Archaeologists studied the bones of animals, birds and fish to identify the eating habits of the people in the past. Although plant remains survive far more rarely, but if seeds of grains or pieces ofwoods would have been burnt, they would have survived in a charred form. So, finding charred seeds gave information that they ate plant produce also.

The word 'source' refers to the information found from the manuscripts, inscriptions, coins and monuments. It helps the historians in the reconstruction of our past. These sources give a lot of information about the kings, their coronation, the extent of their empires, the battles they fought, their welfare measures, etc. because they kept records of all what they did.

(i) The People who lived on the bank of the river Narmada were skilled gatherers. They were aware of the vast wealth of the forest around them. They collected roots, fruits and other forest products for their food from these surrounding forests.
(ii) They also hunted animals.

It is important to study about our past as it gives a lot of information regarding the political, social, economic and cultural life of the people in the earlier days. By studying about our past:
(i) We can find out about the eating habits, the clothing and housing pattern of the people of the earlier times.
(ii) We can gather information about the lives of hunters, farmers, merchants, priest, craftsmen, musicians, poets and scientists.
(iii) We can learn about the lives of children, the songs they sang, the plays they saw, the games that they played and the kind of toys with which they played.

In the earlier times, writings were done on relatively hard surfaces such as blacked clay, stone or metal. Since, these objects were imperishable, these writings usually survived for a long time.

(i) AD stands for two Latin words, 'Anno Domini', meaning 'in the year of the Lord' (i.e., Christ). The year 2007, also written as AD 2007, means 2007 years after the birth of Christ.
(ii) BC stands for 'Before Christ', meaning before the birth of Christ. For example, a time period written as 200 BC means 200 years before the birth of Christ. BC runs into countdown format as 10..,9..,8..,7.., 1.. upto the time of Jesus Christ's birth and after his birth it started to run in today's date format, i.e., 1..,2..,3...., onwards.

As the earliest people gathered food, collected roots and fruits from the forest, and also hunted animals they were called skilled gatherers.

(i) About 4700 years ago, some of the earliest cities flourished near the Indus river.
(ii) About 2500 years ago, cities were found on the banks of the Ganga and along the sea coast.

It comes from the word 'Indus', called 'Sindhu' in Sanskrit. The Greeks and Iranians called it 'Hindos' or 'Indos' meaning the land to the east of the river called India.
The name Bharat was used by the people who lived in the North-West. Later, it was used for the country India.

Manuscripts contained all kinds of subjects like religious beliefs and practices, the lives of kings, medicine and science. It also contained poems, epics and plays. These were written in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tamil.

(i) In the ancient days, people travelled from one continent to the other. Natural barriers like hills and rivers made travelling difficult at times, but never impossible.
(ii) Men and women travelled in search of livelihood and then to escape natural disasters like flood or droughts.
(iii) Men in army travelled to conquer new territories and merchants travelled with caravans to trade goods and services. Holy men travelled from village to village imparting spiritual knowledge among the masses.
(iv) The people who travelled the most were the adventurers who wanted to explore new lands with a spirit of adventure.
(v) All the travelling helped in the intermixing of new ideas and knowledge. People came to know about the new customs and enhanced their knowledge about various communities.

(i) Archaeologists and historians are scholars who study things that are made and used in the past through the process of excavation.
(ii) Manuscripts, inscriptions, tools, coins and monuments are the sources of information used by then to know about the past of the people.
(iii) Once these sources are found, learning about the past becomes an adventure and gradually, history is reconstructed. That is why, historians and archaeologists use various sources to study about our past.