Here you will learn about the basic of History and Prehistory which will eventually help you to grasp the things very quickly. Thank you
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2. Topics to be discussed-
• Prehistory & its sources
– Artefacts
– Fossils
• History & its sources
– Manuscript
– Inscription
– Monuments
– Coin
• History & Time
– Meaning of BC, AD, CE, BCE
3. WHAT IS PREHISTORY?
1. There are no written records.
2. The main sources of information of prehistory
are-
i. archaeology
ii. oral traditions (stories handed down from
generation to generation by word of mouth).
4. Archaeology
1. Archaeology means 'the study of ancient things’.
2. The archaeologists study the artefacts and fossils
to understand the ancient past better.
3. Archaeologists are considered to be the
scientists of history.
5. Artefacts
1. Meaning- objects crafted by humans
2. Tools, weapons, pottery, toys, ornaments and
other things used in ancient times have been
uncovered at archaeological sites all over the
world. These are called artefacts,.
6.
7. Fossils
1. The remains of the dead or decay parts of the
plants and animals body which is found under the
soil or rocks are called fossils.
2. Fossils help archaeologists understand which
animals were tamed in prehistoric times, and which
were wild.
3. This is how we know that dogs were tamed almost
12,000 years ago.
8.
9. Oral Sources
1. In India, the Vedas the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata and the Puranas were handed
down orally for hundreds of years, till they were
finally written down much later.
2. Dance and music in India also have strong oral
traditions, with ragas and dance mudras being
passed on almost unchanged from teacher (guru)
to student (shishya).
10. WHAT IS HISTORY?
1. History is a written account of people, places
and events of the past.
2. It tells us how and where people lived, what they
did, and what their customs and beliefs were.
3. It also tells us the way they traded, the wars they
fought and the rulers who governed them.
12. SOURCES OF HISTORY
1. Manuscripts Religious Writing
Secular( non- religious)
Accounts of travellers
2. Inscriptions
3. Monuments
4. Coins
13. Manuscripts
1. Handwritten records are called manuscripts.
2. Before people learnt to make paper, they wrote
on dried palm leaves, the bark of trees and
parchment (the dried skin of sheep and goats).
3.These manuscripts were often written in
languages that are not in common use now, such
as classical Greek and Latin in Europe, and Pali
and Sanskrit.
14. Manuscripts are divided into-
1. Religious Writing -Puranas, the Tripitakas and the
Angas
2. Secular( non- religious) Writing –
i. Arthashastra by Kautilya
ii. Harshacharita written by Banabhatta
3. Accounts of travellers Writing –
Indica by Megasthenes
17. Monuments
1. Archaeologists sometimes find the remains of
ancient buildings that have been buried and
forgotten is called archaeology sites.
2. The ancient buildings of historical importance and
places of Worship that have not been buried
underground. Such buildings that still remain
today are called monuments.
18. 3. The Sanchi Stupa, the Taj Mahal and the
Charminar are all examples of monuments.
4. Monuments tell us a great deal about the past,
the age in which they were built and the people
who built them. Efforts are made to preserve
these historical monuments.
19. Coins
1. Like the coins that we use today, many ancient
coins also had pictures and words on both sides.
They depicted battle scenes, court scenes, the
figures of gods and goddesses, and the faces of
kings and queens.
2. The study of coins is known as NUMISMATICS.
20. HISTORY AND TIME
The key terms used in history are-
Decade- (a period of 10 years)
Century- (a period of 100 years)
Millennium- (a period of 1000 years)
21. To be able to locate an event in time, dates are
used. Traditionally, the birth of Christ was used as
the point from which years were numbered in
history.
1. The years before the birth of Christ were labelled
BC (meaning 'before Christ').
2. The years were labelled after the birth of Christ
AD (or Anno Domini. meaning, 'in the year of our
Lord' in Latin).
22. These days we use the terms-
• CE in place of AD and BCE in place of BC.
• CE stands for 'common era', while BCE stands for
before common era'.
• This system is thought to be a more neutral way
of writing dates, acceptable to people of all
religions.
23. • An important thing to keep in mind with dates is
that, in the period before the birth of Christ, years
are counted backwards, that is, the year 200 BCE
comes after the year 500 BCE on the timeline.
• Circa (c) is a Latin word that means 'around' or
'approximately. It is used when the exact date of
an event is not known but is thought to be around
the stated date.
24. QUICK RECAP
1. The study of the human past is broadly divided into two
parts-prehistory and history.
2. Prehistory is an account of events that happened before
people learnt how to write; and history is a written account
of people, places and events of the past.
3. The main sources of prehistory are archaeology and oral
history.
4. Archaeologists conduct tests on excavated objects to find
out their age.
5. The sources of history are written records, inscriptions,
coins and monuments.
6. To indicate dates in history, terms like BCE, CE and circa are
used.
