIVE … A HISTORIAN …

Starts from a question — who did it? Starts from a question — what happened here, and
why?

Collects evidence: fingerprints, objects, Collects sources: inscriptions, coins, monuments, texts,
documents, witnesses folklore

Prefers many pieces of evidence to one Gathers information from as many sources as they can
find

Checks whether witnesses agree, and asks Checks whether sources confirm or contradict each
who might be lying or mistaken other, and decides which source to trust more

Uses science — forensics, chemistry, DNA Uses science — ancient climate studies, chemical
analysis of excavated material, genetics

Reconstructs a sequence of events from Re-creates the history of the period being studied,
incomplete traces knowing that pieces are missing

Where the comparison breaks down:

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A detective can question living witnesses; a historian cannot. Nobody can be called back
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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The seven dates placed on one line drawn to scale (1900 BCE at the left, 2024 CE at the right). The
four middle dates are crowded together because 323 BCE and 323 CE are only 645 years apart, while
1900 BCE to 323 BCE is 1,577 years.

The trap in this question: 323 BCE and 323 CE look like the same number, but one
is more than three centuries before the changeover and the other more than three
centuries after it — 323 + 323 – 1 = 645 years apart. The same trap sits in 100 BCE
and 100 CE, which are 100 + 100 – 1 = 199 years apart.

(ii) King Chandragupta, born 320 CE.

Century: centuries CE are counted from 1 CE.

1st century = 1–100 • 2nd = 101–200 • 3rd = 201–300 • 4th = 301–400

320 lies between 301 and 400 → he belonged to the 4th century CE

Years after the Buddha's birth (560 BCE): one date is BCE and one is CE, so add and

subtract 1.

= 560 + 320 – 1

= 880 – 1

= 879 years after the Buddha's birth

Note on the two editions: the Hindi edition of this book prints this date as 320 BCE
(320 सा.सं.पू.) instead of 320 CE. Both readings make historical sense —
Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya empire around 321 BCE, while
Chandragupta I founded Gupta rule around 320 CE. If your teacher uses the BCE
version, the answers become: 4th century BCE (400–301 BCE), and 560 – 320 = 240
years after the Buddha's birth (both dates BCE, so simply subtract).

(iii) Rani of Jhansi, born 1828 CE.

Page 35 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Century: 19th century CE = 1801 – 1900

1828 lies in that range → she belonged to the 19th century CE

Years before India's Independence (1947 CE): both dates are CE, so simply subtract.

= 1947 – 1828

= 119 years before Independence

Did you know? Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi was born in 1828 and died fighting in
1858, during India's first great uprising against British rule. She was 29 when the
uprising began in 1857 — 1857 – 1828 = 29.

(iv) Turning ‘12,000 years ago’ into a date.

Let the date be Y BCE. Using the chapter's rule:

Y + (present year) – 1 = 12,000

Taking the book's own present year, 2024 CE:

Y = 12,000 – 2024 + 1 = 12,000 – 2023 = 9977 BCE

Taking 2026 CE instead:

Y = 12,000 – 2026 + 1 = 9975 BCE

Since “12,000 years ago” is itself a round figure, the sensible answer is about 10,000 BCE.

Check it: from 9977 BCE to 1 BCE is 9,976 years; from 1 BCE to 2024 CE is 2,024 years; 9,976 +
2,024 = 12,000 ✓

Page 36 of 42

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A small inconsistency in the book worth noticing: on page 71 the text says the
last Ice Age ended “around 12,000 years ago”, which is about 10,000 BCE. But Fig.
4.3 on page 63 marks “End of last ice age” at 12,000 BCE — which is 12,000 + 2024 –
1 ≈ 14,000 years ago. The two differ by roughly two thousand years. Both are within
the range scientists give for the end of the last glacial period, so neither is wrong as
a rough figure — but it is a good reminder to check whether a date is written “years
ago” or “BCE”. They are not the same thing.

Q4 Plan a visit to a nearby museum: the visit should be prepared with some prior
research on the kind of exhibits the museum holds. Keep notes during the visit.
Write a brief report afterwards, highlighting what was unexpected / interesting /
fun about the visit and the exhibits.

The chapter opens with a photograph of the National Museum, New Delhi, and says that such
museums preserve statues, coins and ornaments that help us understand our history. This
activity turns that caption into a day's work. Do it in three parts.
Part 1 — before the visit (the research)

Find out which museums are near you. Most state capitals have a State Museum; many
districts have an Archaeological Survey of India site museum, a university museum, a railway
or textile museum, or a memorial house.
Look up the museum's galleries and pick two to study properly. Trying to see everything is
the commonest mistake.
Check opening days, timings, ticket price, whether photography is allowed, and whether
a school group needs to book.
Write down three questions you want answered — for example: “Which is the oldest object
here, and how do they know its age?”

Part 2 — during the visit (the notes)

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COLUMN IN YOUR NOTEBOOK WHAT TO WRITE

Object Name and gallery — copy it exactly from the label

Material Stone, terracotta, bronze, gold, palm leaf, cloth …

Date and place As given on the label, e.g. “Sarnath, 3rd century BCE”

What it shows Your own two-line description, in your own words

Which family of sources Archaeological / literary / oral / artistic (page 67)

My question One thing the label did not tell you

Also sketch one object. Drawing forces you to look far harder than photographing does.
Part 3 — after the visit (the report) — about one page, in four short sections: where and
when you went; what you saw (your two chosen galleries); what was unexpected, interesting
or fun; and what you still want to find out.

Sample paragraph: “The most unexpected thing was how small the Harappan seals
are — I had seen them enlarged in the textbook and imagined them the size of a
hand, but they are about the size of a postage stamp. The most fun part was the
gallery of musical instruments, where a recording played each one. My unanswered
question is how the museum decides which objects to display and which stay in
storage — the guide said less than a tenth is on show.”

Why a museum visit belongs in this chapter: everything you have read about here
— coins, inscriptions, sculptures, tools, pottery, manuscripts — sits in cases a bus
ride away. Seeing one real object with its label does more for the idea of a “source of
history” than a page of description.

Q5 Invite to your school an archaeologist or a historian and ask them to speak on the
history of your region and why it's important to know it.

This is an organising task as much as a history task. Here is how a class can carry it off.
Step 1 — find the right person. Try, in this order:

The history or archaeology department of the nearest college or university.
The Archaeological Survey of India circle office or a nearby protected monument or site
museum.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of Historyl AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The State Department of Archaeology and Museums, or the curator of the local museum.
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A local historian, writer or teacher who has published on the district — the town library or
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date,
and the topic in one line: “the history of our region and why it matters to know it.”

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Chapter at a glance
History is the study of the human past. Many kinds of specialists dig it out: geologists
(the physical Earth), palaeontologists (fossils), anthropologists (human societies and
cultures) and archaeologists (remains left behind by people, plants and animals) — Fig. 4.2.
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) have been here only about 300,000 years, a tiny sliver of
the Earth's 4.54-billion-year story (Fig. 4.1).
Time is measured in eras. The Gregorian calendar is used worldwide, alongside Hindu,
Muslim, Jewish, Chinese and other calendars for festivals and auspicious events. Years after
the conventional date of Jesus' birth were marked AD and are now called CE (Common Era);
years before it were marked BC and are now BCE (Before Common Era). India became
independent in 1947 CE; the Buddha was born about 560 BCE.
There is no ‘year zero’. 1 CE follows immediately after 1 BCE. So to count the years between
a BCE date and a CE date you add the two numbers and subtract 1. From 2 BCE to 2 CE is 2 +
2 – 1 = 3 years; the Buddha, born 560 BCE, was born 560 + 2024 – 1 = 2,583 years before
2024 CE.
Longer stretches have names. A decade is 10 years, a century 100 years, a millennium
1,000 years. Centuries CE are counted from 1 CE — we are in the 21st century CE (2001–
2100) and the 3rd millennium CE (2001–3000). Centuries and millenniums BCE are counted
backwards from 1 BCE — the 3rd century BCE is 300–201 BCE and the 1st millennium BCE is
1000 BCE–1 BCE. India's own pañchānga is a sun-and-moon calendar of astronomical
tables.
Sources of history are grouped as archaeological (inscriptions, copper plates, coins,
monuments, mounds, excavated tools, pottery, burials), literary (Vedas and Itihāsas, poems
and plays, historical texts, scientific texts, foreign travelogues and chronicles), oral (folklore,
genealogies) and artistic (paintings, sculptures, panels). Science now adds ancient climate
study, chemical analysis and genetics; recent history also uses newspapers and electronic
media. Historians cross-check sources like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle — and some pieces
stay missing.
Early humans lived in bands, in temporary camps, rock shelters and caves; they were
hunters and gatherers, used fire, made stone axes, blades and arrowheads, painted
hundreds of caves and made bead and tooth ornaments. The last Ice Age ran from over
100,000 to about 12,000 years ago. Afterwards people began farming and domesticating
animals, settled near rivers for water and fertile soil, chose chieftains, farmed land
collectively, and grew from hamlets into villages and small towns with pottery and metal —
copper first, iron later.

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK
APPEARS IN
THE CHAPTER

History The study of the human past Margin note, page E.H. Carr: “an unending
60 dialogue between the present
and the past”

Fossils Impressions of footprints, or parts of Margin note, page Studied by palaeontologists
plants or animals, preserved within 61 (Fig. 4.2.2)
layers of soil or rocks

Archaeologist A person who studies the past by Page 61, Fig. 4.2.4 Tools, pots, beads, figurines,
digging up remains that people, toys, bones, burnt grains,
plants and animals left behind bricks

Era A distinct period of time Margin note, page The Common Era, which begins
61 at 1 CE

Gregorian The calendar now used the world Margin note, page 1800 and 1900 are not leap
calendar over; 12 months adding up to 365 62 years; 2000 is
days, and a leap year every four
years

CE — Common Years counted forward from the Page 62 1947 CE — the year India
Era conventional year of Jesus' birth; gained independence
earlier written AD

BCE — Before Years counted backward from that Page 62 560 BCE — approximate year of
Common Era same point; earlier written BC the Buddha's birth

Timeline A tool that shows a sequence of Pages 62–64, Fig. Fig. 4.3 runs from 300,000 BCE
dates and events covering a 4.3 to 2000 CE; the dotted part is a
particular period skipped period

Century / Any period of 100 years / any period Don't Miss Out, 21st century CE = 2001–2100;
Millennium of 1,000 years pages 64–65 3rd millennium CE = 2001–3000

Pañchānga An Indian book of tables listing the Don't Miss Out, Predicts eclipses, sunrise and
days of each month with related page 65 sunset, festival dates, weather
astronomical data

Source of history A place, person, text or object from Margin note, page Inscriptions, coins,
which we gather information about 66 monuments, manuscripts,
some past event or period folklore

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Class 6 Social Science Chapter 4 Timeline and Sources of History AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT EXAMPLE FROM THE BOOK
APPEARS IN
THE CHAPTER

Historian A person who studies and writes Margin note, page Gathers as many sources as
about the past 68 possible and decides which to
trust

Genetics The branch of biology that studies Margin note, page Genetic studies of ancient
how features and characteristics pass 68 people give fresh insights
from one generation to the next

Afterlife A life that begins after death Margin note, page Early humans possibly had
70 some notion of it

Hamlet A small settlement or small village Margin note, page Hamlets grew into sizeable
73 villages that exchanged goods

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