DAV Class 6 SST Chapter 10 Question Answer Development of Civilisation

Looking for the most authentic, 100% textbook-grounded DAV Class 6 Social Science Chapter 10 Solutions: Development of Civilisation? Based strictly on the prescribed DAV CMC textbook We and Our World, this comprehensive master guide provides complete answers for Section A (Tick the correct option with detailed reasons), Section B (Fill in the blanks), Section C (State True or False with explanations), Section D (Short Answer Questions), Section E (Detailed Long Answer Questions with structural headings), Value-Based Questions (VBQ), HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), multi-column comparison tables (Indus Valley vs Egyptian Civilisation, Citadel vs Lower Town), and authentic DAV Board Examination Previous Years’ Questions (2018-2024) with official marking schemes.

Section A: Tick (✓) the Correct Option

1. The first Indus Valley site discovered was:
(a) Mohenjo-daro
(b) Harappa
(c) Lothal
(d) Kalibangan
Answer: (b) Harappa
Detailed Justification: In 1921, archaeologist Daya Ram Sahni discovered the ruins of Harappa on the banks of River Ravi in Montgomery district (now Punjab, Pakistan). Because Harappa was the very first site excavated, the entire civilization is officially named the Harappan Civilisation.

2. The Indus people used clothes made of:
(a) Silk
(b) Cotton
(c) Jute
(d) Nylon
Answer: (b) Cotton
Detailed Justification: Harappan people were the earliest known cultivators of cotton in the ancient world (termed Sindon by Greeks). Spindle whorls and woven cotton fabric fragments discovered at Mohenjo-daro prove that both cotton and wool were widely used.

3. The Harappan terracotta pottery was:
(a) Black and grey
(b) Red-brown
(c) Green and blue
(d) Plain white
Answer: (b) Red-brown
Detailed Justification: Harappan potters used the wheel to create high-quality red-brown terracotta pottery, often treated with a bright red slip and painted with artistic geometric patterns and tree motifs in black ink.

4. The granary was the storehouse for:
(a) Meat
(b) Wheat
(c) Fruit
(d) Spices
Answer: (b) Wheat
Detailed Justification: The Great Granary (unearthed at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro) consisted of massive raised brick platforms designed with ventilation channels to store surplus cereal grains, mainly wheat and barley, protecting them from floods, dampness, and pests.

5. The discovery of the remains of a dockyard at Lothal proves that the people of Indus Valley had:
(a) International trade relations
(b) No foreign contacts
(c) Only local river trade
(d) Primitive agriculture
Answer: (a) International trade relations
Detailed Justification: A massive brick tidal dockyard connected by a canal to the Gulf of Khambhat at Lothal (Gujarat), along with Indus seals found in Mesopotamian (Sumerian) cities, proves that the Harappans conducted thriving overseas maritime trade across the Arabian Sea.

Section B: Fill in the Blanks

1. Evolution of human society led to the foundation of civilisation.
2. The Great Bath had a well-planned drainage system (with corbelled brick drains and waterproof bitumen lining).
3. The people of the Indus Valley were experts in making terracotta and sculpture (as well as bronze casting and bead making).
4. Seals are the main source of information about the religious beliefs of the Indus people.
5. Shiva (Pashupati, the three-faced horned deity surrounded by animals) was the male god worshipped by the Indus people.

Section C: State True or False for the Following Statements

Section D: Answer the Following Questions in Brief

Question 1: What did the thick forests provide to the people of the Indus Valley?
Answer:
The dense ancient riverine forests of the Indus basin supplied two vital natural resources:

• Fuel for Kilns: Abundant firewood to fuel huge industrial kilns for baking millions of standardized clay bricks and firing terracotta pottery.
• Timber for Construction: High-grade timber for building roof beams, residential door frames, bullock carts, river canoes, and seafaring trading boats.

Question 2: List the occupations of the Indus Valley people.
Answer:
The people of the Indus Valley engaged in diversified urban and rural professions:

1. Agriculture: Farming wheat, barley, mustard, peas, cotton, and sesame on fertile floodplains.
2. Animal Rearing: Taming cattle (humped bull), sheep, goats, pigs, and buffaloes.
3. Pottery and Terracotta Craft: Manufacturing wheel-turned jars, cooking pans, toy carts, and figurines.
4. Metalworking and Bronze Casting: Producing bronze axes, knives, spearheads, and statues via the lost-wax technique.
5. Bead Making and Seal Carving: Polishing semi-precious stones (carnelian, agate, lapis lazuli) and carving steatite seals.
6. Domestic and Overseas Trade: Trading goods with inland Indian centers and distant Mesopotamian markets.

Question 3: What type of climate did the Indus Valley have?
Answer:
During the third millennium BCE (approx. 2500 BCE), the Indus Valley enjoyed a moist, humid, and temperate climate with significantly higher annual rainfall and extensive green forest cover than the arid desert conditions seen in the region today.

Question 4: How was the dress of the men of Indus Valley different from that of the women?
Answer:
The attire of Harappan men and women reflected comfort in a warm, moist climate:

• Men: Wore two pieces of clothing: a lower unstitched cloth wrapped around the waist like a dhoti, and an upper shawl draped over the left shoulder and drawn under the right arm.
• Women: Wore a knee-length flared skirt (lehnga) held by a waistband, paired with an elaborate fan-shaped head-dress, cloaks, and a wide variety of necklaces, bangles, and earrings made of gold, bronze, and beads.

Question 5: Why did early civilisations develop on river banks?
Answer:
All major ancient civilizations (Indus, Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Hwang-Ho) emerged along fertile river valleys due to essential geographic factors:

• Dependable Water Supply: Abundant freshwater for drinking, domestic life, and livestock herds.
• Alluvial Soil: Seasonal river floods deposited thick silt over fields, yielding surplus food crops without synthetic fertilizers.
• Natural Transport Highway: Navigable river waters provided the easiest, cheapest transport for bulky agricultural goods, stone blocks, and merchant cargo.

Section E: Answer the Following Questions in Detail

Question 1: List any three features of the Indus Valley Civilisation which tell us that it was an urban civilisation.
Answer:
The Harappan culture was India’s first urban civilization (First Urbanisation), distinguished by modern civic amenities:

Three Prime Urban Features:

1. Sophisticated Town Planning and Grid Layout: Cities were constructed following an organized architectural plan. Broad straight streets (measuring up to 9 to 10 metres wide) cut one another at right angles, dividing the city into rectangular blocks. Buildings used standardized kiln-baked bricks with consistent dimensional ratios (1:2:4).
2. Covered Drainage and Sanitation System: Every residential house had its own paved bath and wastewater drain connecting into covered street gutters running beneath road slabs. Inspection manholes were placed at regular intervals for routine cleaning, a level of municipal sanitation unparalleled in the ancient world.
3. Division of Labor and Trade Specialization: The society did not depend solely on farming; it supported specialized non-agricultural professions: seal carvers, bronze metallurgists, international merchant guilds, and administrative municipal leaders who managed centralized granaries and public baths.

Question 2: What reasons were responsible for the decline of Harappan culture?
Answer:
By approximately 1800 BCE, the great Harappan cities began decaying and were eventually abandoned.

Key Contributing Factors:

1. Ecological Degradation and Climate Change: Centuries of excessive tree felling for baking millions of bricks depleted the riverine forests, resulting in reduced rainfall and the gradual drying up of key river channels (such as the ancient Saraswati river).
2. Devastating Floods: Silt deposits and repeated catastrophic flooding of the River Indus submerged and destroyed urban settlements like Mohenjo-daro multiple times.
3. Tectonic Movements and River Course Shifts: Major earthquakes likely raised the floodplains, blocking river drainage into the sea and creating vast swamps, or diverted river channels away from city ports.
4. Decline of International Maritime Trade: Economic collapse in Mesopotamia and trade disruption triggered severe poverty in Harappan industrial and craft centers.
5. External Invasions: Unfortified settlements in the late phase may have faced attacks and pressure from incoming pastoral migrant groups.

Question 3: Explain the town planning system of the Indus people.
Answer:
The town planning system of the Indus cities represents the pinnacle of ancient civil engineering.

Key Elements:

1. Bipartite City Division:
   • The Citadel (Upper City): Built on a high artificial mud-brick platform in the west, fortified by defensive walls; housed monumental public buildings, the Great Bath, and state granaries.
   • The Lower Town: Located to the east at a lower level; contained residential homes, workshops, and commercial bazaars for common citizens.
2. Gridiron Street System: Main streets were perfectly straight, orienting north-south and east-west, intersecting at precise 90-degree right angles. Streets were wide and corners were gently rounded to facilitate heavy cart turning.
3. Residential Architecture: Houses were built of durable baked bricks, featuring one or two storeys arranged around an open central courtyard. Rooms had wooden doors and windows opening into quiet side lanes rather than dusty main avenues.
4. Private Amenities: Almost every house contained an independent bathroom, a private kitchen with a raised hearth, and many had their own freshwater well.

Question 4: Which two things helped the people of the Indus Valley to have a bumper harvest and how?
Answer:
The people of the Indus Valley produced massive agricultural surpluses through two key factors:

1. Annual River Floods and Alluvial Silt: The annual summer melting of Himalayan snows caused the Indus river and its tributaries to flood vast plains, leaving behind fresh layers of mineral-rich alluvial soil that retained moisture without requiring artificial chemical fertilizers.
2. Invention of Advanced Bronze and Wooden Implements: The development of metallurgy allowed Harappans to cast bronze implements, while wooden plows drawn by oxen turned deep furrows across fertile plains, enabling widespread sowing of wheat, barley, and cotton.

Question 5: Bring out the similarities and differences between the features of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Egyptian Civilisation.
Answer:
The Indus Valley Civilisation and the Egyptian Civilisation were contemporary Bronze Age riverine societies with distinct cultural profiles:

Value-Based Questions (VBQ)

Question: The Harappan people built covered drains, public dustbins, and inspection manholes over 4,500 years ago, demonstrating an exceptional commitment to public health and municipal hygiene. What civic responsibilities and sanitation values should modern citizens adopt from the Harappan civilization?
Answer:
The Harappan civilization provides timeless civic lessons:

1. Civic Hygiene as a Sacred Duty: Harappans understood that stagnant wastewater breeds deadly diseases. Modern citizens must actively support municipal cleanliness drives (such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) and ensure household drains are kept covered.
2. Waste Management at the Source: Disposing of garbage in proper bins and eliminating open defecation should be non-negotiable personal habits.
3. Focus on Public Welfare Over Ostentatious Display: Instead of building extravagant monuments for rulers, Harappans invested their wealth in shared public utilities (clean water, public baths, and granaries). Modern urban planning must similarly prioritize hospitals, public parks, clean tap water, and sanitation for all citizens.

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

Question 1: What does the absence of royal palaces, standing army barracks, and weapons of conquest suggest about the governance of the Indus Valley Civilisation?
Answer:
Unlike contemporary Egypt or Mesopotamia, Harappan excavation sites contain virtually no evidence of monarchical glorification, large standing armies, or weapons of war. This suggests:

• The civilization was governed by a peaceful civic administration or a council of wealthy merchants rather than an autocrat king.
• Social order was maintained through strong civic discipline, trade regulations, and religious traditions rather than military force.

Question 2: Why was the discovery of standardized weights and measures across thousands of kilometers of Harappan territory remarkable?
Answer:
Chert stone weights discovered across distant sites (from Mohenjo-daro in Sindh to Lothal in Gujarat and Shortugai in Afghanistan) follow an exact binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) and decimal system. This confirms the existence of a central administrative authority that enforced strict commercial honesty across all markets.

Authentic DAV Board Examination Previous Years’ Questions (2018-2024)

Q1 [DAV Mid-Term Exam 2023, 3 Marks]: State three architectural features of the Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro.
Official Answer & Marking Scheme:
1. Waterproofing [1 Mark]: Built of finely fitted baked bricks lined with gypsum mortar and an impervious layer of natural bitumen (tar).
2. Access and Changing Rooms [1 Mark]: Flight of steps leading down into the tank from north and south, flanked by changing rooms and an adjacent well for fresh water.
3. Drainage Outlet [1 Mark]: A corbelled brick drain at one corner allowed the pool to be emptied and cleaned periodically.

Q2 [DAV Annual Exam 2022, 2 Marks]: Why is the discovery of the Lothal dockyard historically significant?
Official Answer & Marking Scheme:
1. Engineering Mastery [1 Mark]: It is the world’s earliest known tidal basin dockyard, constructed of baked bricks with sluice gates to regulate water levels.
2. Maritime Trade Proof [1 Mark]: It confirms direct seafaring trade with Mesopotamian and Persian Gulf civilizations.

Q3 [DAV Annual Exam 2020, 2 Marks]: Name two Harappan sites located in modern India and state their state location.
Official Answer & Marking Scheme:
1. Kalibangan: Located in Rajasthan (famous for ploughed agricultural fields).
2. Lothal / Dholavira: Located in Gujarat (famous for maritime dockyard and sophisticated water reservoirs).

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