History · General Awareness

Early Human and Prehistoric Cultures

1,700 Questions

Early human and prehistoric cultures focus on the lifestyle and evolution of humans before written records. This includes the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, focusing on inventions, agriculture, and migration patterns. These questions are a core part of ancient history in civil services exams.

Paleolithic eraNeolithic revolutionEarly human migrationInvention of agriculturePrehistoric social structuresMesolithic societies

Early Human and Prehistoric Cultures Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose the best out of the available options to fill the blank against the question.

Modern man is heir to the caveman who made his first fire, flaked the first stone tools and _______ on the flesh of the mammoth.

  1. used to live

  2. living

  3. had to live

  4. lived

  5. was living
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence has three parallel actions in the past: 'made', 'flaked', and the missing verb. All should be in simple past tense to maintain parallel structure. 'Lived' is the correct choice as it matches 'made' and 'flaked'. Options like 'used to live' or 'had to live' break the parallel structure.

Multiple choice

The Indus Valley Civilisation belongs to the

  1. Palaeolithic age

  2. Neolithic age

  3. Mesolithic age

  4. Chalcolithic age
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Indus Valley Civilisation is historically dated to the Bronze Age. Among the given standard archaeological age options, the Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone) period closely overlaps with its cultural horizon and transition phases.

Multiple choice

Directions: Fill the blanks with most appropriate answer from the given options.

Nicholas Longrich, the Yale University _____________ who led the study, had been picking through dinosaur bone collections in museums.

  1. paleontologist

  2. archaeologist

  3. zoologist

  4. microbiologist
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Paleontologists study dinosaur fossils and ancient life forms through remains found in museums. The context specifically mentions 'picking through dinosaur bone collections in museums,' which is the defining work of a paleontologist. Archaeologists study human artifacts, zoologists study living animals, and microbiologists study microscopic organisms.

Multiple choice

Who among the following human ancestors was characterised as a member of the human lineage by Davidson Black on the basis of a single tooth?

  1. Cro-Magnon man

  2. Australopithecus

  3. Homo habilis

  4. Peking man

  5. Java man
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Peking Man (Homo erectus) was characterised as a member of the human lineage by Davidson Black on the basis of a single tooth. He is considered more advanced than Java man in possessing greater cranial capacity and nonoverlapping canine teeth.

Multiple choice

Carcass

Directions: Some words in the passage below have been highlighted. Select the best meaning for the corresponding word.

Primitive man was probably more concerned with fire as a source of warmth and as a means of cooking food than as a source of light. Before he discovered less laborious ways of making fire, he had to preserve it, and whenever he went on a journey he carried a firebrand with him. His discovery that the firebrand from which the torch may well have developed, could be used for illumination, was probably incidental purpose of preserving a flame.

Lamps too, probably developed by accident. Early man may have had his first  conception of a lamp while watching a twig of fibre burning in the molten fat dropped from roasting carcass. All he had to do was to fashion a vessel to contain fat and float a lighted reed in it. Such lamps, which were made of hollowed stones or sea-shells, have persisted in identical form up to quite recent times

  1. Food

  2. Fat

  3. Animal

  4. Corpse
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In this passage about early humans and fire, 'carcass' refers to the dead body of an animal being roasted. Early man watched fat dripping from a roasting carcass (animal corpse) and conceived the idea of using that fat for illumination in lamps. Option D 'Corpse' (dead body) is correct. 'Food' is too general, 'Fat' is what drips from the carcass, and 'Animal' could refer to a living creature.

Multiple choice

Which one of the following is a 'Palaeolithic site'?

  1. Inamgaon

  2. Hallur

  3. Bhimbetka

  4. Burzahom
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is a confirmed Palaeolithic site with rock shelters showing evidence of human habitation dating back to the Acheulian period (Lower Palaeolithic, around 500,000 years ago). The rock paintings and tools found here span from the Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic era. Inamgaon is a Chalcolithic site, Hallur is a Neolithic site known for early evidence of agriculture, and Burzahom in Kashmir is a Neolithic site famous for pit-dwellings. This makes Bhimbetka the only Palaeolithic option.

Multiple choice

One of the questions faced by early tribes could be

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

THE BIRTH OF FAMILIES
Families formed as an answer to the questions faced by growing tribes in the early times. When the number of people of an early human tribe kept on growing, space became short. It became impossible to keep on sharing common roofs. The grazing, hunting and farming grounds close to the home of the tribe were no more enough to feed all. People had to cover greater distances in a day to get food. It became more and more difficult to carry back food from where it was found.

When people grew in skills and knowledge, it made life easier and plentiful. There was no more any need to share most of their belongings. So, people started to have personal belongings and attachments. This gave rise to greed and envy. Greater numbers of people meant greater differences between them. Everybody had his or her own tastes. So, it became harder to please everybody by common cooking.

To find an answer to these problems, the tribe divided into smaller groups called families that started to live and cook separately. Families built themselves around providers, or the persons who put food on the table, and were made up of blood relations of the main provider. Thus, the tribe grew from a family-less group to a group of families.

  1. how to hunt for food without weapons

  2. where to build new houses

  3. how to manage living together under common roof

  4. what to cook for dinner everyday
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

0 0

Multiple choice

Homo erectus is the zoological name of which of the following?

  1. Java ape man

  2. Peking man

  3. Neanderthal man

  4. Both (1) and (2)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Homo erectus fossils were discovered at both Java (Java Man/Trinil) and Zhoukoudian near Beijing (Peking Man). Eugène Dubois discovered Java Man in 1891, and Davidson Black discovered Peking Man in the 1920s. Neanderthal man is a separate species (Homo neanderthalensis).

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is/are correct in relation to the Mesolithic Age?

  1. Man began to grow crops.
  2. Man also learnt to draw and paint.
  3. This Age lasted from 4000 B.C - 2500 B.C.

  1. 1, 2 and 3

  2. Only 1 and 3

  3. Only 1 and 2

  4. Only 1
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

During the Mesolithic Age, farming techniques were developed and man began to grow crops. Man also learnt to draw and paint and the evidence is found in the form of cave paintings found in India. The Mesolithic Age lasted from 8000 B.C. - 4000 B.C.; the Neolithic Age lasted from 4000 B.C. - 2500 B.C.

Multiple choice

Which of the following was/were the features of the Neolithic Age?

  1. Domestication of animals
  2. Invention of wheel
  3. Use of tools made of iron, copper and bronze

  1. Only 1 and 2

  2. Only 1 and 3

  3. Only 2

  4. All of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The Neolithic Age lasted from 4000 B.C. - 2500 B.C. This age also saw domestication of cows, horses and other poultry and farm animals. The wheel, which was a very important invention, was invented during this age. Shortly after this age around 1800 B.C., tools were made of copper and bronze and were used for many practical purposes. People of Stone Age did not use tools made up of iron.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is/are incorrect?

  1. The Bronze Age in India is roughly estimated to have begun around 3300 B.C. and it aided in the development of the metallurgy industry.
  2. People living in Indus Valley produced tools using bronze, copper, iron and tin, thus developing new techniques of metallurgy.

  1. Only 1

  2. Only 2

  3. Both of these

  4. Neither of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Statement 1 is correct: The Bronze Age is the era when metals were used and improvised for making tools and other weapons. This age came immediately after the Neolithic Age and aided in the development of the metallurgy industry. The Bronze Age in India is roughly estimated to have begun around 3300 B.C. It almost coincided with the beginning of the Indus Valley Civilization. Statement 2 is incorrect: People living in Indus Valley produced bronze, copper and tin, thus developing new techniques of metallurgy. People of Indus Valley Civilization did not use tools made up of iron.

Multiple choice

Read the following facts.

  1. Evidence of burying a dog below the human burial was found here.
  2. An example of rectangular mudbrick chamber was noticed at this site.
  3. It represented five fold cultures - Harappan, PGW, NBP, Kushana - Gupta and Medieval.

To which of the following sites do these pieces of information refer?

  1. Ropar

  2. Balakot

  3. Alamgirpur

  4. Kot Diji
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Ropar is an archaeological site that shows continuous habitation through five cultural phases: Harappan, PGW (Painted Grey Ware), NBP (Northern Black Polished Ware), Kushana-Gupta, and Medieval periods. Excavations at Ropar revealed rectangular mudbrick chambers and unique burial practices including dog burials below human graves, making it the correct answer.