Given below are two statements:
Statement I: Homo sapiens arose in Africa and moved across continents and developed into distinct races.
Statement II: Pre-historic cave art developed after agriculture came and human settlements started.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Only Statement I is correct.
NCERT describes the later stages of human evolution in the order in which they happened, ending with cave art, agriculture and human settlements.
Statement I: Homo sapiens arose in Africa and moved across continents and developed into distinct races. — True. This is how NCERT describes the spread of Homo sapiens from Africa.
Statement II: Pre-historic cave art developed after agriculture came and human settlements started. — False. The order is the other way round. Pre-historic cave art developed about 18,000 years ago, and agriculture came later, around 10,000 years back, when human settlements started. So cave art came before agriculture.
NCERT Extract:
Origin and Evolution of Man – “… Homo sapiens arose in Africa and moved across continents and developed into distinct races. During ice age between 75,000-10,000 years ago modern Homo sapiens arose. Pre-historic cave art developed about 18,000 years ago. One such cave paintings by Pre-historic humans can be seen at Bhimbetka rock shelter in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. Agriculture came around 10,000 years back and human settlements started.”