-
TPO51
托福阅读
passage1
：
Origins of the
Megaliths
原文文本
+
真题答案
第一篇：考古类
Origins of the Megaliths
Since the days of the
earliest antiquarians, scholars have been
puzzled by the many Neolithic (~4000
.~2200 .) communal tombs known as
megaliths along
Europe's Atlantic seaboard. Although
considerable variations are
found in
the architectural form of these impressive
monuments, there is
a general
overriding similarity in design and, particularly,
in the use
of massive
stones.
The construction of
such large and architecturally complex tombs by
European barbarians struck early
prehistorians as unlikely. The Bronze
Age seafaring civilizations that lived
in the region of the Aegean Sea
(~ 3000
.~ 1000 .), among whom collective burial and a
diversity of
stone-built tombs were
known, seemed a probable source of inspiration.
It was suggested that Aegean people had
visited Iberia in southwestern
Europe
in
search
of
metal
ores and
had
introduced
the
idea
of
collective
burial
in
massive
tombs,
which
then
spread
northward
to
Brittany,
Britain,
North Germany, and
Scandinavia.
Radiocarbon
dates
for
a
fortified
settlement
of
megalith
builders
at
Los
Millares
in
Spain
appeared
to
confirm
this
picture,
though dates
for
megaliths in Brittany
seemed too early. When calibrated, however, it
became clear that radiocarbon dates
were universally too early to
support
a
Bronze
Age
Aegean
origin.
It
is now
clear
that
the
megaliths
are
a western and northern European invention, not an
introduced idea.
Even
so,
they
are
still
a
subject
of
speculation
and
inquiry.
What
induced
their
builders
to
invest
massive
efforts
in
erecting
such
monumental
tombs
How
was
the
necessary
labor
force
assembled
What
underlies
their
striking
similarities
One
answer to the last question was proposed by
Professor Grahame
Clark, one
of
Britain's
greatest prehistorians. Investigating the
megaliths of
southern Sweden, he noted
that one group was concentrated in coastal
locations from which deep-sea fish such
as cod, haddock, and ling could
have
been
caught
in
winter.
Historically,
much
of
the
Atlantic
was
linked
by the travels of
people who fished, and this could well have
provided
a mechanism by which the
megalith idea and fashions in the style of tomb
architecture spread between coastal
Iberia, Brittany, Ireland, western
England
and
Scotland,
and
Scandinavia.
The
high
concentrations
of
megaliths
on
coasts
and
the
surprising
number
of megaliths
found
on
small
islands
may support a connection with
fishing.
Professor Colin
Renfrew of the University of Cambridge, England,
however, views the similarities as
similar responses to similar needs.
At
the structural level, the passage that forms a
major element of many
graves could have
been devised independently in different areas to
meet
the need for repeated access to
the interior of these communal tombs.
Other structural resemblances could be
due to similarities in the raw
materials
available.
In
answer
to
the
question
of
why
the
idea
of
building
monumental
tombs
should
arise
independently
in
a
number
of
areas,
he
cites
the similarities in their
backgrounds.
Most
megaliths
occur
in
areas
inhabited
in
the
postglacial
period
by
Mesolithic hunter-
gatherers (~20000 . ~ 18000 . ). Their adoption of
agriculture through contact with
Neolithic farmers, Renfrew argues, led
to a population explosion in the region
and consequent competition for
farmland
between neighboring groups. In
the
face
of
potential
conflict,
the
groups
may
have
found
it
desirable
to
define
their
territories
and
emphasize
their
boundaries.
The
construction of megaliths could have
arisen in response to this need.
Renfrew
has
studied
two
circumscribed
areas,
the
Scottish
islands
of
Arran
and
Rousay,
to
examine
this
hypothesis
more
closely.
He
found
that
a division of the
arable land into territories, each containing one
megalith, results in units that
correspond in size to the individual
farming communities of recent times in
the same area.
【】
Each unit
supported
between
10
and
50
people.
【
】
The
labor
needed
to
put
up
a
megalith
would
probably
be beyond
the capabilities of a
community
this
size.
【
】
But
Renfrew
argues
that
the
cooperation
of
other
communities
could
be
secured
by
some
form
of
recognized
social
incentive
perhaps a period
of
feasting at which communal building was one of
several activities.
【
】
Most
megaliths
contain
collective
burials.
Different
tombs
used
different
arrangements,
but
there
seems
to
have
been
an
underlying
theme:
people placed in these tombs were
representative of their society, but
their identity as individuals was not
important. The tombs belonged to
the
ancestors,
through
whom
the
living
society
laid
claim
to
their
land.
This
interpretation
reinforces
Renfrew
’
s
view
of
the
megaliths
as
territorial markers.
题目
word
ground
to
paragraph
2,
early
prehistorians
thought
the
Aegean
people
of
the
Bronze Age might have
influenced megalith building along the Atlantic
seaboard because they
established commercial routes along
the Atlantic seaboard
been
in
Iberia,
where
they
introduced
the
idea
of
burial
in
very
large
tombs
thought
to
have
found
megaliths
in
Iberia
when
searching
for
metals
thought
to have passed along the concept of burial in
monumental
tombs
as
they
explored
Brittany,
Britain,
North
Germany,
and
Scandinavia