Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c4.s25: Economic Bases
Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c4.s25
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Economic Bases
c4.s25.1
It may be recalled that WORSAAE had thought of dividing human history on the basis of subsistence, but not taken the further step in equating them with the archaeological data. It was ELLIOT SMITH who first divided human history into two stages: The first of food-gathering and the second of food-production. The idea was later developed by a number of scholars, amongst whom the late Professor GORDON CHILDE might be described as the most outstanding.
c4.s25.2
The emergence of man from the state of food-collector to that of food-producer, is characterized as the First Revolution in human history. The second was the Urban Revolution. This again took place in prehistoric times, when with the discovery of metals—copper and its alloys—there was specialization in labour, regular foreign trade, surplus wealth and ultimately a city. Of course, all this was a very, very slow process. Mere discovery of the metals, or its import from a distant place, as our own excavations in Central India and the Deccan show, did not immediately bring about a change in the life of the people. Notable, however, is the inherent change in the way of life.