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The advent of agriculture promoted Neolithic revolution.

The gases released by the Volcanoes created the primordial atmosphere.

The changing cycles of climate and weather have greatly affected the human evolution to a very large extent. The last 6 to 8 million years have generally seen cooling trends marked by recurring ice ages. The onset of the ice age around 2.5 million years ago covered most parts of Earth with snow and there were major changes in climate and vegetation. 

The species which could adapt better to the climatic changes and procure food survived and the others became extinct. The ice age or glacial age-induced the early humans to wear animal skins to keep themselves warm. Many times, new species originated, which adapted better than the earlier ones.

The early species Australopithecus faced gradual extinction and genus Homo (early man) which was better adapted to drier conditions survived. The last ice age witnessed by earth was about 20,000 years ago. Today, we are living in a time that is relatively warm compared to the last 6 to 8 million years. The weather and climate of the earth has played an important role in the origin, evolution, and existence of various species.

Human species evolved larger and complex brains to overcome the environmental challenges and survive against physically powerful animals. The size of the brain in the Homo habilis was 600 cubic centimeters, which was only slightly larger than that of Chimpanzees. The Homo erectus had a brain size of 800 – 1100 cc, the Neanderthal 1200-1900 cc and the Homo sapiens (wise man) of today about 1400cc.

It is more than twice the size of the brains of Chimpanzees or Gorillas. The growth in the brain size induced many activities like improved vision, upright posture, bipedalism, toolmaking, use of fire, planned and skilled hunting, storing food and language.

These activities helped in the development of the brain. Hominoids lived on trees which provided them protection from the predators. The Hominoids were food gatherers and not meat-eaters. Then, they adapted to land-dwelling. They began to use caves and extended stone boulders as shelters.

The Neanderthal man was the earliest cave dweller. The shortage of food made them to scavenge for food. The above activities made them gradually develop an upright posture and consequently the bipedal motion. This was required for survival.

Hominines and the archaic human species added planned hunting and fishing to the already existing gathering, foraging, and scavenging techniques. The earliest evidence of planned hunting and butchery of large animals is traced to two sites. 

1. Box grove in England dated to about 50,0000 years ago. 

2. Schoningen in Germany dated to about 4,00,000 years ago.

The Hominoids were quadrupeds. They walked on all four limbs, but, their forelimbs were flexible. The Hominids gradually adapted an upright posture. Hominines further adapted to bipedalism. The skeletal structure and the muscles also adjusted over a period of time to the upright posture and the bipedal motion, which freed the forelimbs. 

The forelimbs developed precision grip and power grip and evolved into hands. This greatly helped in hunting and defending from predators as hands could be used to make tools and also use them. Walking on two legs also provided a greater long-distance vision and helped them to cover long distances without spending much energy.

The use of tools is not confined to only humans. For e.g. some monkeys and apes use stones as tools to break nuts. But use of tools by humans is far more advanced compared to the monkeys and apes. Wood, bones, and stones were used to make tools. They were mainly used for hunting or defending from predators. The use of stone tools is studied as the Stone Age in history.

The making and use of stones tools were responsible for the evolution of forelimbs into hands and also the growth in brain size. As planned hunting required co-operation and communication between the hunters, signaling and creating sounds evolved, which slowly developed into languages. The domestication of animals and the commencement of agriculture were other major factors in the human evolution.

Earth was formed at least 4.5 billion years ago. 

The Drain theory of Dadabai Naoroji was the first to acknowledge that the poverty of the Indian people was due to the British exploitation of India’s resources and the drain of India’s wealth to Britain.

1. The Confederation of Indian Industry is a business association in India.

2. CIT is a non – Govemment, not – for – profit, industry – led and industry – managed organisation.

3. It was founded in 1985.

Archaic means a very early form prior to full development or very old and no longer in usage.

About 500 million years ago. 

About 700 million years ago, the basic chemicals in the earth’s atmosphere, namely Hydrogen and Carbon combined to form life in the water. This slowly evolved into primitive water plants. They began to grow and occupy the shallow and warm seas. The water plants gradually adapted themselves and began to encroach on to the land.

About 500 million years ago, Protozoa originated in water. It is considered to be the first form of animal life. Then single-cell beings became multicellular. The primitive life forms like photosynthetic bacteria released oxygen into the atmosphere as they evolved, which made earth more habitable for higher life forms to originate.

Water creatures appeared. Insects and Amphibians came into existence. The Amphibians were capable of existing on land and water as well. Then the reptiles appeared and some of the species among them adapted to become birds. All this diversified life forms took about 400 million years to evolve.

Mammals evolved about 200 million years ago. Horses, Camels, Dogs, etc. evolved around 50 million years ago. Primates made their appearance 36 million years ago. Hominoids evolved and human-like creatures came upon earth’s surface about 5.6 million years ago.

There are many theories regarding the origin of earth. But it has not been conclusively proven. The theories only try to unravel the mystery of the origin of the Earth. Some of them are religious or philosophical and the others are scientific. Among the scientific theories like the Steady Earth theory, the Big Bang theory, the Pulsating theory, etc.

The Big Bang theory is the more popular and widely accepted one. Earth is one of the planets in our solar system. But it is the only planet on which life has evolved. Earth is said to have been formed at least 4.5 billion years ago. The temperature then was so high that it was a white hot mass of molten rock.

It witnessed frequent volcanic eruptions and large collisions. A large number of comets and meteors collided with the earth in its early years of evolution. One such large collision is believed to have caused the earth’s tilt and the formation of the Moon. These factors along with many others formulated the weather and climate of the earth.

The crust was still hot and water was in the form of steam. Further cooling condensed the steam to form clouds and then rains began to pour in torrents. This continuous downpour formed lakes, rivers, oceans, and seas. The rains and winds eroded the valleys and Mountains. The erosion formed rocks to break and form tiny particles of sand and mud. The continuous erosion formed soil and the ocean floor.

The book ‘Origin of Species’ was written by Charles Darwin.

The Homo habilis were also called as the ‘Handyman’ because of their well-developed hands. 

The invention of cotton gin, flying shuttle, spinning jenny and steam engine in England, which made the production of textiles on large scale.

Hominoida super family species are called as ‘Hominoids’.

The Homo habilis lived on earth about 2 million years ago.

The Homo erectus species had a brain size of 800-1100cc.

About 5.6 Million years ago, the emergence of genus Homo, brought human-like beings on earth.

Homo habilis were the first to manufacture and use stone tools.

5.6 million years ago, genus Homo came into existence.

It took 30 million years for genus Homo to evolve from the Super family Hominoidea

On the basis of scientific research, it is believed that the formation of earth came into being around 4.5 billion years ago.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are the planets that revolve around the sun.

1. After the creation of the Earth, it took about 80 crore years for its surface to cool down and for water bodies to be formed on it. 

2. Various kinds of unicellular organisms known as protozoa, first appeared in water. 

3. Gradually, multicellular living things developed from these unicellular ones. 

4. Thus, life developed on Earth.

The Neanderthals had to adopt to the new way of living and finding food as they had to face a different environment.

(a) Aquatic animals – Fish, frog, tortoise, snake, crocodile etc. 

(b) Aquatic plants – Water lily, lotus, jalkumbhi, algae etc.

These plants will decay and die.

Some groups of Neanderthal Man left Africa and migrated up to the continents of Europe and Asia.

Jalkumbhi is shown in the pond.

The plants do not allow the flowing water on the leaves. Hence the leaves of the slants of flowing water are narrow like ribbons.

Algae is found where the water remains accumulated.

The Neanderthals communicated with each other by producing grunts and other primary sounds.

1. skilled 

2. Homo 

3. stand 

4. bent 

5. big

The Neanderthal knew the art of making fire and hence ate roasted meat.

1. True. 

2. True. 

3. False. Some groups of Neanderthals left Africa and migrated to the continents of Europe and Asia. 

4. True. 

5. True.

Their remains have been found in Europe, Asia and Africa.

The human species was later known as Homo sapiens sapiens as their capacity to think developed even further than that of Homo sapiens.

1. True 

2. False. Homo erectus knew the use of fire but had not mastered the technique of making fire. 

3. True 

4. True. 

5. False. The Neanderthal Man hunted big animals.

The scientist Louis Leakey who discovered this species, named it “Homo habilis’.

The remains of the Neanderthal Man were first found at Neanderthal in Germany.

Homo habilis means ‘the one who uses his hands skillfully.

The first evidence of this species was found in the border region between Tanzania and Kenya in the continent of Africa.

1. Homo habilis could stand on two feet and walk. 

2. His spine was slightly bent and was not quite erect. 

3. His brain was bigger than the apes although – he looked somewhat similar.

The remains of Homo erectus have been found in the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe.

Homo erectus means ‘the one who stands erect’.

1. During the time of Homo erectus, the Earth was covered with icesheets, hence the climate was extremely cold. 

2. Homo erectus could survive that extreme climate because he had learnt to use fire.

3. However, he had not yet mastered the technique of making fire.

1. forager 

2. evolution 

3. developed 

4. groups 

5. Homo erectus

Homo erectus could survive the extreme climatic conditions during the ice-age because he knew the use of fire but had not mastered the technique of making fire.

1. The scientist Louis Leakey who discovered this first human species named it ‘Homo habilis’. 

2. He found some tools made by them beside their fossilized remains. 

3. In Latin ‘Homo habilis’ means the man who can use his hands skillfully. 

4. Thus, the first human species got their name.

Homo habilis was a forager. It is possible that he hunted small animals, gathered eggs, wild fruits and roots to eat.