首页
登录
职称英语
Reconstructing Ancient EnvironmentsP1: Archaeology is particularly important fo
Reconstructing Ancient EnvironmentsP1: Archaeology is particularly important fo
游客
2024-01-03
67
管理
问题
Reconstructing Ancient Environments
P1: Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Besides, global climates, topographical features and constituents of the Earth’s crust have considerably changed with the passing of time. The first effort archaeologists should make is to use evidence preserved in historical sites to reconstruct the ancient physical environment of a region.
P2: One of the most important sources of information for reconstructing human’s adaptive response to prehistoric environments is the faunal remains found in archaeological sites. Faunal remains are considered to include fish, birds, and mammals. These remains are used to reconstruct past environments and human diet. The prehistoric record of the meat-eating habits of early humans is far from clear about the prevalence of scavenging. One faction of prehistorians argues there is evidence that early humans were primarily scavengers who found the remains of animals killed by lions and other carnivores, and then butchered them. Another faction disagrees, proposing that early humans hunted for their own meat. Marks left by humans cutting up animals with stone tools are now being analyzed to help distinguish between cases in which people butchered animals they had killed themselves and those in which they butchered animals they scavenged from the kills of other animals.
P3: Another source to reconstruct ancient environments comes from the study of the remains of plants cultivated or used by man in ancient times, which have survived in archaeological contexts. Carbon is chemically quite stable, so charred plants (plants converted to charcoal or carbon) and seeds preserve well. Charred plant remains are usually retrieved by flotation: excavated sediments are mixed with water or some other fluid. Heavy fractions will sink to the bottom and less dense organic material such as charred seeds, grains, and charcoal will tend to float to the surface. The importance of such analyses lies in the fact that these plants indicate much about the climates and vegetation of the periods in which the animals lived. For example, there are ongoing debates about when and where various animals were domesticated. If phytoliths (tiny mineral particles formed inside plants) of domesticated grains are found on the teeth of these animals, the probability is high that they were part of an agricultural economy.
P4: Apart from faunal and floral remains, human bodies, especially well-preserved ones, can also be of extraordinary significance to archaeological discoveries. For example, eleven naturally mummified bodies were found in beach sand in northern Chile and date to about 1000 B.C. Chemical reconstruction of their diet demonstrates that one of them was a coca leaf chewer, and they had the kinds of dental problems and missing teeth associated with the sticky starches of an agricultural diet, although their principal food was derived from marine resources with only minor supplementation from terrestrial hunting and food-gathering. Then, during bones analysis, the bodies showed the changes of the bones of the inner ear that are characteristic of people who frequently dive in freezing water.
P5: To better interpret these prehistorical mysteries, a technical specialty is combined with archaeology, which is know as geoarchaeology. ■ Geoarchaeologists’ work frequently involves studying soil and sediments, as well as other geographical alterations, to contribute to an archaeological study. ■ Geoarchaeological analyses also involve many different kinds of questions and techniques. ■ In the Egyptian Delta region, for example, many of the earliest communities were built on large sand-and-gravel mounds created by the Nile River as it deposited the sediments it carried. ■ But many of these communities have been buried under meters of sediment from numerous ancient floods, and by other factors as well. On top of this, the streams feeding into the Nile River in the delta have changed course many times, leaving a maze of crisscrossed, buried river channels. Finding these buried sand-and-gravel mounds and the archaeological sites on them often requires complex geological analyses involving special digging, satellite image analysis, and many other techniques. [br] The word "constituents" in the passage is closest in meaning to
选项
A、components
B、locations
C、size
D、temperatures
答案
A
解析
【词汇题】constituents意为“构成”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3328818.html
相关试题推荐
Manypeoplebelievethatitisveryimportanttomakelargeamountsofmoney
DRAMAINANCIENTGREECE1LongbeforetheancientGreekscou
DRAMAINANCIENTGREECE1LongbeforetheancientGreekscou
DRAMAINANCIENTGREECE1LongbeforetheancientGreekscou
DRAMAINANCIENTGREECE1LongbeforetheancientGreekscou
DRAMAINANCIENTGREECE1LongbeforetheancientGreekscou
DRAMAINANCIENTGREECE1LongbeforetheancientGreekscou
NarratorListentopartofalectureinanarchaeologyclass.Now
NarratorListentopartofalectureinanarchaeologyclass.Now
NarratorListentopartofalectureinanarchaeologyclass.Now
随机试题
MynewhomewasalongwayfromthecentreofLondonbutitwasbecoming【C1】_
Whichofthefollowingprepositionalphrasescanfunctionasanadverbial?A、Desp
下列哪项是建立审计历史数据库的优点?Ⅰ.工作底稿的一部分可以从以前的文件中复制,
反向弯曲试验的弯曲直径比弯曲试验相应减少2个钢筋公称直径。
下列小儿不同年龄消化道出血的常见病症中,不正确的是A.新生儿期多见于新生儿出血症
男性,64岁,高血压病、糖尿病多年,渐出现双手双足麻木,发凉,查体:双手双足远端
假定A客户今年存入银行10000元,年利率为10%,按年复利计算,到期一次性还本
婴幼儿大便呈果酱色,伴阵发性哭闹,可能的疾病是A.痢疾 B.肠套叠 C.肠梗
下列哪项属于食物中毒A.伤寒 B.误食亚硝酸盐 C.暴饮暴食引起的急性胃肠炎
躯体疾病所致精神障碍的临床表现的共同特点,不正确的是 A.精神症状多有“昼轻
最新回复
(
0
)