人教版高二英語課文下冊Unit 20 Archaeology - Reading

所屬教程:人教版高二英語課文下冊

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THE KING OF STONEHENGE

On May 3, 2002, archaeologists in England found a grave of a man dating back to around 2300 BC. When he died, the man was about 40 years old. He was buried on his left side with his face to the north. The tests on his teeth show that he spent his youth in central Europe, perhaps Germany. Buried with him were the tools of a hunter or warrior.

Some of the objects found in the grave give us an idea of how he was dressed when he was buried. There was a bone pin that may have been from a piece of clothing such as a leather coat. He carried a copper knife on his breast. The most amazing find was two gold earrings. That would have made him a man of distinction.

Only a few centimetres from his head were two pots made of clay, tools and materials to make arrows, a bow and a dozen arrows for hunting and a second, smaller copper knife. Next to them lay a cushion stone, upon which the man could work metal. Everything found in the man's grave was probably given to him for his use in the next life. It was all that a person would need to survive --clothing, tools, weapons, pottery and spare materials to make new tools.

The discovery is important for a variety of reasons. His grave is the richest of any found from that period. This was a time when the first metals were brought to Britain, and this man was buried with two gold earrings which are the oldest gold ever found in Britain (dating back to 2470 BC).

He was important for another reason: he was buried three miles from Stonehenge at the time when the great stones were being brought to Salisbury to build it. Archaeologists tend to believe that this man was a member of a powerful class that may well have organised the construction of Stonehenge.For these reasons, this man has been called the King of Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was begun around 3000 BC. In about 2300 BC the huge stone circles were built. The biggest stones weigh approximately 20 tons and came from a place not very far. But the smaller blue stones, still weighing four tons on average, came from west Wales. It is not yet known how these were conveyed over a distance of 380 kilometres. It is also a mystery how early man was able to construct Stonehenge without the use of modem construction machines and lorries. It is possible that the King of Stonehenge was linked to the stones: he may have had a hand in planning the monument, or in helping transport and pull up the stones.

Perhaps the most important fact about the King of Stonehenge is that his homeland was somewhere in Central Europe. He is an example of people who brought culture and new techniques from the European mainland to Britain. In terms of technical development, people were going from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. In the Stone Age most tools were made of stone. In the Bronze Age, people could make tools of copper and bronze, but not iron. Iron came later, in what was called the Iron Age. At first it was thought that the skills to make copper and bronze objects spread to Britain through war and armed conflict, but it is now believed to have happened through trade and cultural links. The King of Stonehenge came with the skills to make metal, and that would have given him a high status in the eyes of local people. Some of the artefacts in his grave came from remote places. It has been proved that the copper knives came from places as distant as Spain and western France. The gold jewellery came from Europe too.