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Class 6 History & Civics — Harappan food, crafts and trade

Say what the Harappans grew, made and traded, read what their seals and their dockyard were for, and give the two reasons the chapter says their cities were abandoned.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

A Harappan seal, about the size of a large stamp.

12
  1. 1. Signs
  2. 2. Animal

A row of small marks along the top and a horned animal below them. Thousands of these have been excavated. The animal figures and the signs above them are part of a writing system — and both the system and the meaning of the animals are yet to be understood. What is certain is that the seals somehow relate to trade.

  1. 1.Lothal's huge basin, 217 metres long, must have been what?

    • a) A field flooded for growing rice
    • b) A reservoir, to store water for the settlement
    • c) A dockyard, to receive and send boats carrying goods
    • d) A public bath like the one at Mohenjo-daro

  2. 2.Thousands of small seals have been excavated from Harappan settlements. What does the chapter say their chief purpose seems to have been?

    • a) Recording the names of the city's rulers
    • b) Marking the boundaries between city zones
    • c) Decorating the doorways of large houses
    • d) Letting traders identify their goods and each other

  3. 3.Match each material to what the chapter says about it.

    • carnelian
    • steatite
    • copper
    • conch shell
    • a soft metal that turns to bronze when tin is added
    • a hard material worked into bangles
    • a reddish semiprecious stone found mostly in Gujarat
    • a soft stone hardened by heating

  4. 4.Sort each of these by what the chapter says about it.

    Groups: A cereal they grew · A surprise found in their cooking pots

    • barley
    • banana
    • ginger
    • wheat
    • turmeric

  5. 5.What does the chapter say about warfare or invasion as an explanation for the cities being abandoned?

    • a) Warfare is one of the two factors currently agreed upon
    • b) The cities fought each other over the shrinking rivers
    • c) There is no trace of warfare or invasion, and no sign of an army or weapons of war
    • d) An invasion from the northwest destroyed the cities one by one

  6. 6.The seals carry animal figures with a few signs above them. What does the chapter say about those signs and figures?

    • a) They record the weight of the goods a trader carried
    • b) They have been read, and describe religious rituals
    • c) They are part of a writing system, and that system is yet to be understood
    • d) They spell the names of the traders who owned the seals

  7. 7.Sort these goods by which direction the chapter says they moved.

    Groups: Exported · Probably imported

    • copper
    • ornaments
    • timber
    • cotton

  8. 8.What happens if tin is added to copper?

    • a) The result is bronze, which is softer than copper
    • b) The result is bronze, which is harder than copper
    • c) The mixture cannot be worked
    • d) The copper becomes easier to drill

Answer key — Class 6 History & Civics — Harappan food, crafts and trade

  1. 1. c) A dockyard, to receive and send boats carrying goods
  2. 2. d) Letting traders identify their goods and each other
  3. 3. carnelian → a reddish semiprecious stone found mostly in Gujarat; steatite → a soft stone hardened by heating; copper → a soft metal that turns to bronze when tin is added; conch shell → a hard material worked into bangles
  4. 4. barley → A cereal they grew; wheat → A cereal they grew; turmeric → A surprise found in their cooking pots; ginger → A surprise found in their cooking pots; banana → A surprise found in their cooking pots
  5. 5. c) There is no trace of warfare or invasion, and no sign of an army or weapons of war
  6. 6. c) They are part of a writing system, and that system is yet to be understood
  7. 7. ornaments → Exported; timber → Exported; cotton → Exported; copper → Probably imported
  8. 8. b) The result is bronze, which is harder than copper