5. Lifestyle of Early Humans: Part 2

Early humans who lived long ago hunted animals and found food in nature for a very long time. As they explored the world, they invented tools and discovered fire, which marked a big step forward. Eventually, they learned that they could grow their own food. They started planting seeds and taking care of animals. This marked the beginning of farming, also known as the Neolithic Revolution. 

1. Farming

Early humans must have seen fruits and vegetables grow in nature. They likely got the idea of growing their own food by observing fruits and vegetables grow in nature. They cleared land for farming. They learned tasks such as ploughing, sowing, and reaping. They grew maize, barley and wheat. When early humans began farming, they also started domesticating animals.1 They trained these animals to live with them. 

2. Herding

Herding is a way of taking care of animals. Early humans started herding and domesticated animals such as sheep and goats.
This helped early humans to have a steady supply of food, like milk and meat, from the animals they took care of. 1 

3. Settlement

Before farming, early humans lived in caves. Farming made it necessary for early humans to settle in one place because they no longer needed to search for food. They built houses using wood, stones, hay, and mud.2 

4. Change in tools

Before early humans started farming the tools were bigger and not very sharp. Once they began farming, their stone tools became sharper and more polished. These new tools were made in different shapes and sizes to help with different kinds of farming techniques such as digging the soil, sowing seeds and cutting crops. This marked the beginning of the New Stone age called the Neolithic age.3 

Before the invention of the wheel, humans had to walk long distances to travel. Since they domesticated animals, they started carrying heavy loads on the back of animals.  Early humans must have seen round logs of wood rolling down a hill. It made them think that it is easier to roll round things on land to drag them. This observation inspired the invention of the wheel.4 

Vid 5.1: Invention of the wheel5

The first wheels were made from big round pieces of wood. They carved out a circular shape from a log and put a stick through the middle to create an axle. This made it possible to attach the wheel to a cart or a wagon. People realised that by using the wheel, they could transport heavy objects much faster and with less effort.4

As time went on, people made improvements to the wheel. They started adding spokes, which are like little sticks, to make it stronger and lighter. This made the wheels even better for moving things around. The invention of the wheel was a big deal because it changed many things. People could travel farther and bring more goods with them.4

The invention of the wheel was a really amazing idea that made life easier for people a long time ago, and it continues to make our lives easier today.4