Q.11 The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) is named the Harappan civilisation because
1. Harappa was the largest settlement of the IVC.
2. Harappa was the first site to be excavated in the IVC.
Which of the above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None
Solution: (b)
Justification: Statement 1: Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Ganweriwala (all in Pakistan) and Rakhigarhi and Dholavira (both in India) are ranked as the first to the fifth biggest Harappan sites.
Statement 2: The Indus Valley Civilisation is also named the Harappan civilisation after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of British India.
The discovery of Harappa, and soon afterwards Mohenjo-daro, was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj.
Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early cradles of civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread.
The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings
Q.12 Which of the following facts is NOT associated with Indus Valley civilization?
(a) Pottery and bead-making
(b) Worship of natural forces as deities
(c) Water storage structures
(d) Domestication of animals.
Solution: (b)
Explanation: Option A was a common feature.
The evidence of domesticating animals has been shown in a previous explanation. Bones of dog, cattle, sheep were found in Harappan sites in Kashmir.
Great bath and other storage structures were used by the community.
We do not have any Harappan scripture which can testify the claim of animism being practiced in Indus valley civilization. However, they did have deities like Pashupati which they even inscribed on seals.
Q.13 Which of the following is/are NOT mature Harappan sites?
1. Balakot
2. Rangpur
3. Ganweriwala
4. Digona
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 4 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3 only
Solution: (b)
Q.14 Consider the following statements.
1. Harappans practiced metal craft and bead making.
2. No evidence of the practice of pottery can be found in the Harappan civilization.
Which of the above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None
Solution: (a)
Justification: Seal-making and teracotta manufacture were important crafts.
The Harappans were also experts in beads making.
The potter’s wheel was in full use, and the Harappans produced their own characteristic pottery, which was made glossy and shining pottery. So, clearly both A and R are wrong.
The Harappans also practised boat-making.
They practised navigation on the coast of the Arabian Sea. They knew the use of wheel, and carts with solid wheels were in use in Harappa.
The goldsmiths made jewellery of silver, gold and precious stones; the first two may have been obtained from Afghanistan and the last from south India.
Q.15 Consider the following about metal trade and metallurgy in Harrapan civilization.
1. The Harappans produced enough copper ore to export it to Western India and even West Asia.
2. No evidence of the use of an alloy can be found in the civilization.
3. There is evidence of use of Gold and precious metals in the civilization that was sourced from Southern India and even abroad.
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1 and 2 only
Solution: (c)
Justification: Statement 1: The Harappans probably got copper from present-day Rajasthan, and even from Oman in West Asia.
Statement 2: Tin, which was mixed with copper to produce bronze, may have been brought from present-day Afghanistan and Iran. So, 2 is wrong.
Statement 3: Gold could have come all the way from present-day Karnataka, and precious stones from present-day Gujarat, Iran and Afghanistan.
Q.16 Our knowledge of the Harappan civilization is based on the archaeological evidence alone because
1. Harappans maintained all official works in palmscripts that are subject to organic decay.
2. No written scripts from the Harappans have been obtained in excavations.
Which of the above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None
Solution: (d)
Justification: Harappans knew how to write and most of their seals contain some form of script. But, unfortunately no one has yet been able to decipher that script.
Various types of utensils, toys, seals, figurines have been excavated from different sites that often contain some signs of a written script.
Since Harappans had an expanded trade network, they could not have merely survived writing palmscripts. They must have had a robust system of writing and communication, especially to contact other countries by trade.
Q.17 Depictions of which of the following cannot be found in Harappan Seals?
(a) One-horned rhinoceros or the Unicorn
(b) Peepal leaves
(c) Humped bull and elephant
(d) Horses
Solution: (d)
Justification: Numerous seals carrying the images of the one-horned rhinocerous known as unicorn, peepal leaves and a male god throw light on the religious beliefs of the Harappans.
It appears that they worshipped plants and animals and the forces of nature.
They worshipped a male god resembling Lord Shiva (Pashupati) of later times and a mother goddess among others.
They probably believed in life after death and also in charms and spells. Seals engraved with animal figures like the humped bull, elephant and rhinocerous suggest that these animals were considered sacred.
Q.18 Which of these earliest cities was located to the east of Indus river?
1. Dholavira
2. Rakhi Garhi
3. Kalibangan
4. Sotkakoh
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Solution: (a)
Justification:
Learning: These cities were found in the Punjab and Sind in Pakistan, and in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and the Punjab in India. Archaeologists have found a set of unique objects in almost all these cities: red pottery painted with designs in black, stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, and long stone blades. Cities such as Kalibangan and Lothal had fire altars, where sacrifices may have been performed. In some cities, like Mohenjodaro, a very special tank, which archaeologists call the Great Bath, was found.
Q Source: Page 33: NCERT Class VI Our Pasts – I
Q.19 With reference to the Indus Valley civilization, consider the following statements:
1. Indus valley civilization was the biggest exporter of semi-precious stones and a major importer of agricultural products.
2. Fishing was a regular occupation while hunting and bull fighting were banned.
3. Linga worship was prevalent and even natural figures like trees were worshipped.
4. Lothal was an important point of trade between the Harappan civilization and the remaining part of India as well as Mesopotamia.
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3 only
(d) 2, 3 and 4 only
Solution: (b)
Justification: Statement 1: Gold, copper, tin and several semi-precious stones were imported. Main exports were several agricultural products such as wheat, barely, peas, oil seeds etc.
Statement 2: Hunting and bull fighting were common pastimes, not banned. Marbles, balls and dice were also used for games.
Statement 3: The chief female deity was the Mother Goddess represented in terracotta figurines. In latter times, Linga worship was prevalent. Trees and animals were also worshipped by the Harappans. They also believed in ghosts and evil forces and used amulets as protection against them.
Statement 4: Lothal is an important Harappan centre, you should read more about it.
Q Source: Page 21-23: TN 11th Standard History Textbook
Q.20 This archaeological site consist of a number of low archaeological mounds created by generations of superimposed mudbrick structures. Located close to the mouth of the Bolan Pass, it was abandoned by the time of the emergence of the literate urbanised phase of the Indus Civilisation. An entry in the UNESCO tentative list it is?
(a) Lothal
(b) Mehrgarh
(c) Inamgaon
(d) Surkotada
Solution: (b)
Learning: It was a small farming village. It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia.
Mehrgarh is now seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization, displaying the whole sequence from earliest settlement and the start of agriculture, to the mature Harappan Civilisation (based on the above Q description of site abandonment).
Most of its archaeological deposits are buried deep beneath accumulations of alluvium.
Q.21 Harappans were aware of and practiced which of these number systems in their weights and measures?
(a) Binary system
(b) Decimal system
(c) Hexadecimal system
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Solution: (d)
Learning: Exchanges were regulated by a precise system of weights, usually made of a stone called chert and generally cubical with no markings.
The lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc). While the higher denominations followed the decimal system, the smaller weights were probably used for weighing jewellery and beads and bigger weights were used for food grains.
Q.22 The first city that was discovered in the Harappan civilization was
(a) Lothal
(b) Inamgaon
(c) Harappa
(d) Mohenjodaro
Solution: (c)
Learning: In 1860s, when railway lines were being laid down for the first time in the Punjab, engineers stumbled upon the site of Harappa in present-day Pakistan.
Then, in 1930s archaeologists found the site, and realised that this was one of the oldest cities in the subcontinent.
As this was the first city to be discovered, all other sites from where similar buildings (and other things) were found were described as Harappan. These cities developed about 4700 years ago.
Q.23 In the context of Indus Valley civilization, which of these statements is the most appropriate?
(a) Indus valley people were fashion conscious.
(b) Indus Valley civilization was a closed economy.
(c) It was an atheist civilization.
(d) The civilization did not have access to urban amenities.
Solution: (a)
Justification: Option A: Jewellery has been excavated. This tells us that Indus valley people were concerned with fashion.
Option B: International trade was in practice in the civilization. This is because stone weights have been found which were used because there was a market where goods were traded.
Option C: There is evidence of images of gods and goddesses like pashupati, who was considered the chief deity in the civilization.
Option D: A number of urban amenities like bath structures, pukka houses, drainage system etc
Were present in these cities.
1. Harappa was the largest settlement of the IVC.
2. Harappa was the first site to be excavated in the IVC.
Which of the above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None
Solution: (b)
Justification: Statement 1: Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Ganweriwala (all in Pakistan) and Rakhigarhi and Dholavira (both in India) are ranked as the first to the fifth biggest Harappan sites.
Statement 2: The Indus Valley Civilisation is also named the Harappan civilisation after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated in the 1920s, in what was then the Punjab province of British India.
The discovery of Harappa, and soon afterwards Mohenjo-daro, was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj.
Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early cradles of civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread.
The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings
Q.12 Which of the following facts is NOT associated with Indus Valley civilization?
(a) Pottery and bead-making
(b) Worship of natural forces as deities
(c) Water storage structures
(d) Domestication of animals.
Solution: (b)
Explanation: Option A was a common feature.
The evidence of domesticating animals has been shown in a previous explanation. Bones of dog, cattle, sheep were found in Harappan sites in Kashmir.
Great bath and other storage structures were used by the community.
We do not have any Harappan scripture which can testify the claim of animism being practiced in Indus valley civilization. However, they did have deities like Pashupati which they even inscribed on seals.
Q.13 Which of the following is/are NOT mature Harappan sites?
1. Balakot
2. Rangpur
3. Ganweriwala
4. Digona
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 4 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3 only
Solution: (b)
Q.14 Consider the following statements.
1. Harappans practiced metal craft and bead making.
2. No evidence of the practice of pottery can be found in the Harappan civilization.
Which of the above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None
Solution: (a)
Justification: Seal-making and teracotta manufacture were important crafts.
The Harappans were also experts in beads making.
The potter’s wheel was in full use, and the Harappans produced their own characteristic pottery, which was made glossy and shining pottery. So, clearly both A and R are wrong.
The Harappans also practised boat-making.
They practised navigation on the coast of the Arabian Sea. They knew the use of wheel, and carts with solid wheels were in use in Harappa.
The goldsmiths made jewellery of silver, gold and precious stones; the first two may have been obtained from Afghanistan and the last from south India.
Q.15 Consider the following about metal trade and metallurgy in Harrapan civilization.
1. The Harappans produced enough copper ore to export it to Western India and even West Asia.
2. No evidence of the use of an alloy can be found in the civilization.
3. There is evidence of use of Gold and precious metals in the civilization that was sourced from Southern India and even abroad.
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1 and 2 only
Solution: (c)
Justification: Statement 1: The Harappans probably got copper from present-day Rajasthan, and even from Oman in West Asia.
Statement 2: Tin, which was mixed with copper to produce bronze, may have been brought from present-day Afghanistan and Iran. So, 2 is wrong.
Statement 3: Gold could have come all the way from present-day Karnataka, and precious stones from present-day Gujarat, Iran and Afghanistan.
Q.16 Our knowledge of the Harappan civilization is based on the archaeological evidence alone because
1. Harappans maintained all official works in palmscripts that are subject to organic decay.
2. No written scripts from the Harappans have been obtained in excavations.
Which of the above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None
Solution: (d)
Justification: Harappans knew how to write and most of their seals contain some form of script. But, unfortunately no one has yet been able to decipher that script.
Various types of utensils, toys, seals, figurines have been excavated from different sites that often contain some signs of a written script.
Since Harappans had an expanded trade network, they could not have merely survived writing palmscripts. They must have had a robust system of writing and communication, especially to contact other countries by trade.
Q.17 Depictions of which of the following cannot be found in Harappan Seals?
(a) One-horned rhinoceros or the Unicorn
(b) Peepal leaves
(c) Humped bull and elephant
(d) Horses
Solution: (d)
Justification: Numerous seals carrying the images of the one-horned rhinocerous known as unicorn, peepal leaves and a male god throw light on the religious beliefs of the Harappans.
It appears that they worshipped plants and animals and the forces of nature.
They worshipped a male god resembling Lord Shiva (Pashupati) of later times and a mother goddess among others.
They probably believed in life after death and also in charms and spells. Seals engraved with animal figures like the humped bull, elephant and rhinocerous suggest that these animals were considered sacred.
Q.18 Which of these earliest cities was located to the east of Indus river?
1. Dholavira
2. Rakhi Garhi
3. Kalibangan
4. Sotkakoh
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Solution: (a)
Justification:
Learning: These cities were found in the Punjab and Sind in Pakistan, and in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and the Punjab in India. Archaeologists have found a set of unique objects in almost all these cities: red pottery painted with designs in black, stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, and long stone blades. Cities such as Kalibangan and Lothal had fire altars, where sacrifices may have been performed. In some cities, like Mohenjodaro, a very special tank, which archaeologists call the Great Bath, was found.
Q Source: Page 33: NCERT Class VI Our Pasts – I
Q.19 With reference to the Indus Valley civilization, consider the following statements:
1. Indus valley civilization was the biggest exporter of semi-precious stones and a major importer of agricultural products.
2. Fishing was a regular occupation while hunting and bull fighting were banned.
3. Linga worship was prevalent and even natural figures like trees were worshipped.
4. Lothal was an important point of trade between the Harappan civilization and the remaining part of India as well as Mesopotamia.
Select the correct answer using the codes below.
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3 only
(d) 2, 3 and 4 only
Solution: (b)
Justification: Statement 1: Gold, copper, tin and several semi-precious stones were imported. Main exports were several agricultural products such as wheat, barely, peas, oil seeds etc.
Statement 2: Hunting and bull fighting were common pastimes, not banned. Marbles, balls and dice were also used for games.
Statement 3: The chief female deity was the Mother Goddess represented in terracotta figurines. In latter times, Linga worship was prevalent. Trees and animals were also worshipped by the Harappans. They also believed in ghosts and evil forces and used amulets as protection against them.
Statement 4: Lothal is an important Harappan centre, you should read more about it.
Q Source: Page 21-23: TN 11th Standard History Textbook
Q.20 This archaeological site consist of a number of low archaeological mounds created by generations of superimposed mudbrick structures. Located close to the mouth of the Bolan Pass, it was abandoned by the time of the emergence of the literate urbanised phase of the Indus Civilisation. An entry in the UNESCO tentative list it is?
(a) Lothal
(b) Mehrgarh
(c) Inamgaon
(d) Surkotada
Solution: (b)
Learning: It was a small farming village. It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia.
Mehrgarh is now seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization, displaying the whole sequence from earliest settlement and the start of agriculture, to the mature Harappan Civilisation (based on the above Q description of site abandonment).
Most of its archaeological deposits are buried deep beneath accumulations of alluvium.
Q.21 Harappans were aware of and practiced which of these number systems in their weights and measures?
(a) Binary system
(b) Decimal system
(c) Hexadecimal system
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Solution: (d)
Learning: Exchanges were regulated by a precise system of weights, usually made of a stone called chert and generally cubical with no markings.
The lower denominations of weights were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc). While the higher denominations followed the decimal system, the smaller weights were probably used for weighing jewellery and beads and bigger weights were used for food grains.
Q.22 The first city that was discovered in the Harappan civilization was
(a) Lothal
(b) Inamgaon
(c) Harappa
(d) Mohenjodaro
Solution: (c)
Learning: In 1860s, when railway lines were being laid down for the first time in the Punjab, engineers stumbled upon the site of Harappa in present-day Pakistan.
Then, in 1930s archaeologists found the site, and realised that this was one of the oldest cities in the subcontinent.
As this was the first city to be discovered, all other sites from where similar buildings (and other things) were found were described as Harappan. These cities developed about 4700 years ago.
Q.23 In the context of Indus Valley civilization, which of these statements is the most appropriate?
(a) Indus valley people were fashion conscious.
(b) Indus Valley civilization was a closed economy.
(c) It was an atheist civilization.
(d) The civilization did not have access to urban amenities.
Solution: (a)
Justification: Option A: Jewellery has been excavated. This tells us that Indus valley people were concerned with fashion.
Option B: International trade was in practice in the civilization. This is because stone weights have been found which were used because there was a market where goods were traded.
Option C: There is evidence of images of gods and goddesses like pashupati, who was considered the chief deity in the civilization.
Option D: A number of urban amenities like bath structures, pukka houses, drainage system etc
Were present in these cities.
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