首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
What does the professor imply about population distribution maps?
What does the professor imply about population distribution maps?
admin
2018-08-16
33
问题
What does the professor imply about population distribution maps?
Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.
Professor: In our last class, we discussed technologies, like radio carbon dating and digital imaging, that help us interpret archaeological evidence, We looked at some of the challenges of drawing conclusions from the available evidence. One example I want to mention has a strong impact on our ideas about the population size of ancient settlements, in particular in Western Europe during the period known as the early Middle Ages.
The Early Middle Ages, from roughly 500 CE to 1,000 CE, refers to the period in Western Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire. You’ll probably remember, the Roman Empire was the major world power about 2,000 years ago. At its height, it included all the land around the Mediterranean Sea and extended as far north as, well, the island of Britain, and Roman sites have been easy for archaeologists to find. There are ruins of huge buildings, like the Colosseum in Rome or even entire cities like the ruins of Pompeii, just south of Rome, and when we look across the expanse of the empire, the evidence shows a landscape that was densely populated.
In addition to the obvious remains, the huge public buildings and monuments, we also observe countless remains found in private buildings, like statues, decorative artifacts, shards of pottery, but then there’s a sharp decline in the amount of archaeological evidence that dates from the Early Middle Ages. From this picture it’d be tempting to conclude that there was an equally sharp decline in population, but let’s look again. As we said, the Romans left behind countless long lasting remains, items made of materials that were strong and durable. Roman houses, for example, were made of mortar and cement with tiles for the roofs, but in the Early Middle Ages homes were made of organic materials, mostly wood, and they had thatched roofs, simple structures of straw and mud. Materials like these decay over time, so naturally that makes it difficult to find these sites.
Another reason Roman sites are so much easier to locate is that even small artifacts are visible. Roman pottery, for example, it was typically glazed, so it’s very shiny, easy to see against the soil, but pottery of the Early Middle Ages was brown or gray, and it wasn’t glazed, so you’d have trouble spotting it at an excavation. It’s kind of camouflaged against the soil, so it’s easy to draw the wrong conclusions about population size based on the available evidence. Let’s compare two sites that were unearthed in Britain: one dating from the Roman Empire, the other from a few centuries later during the Early Middle Ages. The Roman site is called Bradley Hill. This was a farmstead that would have been inhabited by a few families, so figure about 20 people living there. From this one site, we have remains of a tiled roof and other sturdy materials and thousands, literally thousands, of shards of shiny pottery.
Now compare that with the settlement in Britain from the Early Middle Ages called Oevering. Writings from the period tell us that Oevering was the estate of a regional king, and that it was occupied by over 100 people for more than 200 years. But what’s left of Oevering? Virtually nothing, nothing from the palace, most likely built of wood. ln fact, the only evidence we have of that are the post holes, the holes dug in the earth where the timbers or wooden posts were placed to support the walls and roof, and we didn’t even know about these until aerial photographs revealed markings that weren’t evident from the ground. And this is just one example of how a new perspective, in this case made possible through aerial photography, helped us realize that evidence, or the lack of it, could lead to false conclusions.
It’s possible, even likely, that there was some decline. What I mean is that the evidence, especially when it’s incomplete or analyzed in isolation, doesn’t tell the whole story. Now all this may not seem relevant to this week’s reading about the ancient Mayan populations in Central America, which we’ll get to in a minute, but you’ll notice that your book includes population distribution maps that have been generated based on archaeological evidence, so a word to the wise: population distribution maps for western Europe show lots of large, empty spaces for the Early Middle Ages, even though evidence like those post holes and documents about Oevering, might paint a very different picture.
选项
A、They are available for only very few regions.
B、They are not always accurate.
C、They have been found in Mayan ruins.
D、They are extremely well preserved.
答案
B
解析
推断题。针对课本上的人口分布图。教授提醒道:population distribution maps for western Europe show lots Of large,empty spaces for the early middle ages,even though evidence Iike those post holes and documents about Oevering,might paint a very different picture.即尽管现在已有证据表明中世纪早期存在一定数量的人口,但该分布图仍出现了大块空白区域,暗示该分布图不够准确、存在一定问题,因此B选项正确。人口分布图是考古学家根据遗迹挖掘作为证据绘制完成的,并非是由从古代保存至今,也并非在玛雅遗址上发现的,因此C选项和D选项不正确。教授提到课本上人口分布图,并未说明只有极少数的地区可获得,因此A选项不正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/l8fO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
CompletethenotesbelowWriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.TheGherkinBuildingCommissionedby:【L31】______firmcalledFoste
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.AdvertisingEffectTheimportantfactortoconsider
Completethesentencesbelow.WriteONEWORDAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.Studentsdecidingtochangetopicsmustdelivera
Completethesentencesbelow.WriteONEWORDAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.MountRushmoreThepurposeoftheconstructiono
Whatisthemainopinionofeachofthefollowingpeople?ChooseFIVEanswersfromtheboxandwritethecorrectletter,A-G,ne
Whatdothestudentsdecideaboutthefollowingpartsoftheproject?Writethecorrectletter,A,BorC,nexttoquestions27-
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOrecentdevelopmentsinroof-gardenbuildingarementioned?AwaterproofbarriermaterialsBd
Whichattitudeisassociatedwiththefollowingpeopleduringtheconversation?ChooseSIXanswersfromtheboxandwritetheco
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.GIVINGASPEECHReasonsfornervousnessLecturersofte
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.GIVINGASPEECHReasonsfornervousnessLecturersofte
随机试题
类风湿关节炎的关节X线检查结果属Ⅲ期的特点是
本工程东临骆宾王公园,北靠康园路,南临工人西路商业用房,西靠北门街,建筑总面积86167m2,地下面积13993m2;包括1#~5#楼5个单体,1#~3#为17层,4#、5#为22层。地下室为连通,4个防火分区。地下室为停车库,地上一层沿街为商铺,内院考虑
外国A公司2016年为中国B公司提供合同能源管理服务,为此在B公司所在市区租赁一办公场所,具体业务情况如下:(1)1月6日,A公司与B公司签订服务合同,确定服务具体内容,合同约定服务期限为6个月,服务费为人民币300万元(含增值税),所涉及的税费由税法确
经营者以预收款方式提供商品或者服务的,应按照消费者的要求履行约定,不必退回预付款。()
我从不说别人的坏话,如果我说了别人的坏话,那绝对是当面说的。如果我在背后说了别人坏话,那么一定是我自己独处的时候。下列哪项说法与上面论证最相似?
儿童在熟悉了“白菜”“菠菜”“韭菜”等概念之后,再学习“蔬菜”的概念,属于()。
根据下列统计资料回答问题某调查公司以不同年龄段市民为调查对象开展了黄金周主要休闲方式的抽样调查工作。下面的三角形表示不同年龄段的市民在采取五种休闲方式之一的人群中所占的比例。三角形顶点表示100%,相对应的基线表示0。A代表外出旅游B
A、 B、 C、 D、 B第一个图是一个不可分割的整体,第二个图可以看成由两部分组成,后面三个图依次可以看成由3,4,5个部分组成,因此下一个图由6个部分组成。只有B项符合。
发展中国特色社会主义和实现中华民族伟大复兴的必由之路就是
[*]
最新回复
(
0
)