Class 9 Social Science Chapter 4, Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation, goes further back than earlier grades: who our earliest ancestors were, where they evolved, how they lived before writing, and how the first civilisations rose in India and beyond.
What Class 9 Social Science Chapter 4 Covers
Why Study Early Human History? and Who Were Our Human Ancestors? cover the invention of writing and human evolution.
Mesolithic Hunter–Gatherers and the Neolithic Revolution trace the move to farming in India, the Ganga plains, Africa, West Asia and China, with a section on the Neolithic period in the Indian subcontinent.
Sindhu–Sarasvatī Civilisation is followed by the Bronze Age civilisations outside India: Mesopotamia (the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians), Egypt and China, with a note on how we know about early China.
A 5,000-year-old farming tradition: at Kalibangan, the Early Harappans ploughed fields with furrows running both ways, a sign of double cropping like today’s Rabi and Kharif seasons. The Harappans also had standard weights and measures, and their script on seals has still not been deciphered. Skulls from different human ancestors show the face gradually becoming straighter, and the shift to farming is called the Neolithic ‘revolution’ because it changed how people lived.
Exercises in Chapter 4
- Questions and activities at the end of the chapter, after a Before we move on… recap.
Read Class 9 Social Science Chapter 4 Online
More Chapters
- Previous: Chapter 3: Atmosphere and Climate
- Next: Chapter 5: State and Society up to 1000 CE
- All Social Science chapters and the other Class 9 books: Class 9 NCERT books 2026-27
- All Class 1 to 12 NCERT Textbooks: NCERT Books PDF (Class 1–12)
FAQ
Which civilisations are in Class 9 Social Science Chapter 4?
The Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation and the Bronze Age civilisations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.
What was the Neolithic Revolution?
The change from hunting and gathering to farming and settled life, which the chapter traces across several regions of the world.
What do the furrows at Kalibangan show?
Fields ploughed in two directions about 5,000 years ago, suggesting double cropping like today’s Rabi and Kharif.