IGNOU FST CHAPTER 2 Q3

Q)Discuss the technical achievements of bronze age.
Ans)The major technical advance that accompanied the rise of cities was the discovery and use of metals,particularly copper and its alloy bronze. Simultaneously, trade between societies flourished and gave rise to a qualitative change which marks the beginning of conscious science.This was possible because of this initial phase of development required that the practitioners of techniques and the priests who did only mental work solve problems together. Recording of numbers or quantities of goods, standardizing their measures, counting and calculating, making of calendars etc form the basis of quantitative science in the Bronze age.

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 2 Q2

Q)Write the major factors which were responsible for the decline of the bronze age civilization.
Ans)The great development in production method that came in with the rise of production method lasted for only a few centuries. The initial outburst of technical advance was followed by a long period of stagnation. Cities rose and fell. One4 dynasty of priest kings overthrew one another. But there was no change in the pattern of production. It remained based on irrigation, agriculture, supplemented by trade with other cultures. There arose a difference between those who produced and those who appropriated the produce.This also meant a difference between the thinkers and the doers, between theory and practice. The social structure became exploitative. Peasants and urban craftsmen became poorer, many of them ending up as slaves later on. The emergence of two distinct classes the haves and the have nots on the society led to conflicts between them. This weakened the city states and ultimately put a stop to their intellectual and technical process. Increasing population and continuous barbarian invasions also bought tremendous pressure on these city cultures. They had to expand terrestrially to occupy more available land in order to feed the population. As wars became part of life, a new group of professionals came into being, who invented and made new war machines and built defensive and offensive structures.

IGNOU FST CHAPTER 2 Q1

Q) Discuss the achievements in the areas of transport and quantitative science during the Bronze Age.
Ans)Transport
River valley civilizations were characterized by settlements settlements along rivers which needed among another things, stones and wood form distant places to make houses and monuments. The desire to control large territories led to the need for efficient transport. Since the rivers were easy flowing, water transport was  most probably developed first. Dugout canoes and rafts made of reed and bamboo were used for carrying goods in bulk. The sail was invented marking the first use of inanimate use of locomotion. The river went in a known direction, it was like a road, but one could easily loose one's way on high seas. New ways of finding location and direction had to be searched. The most primitive method was of the land finding bird. Navigation by sun and stars had become a common practice. Tree trunks came in handy as rollers. The discovery of wheel revolutionized land transport, though it is not possible for us to say, from historic evidence, where the wheel was first invented. Its use for making carts which transported goods and passengers was possibly one of the most significant developments of the bronze age. The real ingenuity in developing this means of transport was in joining the solid roller or wheel to the body of the cart in such a way that it could turn without coming off.
Quantitative Science
Writing developed, either as a sketched symbol standing for a whole idea in Chinese, or symbols and sounds going together as in Mesopotamian Cuneiform or the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The standardization of exchange in the form of weight led to the use of balance, a scientific invention of great consequence. Exchange also necessitated simple calculations such as addition and subtraction of numbers, which led to arithmetic. The use of bricks for building houses gave rise to the ideas of right angle and the straight line which led to the birth of what we call geometry. The practice of building in brick also gave rise to the concept of areas and volumes of figures and solids, which could be calculated from the length of their sides. At first only the volume of rectangular blocks can be estimated. Later in Egypt, mathematics became sufficiently advanced to make it possible to calculate the volume of the pyramid. The ability to count  and calculate found immediate use in certain areas such as making of calendars and in the consequent development of astronomy. Another occupation that came to be very prestigious with the growth of cities was that of medicine. The basis for chemistry was laid in the observations and practices of jwellers, metal workers and potters. They knew about at least nine chemical elements-gold, silver, tin, lead, mercury, iron sulphur, and also about a variety of dry and liquid reagents.