Village settlers.

Village settlers.

Early villages

In some parts of the world, people live on farms that stand alone.

However, most country people live in villages. A village is a small

group of farms, houses and other buildings. Most villages are too

small to be shown on the maps in an atlas.

Multiple Choice

We can easily find those villages on atlas map.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What don't people need?

• shelter

• food

• wifi

• water

Multiple Choice

What did the earliest people hunt wild animal for?

• Hobby

• Fun

• Needs

Multiple Select

Why didn't they live in one place for a long time?

• They liked to change houses.

• They liked to travel.

• They had to look for food.

Multiple Choice

How many years ago did people start farming?

• eleven years ago

• one thousand years ago

• eleven thousand years ago.

Multiple Choice

Where did the early people build their villages?

• in the mountain

• near the water source

Multiple Choice

Where might you find an oasis?

• mountain

• river

• desert

Multiple Choice

THe villages needed to be...

• easy to enter

• lower the sea level

• safe

Multiple Choice

Why were some villages built on the slopes or on hills?

• Because of the panoramic view .

• Because of its high position.

Multiple Choice

Mining villages were built near the sea as well.

• True

• False

Changing villages

When a village had grown so big that it produced more food than it needed, some people could give up farming and do other jobs.Roads could be improved so that people from the village could trade with people in places further away.

Multiple Choice

When could villages start to grow?

• When the farmers could sell houses .

• When there were more people coming to live

• When the villagers got plenty of food and things and they could change to ways of living.

Balad Sayt village is cluster of houses made of stone and mud built at an oasis in the Al Hajar mountains, in the Oman countryside. It is a cluster of houses made of stone and mud. The village is on the side of a small hill and is surrounded by rocky hills and cliffs over 1000 metres high.

Multiple Choice

THe village is..

• uphill

• downhill

The houses in Balad Sayt are laid out like steps on the slope of the hill. The houses are close together with only narrow pathways between them. There is a large school nearby. A ruined fort stands on the hill above the village. What does this fort tell you about Balad Sayt’s past? Balad Sayt village was built here because streams of pure water come from the Hajar Mountains. The water flows in two main water channels through the village. The villagers use the water for drinking, cooking, washing and also to irrigate their crops.

Multiple Choice

There are many schools in the village.

• True

• False

 The people grow crops in terraced fields, built like steps on the slopes of the surrounding hills. The main crops grown are alfalfa and wheat for making bread. There are also many date palms and some black mulberry trees, grown for their fruits. The water that is not used by the villagers flows down into the wadi at the edge of Balad Sayt. The wadi flows in a deep valley for about 7 kilometres until it joins up with the Wadi

Bani Auf downstream. This wadi has cut deep gorges in the mountain slopes.The houses in Ba lad Sayt are close together and clustered around a ruined fort. Balad Sayt is so far away from other towns and cities that the people of the village have to produce most of their own food. As well as the crops from the fields, and the mulberries and the dates from the trees, they also collect wild foods during the summer months. These include the sweet, purple-coloured fruits of the bhoot tree and honey from the wild bees that live in the caves in the mountains.

Balad Sayt can only be reached by travelling in a four-wheel drive vehicle along rough tracks. Although it is difficult to get to, many tourists travel to Balad Sayt each year. This is because it is an example of how villages used to be in many parts of the Middle East. In the past, Oman was one of the richest countries in the world. Most of its money came from selling incense. Incense, or bokhur, is still burned daily