The topic is on Division of Labour and Craft Specialisation.

Craft Specialisation

1. Tools
   • The skillful design, utility etc. of the tools of the Neolithic Age differentiate them from the tools of the Palaeolithic Age. One tool of the Neolithic Age was a smooth stone axe. That axe was made of fine grained stone. One end of it was carved and made smooth so that the cutting edge becomes sharp. It could be used as an axe by attaching it to one end of a stick. It was used to clear forests and could also be used to dig the ground like a hoe. With its help, man was able to cut wood and give it the desired shape, as a result of which the axe was developed. In course of time, it was used to make ploughs, wheels, boats made of planks and wooden houses.
   • The second important tool of the Neolithic Age was the sickle. This tool was made by attaching thin pieces of stone to a wooden handle. It was used to cut and collect crops. There was a lot of progress in weapons of war and hunting. Bows, arrows and spears were used in this era too. But the tips of the arrows were made much sharper than before. At some places, humans started using a new weapon like a slingshot. Neolithic humans started making tools like needles and splinters from bones and horns.
2. Invention of Pots of Soil –
   • Now man started feeling the need for such pots for storing and cooking food in which grains and liquids could be kept and they could also be put on fire. In the beginning of the Neolithic period, only baskets made of wicker and twigs were used. To keep liquids, they were coated with clay.
   • The man of the Neolithic period knew how to make ropes from round strips and fibers. They soon learnt to make round earthen pots with coils. They used to mix sand, ground shells and crushed straw in the soil and make long ropes out of it, as they used to do for making baskets. Then they used to make coils of these ropes and stick them one on top of the other. The edges that remained were smoothened with wet hands and pebbles. They soon learnt to bake earthen pots on very high fire. This made those pots hard. Water had no effect on them. The invention of pottery is a major feature of Neolithic culture.
3. Art of Knitting and Embroidery –
   • The remains of the oldest village of the Neolithic period found in West Asia tell us the story of the beginning of the art of spinning and weaving. In this period, humans started wearing clothes made of flax, cotton and wool instead of clothes made of animal skins and leaves.
   • Cotton started being grown in the Indus Valley shortly after 3000 BC.
   • Around the same time, wool started being used in Iraq. But before preparing cloth, it was necessary to invent two processes of spinning and weaving and use both of them simultaneously.
   • The invention of machines like takli, takua for spinning and loom for weaving is a symbol of the immense success of human intelligence.

Division of Labour

Because of an organised life, man got leisure time even after agricultural work and animal husbandry. His worry about food was also over. In his free time, he could make stone tools or utensils. Some humans who did not need to produce their own food could engage themselves in other works. As a result of this, division of labour began. Some rules were also necessary for an organised community life, which could control the behaviour of the community members. It appears that decisions related to the community were taken collectively or by a council of elders of the group. This is also found in the present-day tribes. At that time, there was neither a king nor a government. It is possible that the chieftain or the headman was selected on the basis of qualities. But those chieftains or headmen could not give their position to their sons. Those chieftains did not enjoy any special privileges. Archaeologists have not found any evidence from which it can be known that the level of some members was higher than others. This fact is also confirmed by the study of the life of present-day tribes.

It is also possible that agricultural land is considered to be the land of the entire community. The community gives different pieces of land to different families for agriculture or the entire community works together on the farms. This is also possible only when gradually different communities become owners of different lands and the land belongs to different families instead of the entire community. Similarly, houses, utensils, jewellery etc. must also have been the separate property of different families.

Religious beliefs of Neolithic people

In Neolithic Age, the dead were buried. The manner in which the dead were buried gives us some idea about the religious beliefs of the Neolithic people. The dead were buried in the ground along with weapons, earthen pots and eatables. It was believed that these people would need these things even after death. Such graves built on the ground in the Palaeolithic Age have been found. Perhaps the importance of graves in the Neolithic Age became more than before. Now the entire community got food from the earth. The people of that period believed that the souls of the dead ancestors whose bodies were buried under the ground helped in the growth of crops.

Evidence has also been found that these people had full faith in clan symbols. If a caste or a group of families living together accepted the shape of an animal or plant as the symbol of their caste or group, then it was called the clan symbol of that caste or group. In ancient times people believed that animals and humans had the same ancestors and that animals were friends or relatives of humans because they provided them with food. Even when humans started farming, their lives were not completely secure. They were always afraid that some great calamity could destroy crops, domestic animals or game animals at any time. These conditions of insecurity and man’s inability to understand the process of nature gave rise to the notion that the welfare of the community was tied to or completely dependent on the welfare of a particular animal. Similar notions were formed about trees and plants. Humans adopted certain animals as symbols of their clan, symbolizing their ancestors and protectors.

Every tribe had its own ‘family symbol’. They behaved well with their family symbol and all the members prayed to their family symbol to keep them kind. The people of that time believed that there was something extraordinary in the sun, moon, stars and other forces of nature which was not there in any other. For this reason, the people of that time tried to keep them happy by worshipping them and praying to them. With time, this worship took the form of rituals. In this way, magic and religious superstitions linked the members of the community to each other. All these things express the feeling of man that he bowed down before the things which he was unable to understand.

In many parts of the world, small statues of women made of clay have been found in the settlements of the Neolithic period, which are called ‘Matri Devi’. When man started doing agriculture, the earth became mother and he started worshipping the small statues with the belief that the crop would be good. Like the art found in the caves of the Palaeolithic period, the music and art of the Neolithic period were also connected to the hopes and fears of man.

In the Neolithic period, large stones were placed on the graves of communities and later communities. Those stones are called ‘megaliths’. Such graves have been found during exploration. Some of these appear to be standing stones alone. Other megaliths appear like tables placed on some tall stones or round stones. There are rooms under the table-shaped buildings in which the dead bodies were kept. In some countries, these megaliths were used as temples to worship the Sun during the time of Kark Sankranti, when the intensity of the Sun is the highest. A similar building in England is “Stone Hedge”.

Invention of the wheel

Perhaps this was the time when man invented the wheel, as a result of which a technological revolution emerged. Today we cannot even imagine that any work can be done without the wheel. There must have been many stages of development of this invention to make it useful. This was possible only through the discovery and use of metals.

It seems that man first used the wheel to make earthen pots. The potter’s wheel further refined the art of pottery making and gave it the form of a craft. Later the wheel may have been used to pull a cart because man had been using a cart without wheels. The use of a cart with a round tree trunk made it even easier. Soon the use of animals to push it also started. The wheel had been used for spinning since a long time.