Several books on all subjects such as religious practices and beliefs. the lives of kings. medicine and science had been written. which are readable for all.

The ordinary men and women did not keep their records of what they did because:
(i) They were not aware of s~ch writing skills in the earlier time.
(ii) They were illiterate and they had not a sound clue about the knowledge of scripts.
(iii) Such work had no importance in their life.
(iv) They never bothered of their past and had not any interest in the knowledge of the past. Generally. the kings and queens kept the records of their victories.

One major diffirence between manuscripts and inscriptions is:

The Iranians and the Greeks who came through the North-West about 2500 years ago and were familiar with the Indus, called it the Hindos or the Indos and the land to the East of the river was called India.

Generally, the archaeologists study the remains of buildings made of stone and brick, paintings and sculptures. They also explore and excavate to find out the objects of daily use such as tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins.

The years (say, 2015) are counted from the date generally assigned to the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity. So, 2015 means 2015 years after the birth of Christ. All dates before the birth of Christ are counted backwards and usually have the letters BC (Before Christ) added on.

The advantages of writing on a hard surface are as follow:
(i) The hard surfaces are long-lasting.
(ii) They overcome all chances of destruction from all objects of nature i.e. wind, rain, sun etc.
(iii) They are preserved for future generations to know about our rich past and culture.
(iv) The insects could not eat such materials as they destroyed the manuscripts of the past.
The disadvantages of writing on hard surface are as follow:
(i) It is not easily portable.
(ii) Writing on hard surface is a very difficult task.
(iii) It needs much hard metal to write on the hard surface.
(iv) It requires a lot of time to complete the writing.

(i) This manuscript was written about a thousand years ago.
(ii) The palm leaves were cut into pages and tied together to make books.
(iii) A palm leaf manuscript.

It is evident from the past that the earlier cities were mostly developed over the banks of river because of the following reasons:
(i) Thousand years ago, people lived along the banks of the Narmada river.
(ii) About 4700 years ago, some of the earliest cities flourished on the banks of river Indus and its tributaries.
(iii) Along the banks of the rivers, the necessary conditions for the living of human beings exist.
(iv) The necessities of living such as water, forest are easily available which fulfil the basic needs of the people.
(v) At that time, waterways were the most important means of transportation and communication.

People travelled from one part of the sub-continent to another due to the following reasons:
(i) People travelled from one place to another in search of livelihood, to escape from natural disasters like floods or droughts.
(ii) Some people also travelled with the spirit of adventure, to find out the interesting facts and to discover new places.
(iii) Caravans or ships were the means of communication and transportation of food material for the merchants.
(iv) Religious teachers moved from one place to another to deliver their religious teachings to the people.
(v) Travelling emerged as a strong aspect of sharing ideas between the diversities.