Ancient People In Sahara - IELTS Reading Answers & Explanations
From IELTS Recent Actual Test 6 Academic Reading Test 6 · Part 2 · Questions 15–27
Reading Passage
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
Ancient People in Sahara
On Oct. 13, 2000, Paul Sereno, a professor from the University of Chicago, guided a team of palaeontologists to climb out of three broken Land Rovers, contented their water bottles and walked across the toffee-coloured desert called Tenere Desert. Tenere, one of the most barren areas on the Earth, is located on the southern flank of Sahara. According to the turbaned nomads Tuareg who have ruled this infertile domain for a few centuries, this California-size ocean of sand and rock is a 'desert within a desert'. In the Tenere Desert, massive dunes might stretch a hundred miles, as far as the eyes can reach. In addition, 120-degree heat waves and inexorable winds can take almost all the water from a human body in less than a day.
Mike Hettwer, a photographer in the team, was attracted by the amazing scenes and walked to several dunes to take photos of the amazing landscape. When reaching the first slope of the dune, he was shocked by the fact that the dunes were scattered with many bones. He photographed these bones with his digital camera and went to the Land Rover in a hurry. 'I found some bones,' Hettwer said to other group members, 'to my great surprise, they do not belong to the dinosaurs. They are human bones.'
One day in the spring of 2005, Paul Sereno got in touch with Elena Garcea, a prestigious archaeologist at the University of Cassino in Italy, asking her to return to the site with him together. After spending 30 years in researching the history of Nile in Sudan and of the mountains in the Libyan Desert, Garcea got well acquainted with the life of the ancient people in Sahara. But she did not know Sereno before this exploration, whose claim of having found so many skeletons in Tenere desert was unreliable to some archaeologists, among whom one person considered Sereno just as a 'moonlighting palaeontologist'. However, Garcea was so obsessive with his perspective as to accept his invitation willingly.
In the following three weeks, Sereno and Garcea (along with five excavators, five Tuareg guides, and five soldiers from Niger's army) sketched a detailed map of the destined site, which was dubbed Gobero after the Tuareg name for the area, a place the ancient Kiffian and Tuareg nomads used to roam. After that, they excavated eight tombs and found twenty pieces of artefacts for the above mentioned two civilisations. From these artefacts, it is evidently seen that Kiffian fishermen caught not only the small fish, but also some huge ones: the remains of Nile perch, a fierce fish weighing about 300 pounds, along with those of the alligators and hippos, were left in the vicinity of dunes.
Sereno went back with some essential bones and artefacts, and planned for the next trip to the Sahara area. Meanwhile, he pulled out the teeth of skeletons carefully and sent them to a researching laboratory for radiocarbon dating. The results indicated that while the smaller 'sleeping' bones might date back to 6,000 years ago (well within the Tenerian period), the bigger compactly tied artefacts were approximately 9,000 years old, just in the heyday of Kiffian era. The scientists now can distinguish one culture from the other.
In the fall of 2006, for the purpose of exhuming another 80 burials, these people had another trip to Gobero, taking more crew members and six extra scientists specialising in different areas. Even at the site, Chris Stojanowski, bio-archaeologist in Arizona State University, found some clues by matching the pieces. Judged from the bones, the Kiffian could be a people of peace and hardworking. 'No injuries in heads or forearms indicate that they did not fight too much,' he said. 'And they had strong bodies.' He pointed at a long narrow femur and continued, 'From this muscle attachment, we could infer the huge leg muscles, which means this individual lived a strenuous lifestyle and ate much protein. Both of these two inferences coincide with the lifestyle of the people living on fishing.' To create a striking contrast, he displayed a femur of a Tenerian male. This ridge was scarcely seen. 'This individual had a less laborious lifestyle, which you might expect of the herder.'
Stojanowski concluded that the Tenerian were herders, which was consistent with the other scholars' dominant view of the lifestyle in Sahara area 6,000 years ago, when the dry climate favoured herding rather than hunting. But Sereno proposed some confusing points: if the Tenerian was herders, where were the herds? Despite thousands of animal bones excavated in Gobero, only three skeletons of cows were found, and none of goats or sheep found. 'It is common for the herding people not to kill the cattle, particularly in a cemetery.' Elena Garcea remarked, 'Even the modern pastoralists such as Niger's Wodaabe are reluctant to slaughter the animals in their herd.' Sereno suggested, 'Perhaps the Tenerian in Gobero were a transitional group that had still relied greatly on hunting and fishing and not adopted herding completely.'
Questions
Questions 15–18 True / False / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
Questions 19–21 Short Answers
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Questions 22–27 Note Completion
Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
A comparative study of two ancient cultures
the Kiffian
-They seemed to be peaceful and industrious since the reseacher did not find 22 on their heads and forearms.
-Their lifestyle was 23
-Through the observation on the huge leg muscles, it could be inferred that their diet had plenty of 24
the Tenerian
-Stojanowski presumed that the Tenerian preferred herding to 25
-But only the bones of individual animals such as 26 were found.
-Sereno supposed the Tenerian in Gobero lived in a 27 group at that time.
Answers & Explanations Summary
| # | Answer | Evidence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q15 | NOT GIVEN | After that, they excavated eight tombs and found twenty pieces of artefacts for the above mentioned two civilisations | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage explains that the people digging found eight old graves and twenty old tools or objects belonging to two cultures from long ago. It tells us what they found, but it does not mention finding any rock drawings or carvings. Answer Explanation: The answer means that the passage does not give any information about whether the rock pictures found in a place called Green Sahara are similar to rock pictures found somewhere else. We cannot know if this statement is true or false from reading the text. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is NOT GIVEN because the passage does not contain any information about 'rock engravings' or drawings. The passage discusses archaeological discoveries of bones and 'artefacts' related to ancient people in the Sahara desert, specifically the Kiffian and Tenerian cultures. However, it never mentions 'rock engravings' or a specific area called 'Green Sahara' in relation to these findings or any comparison to other places. Therefore, there is no information in the text to confirm or deny the statement. |
| Q16 | FALSE | Tenere, one of the most barren areas on the Earth, is located on the southern flank of Sahara. According to the turbaned nomads Tuareg who have ruled this infertile domain for a few centuries, this California-size ocean of sand and rock is a 'desert within a desert' | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that Tenere is one of the most 'barren' places on Earth. 'Barren' means nothing can grow there. It also calls it an 'infertile domain', which means it's a land that cannot produce many plants or crops. This shows that the Tenere Desert was not a fertile place. Answer Explanation: The answer is FALSE, which means the statement is not true. The Tenere Desert was not a fertile area. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is FALSE because the passage clearly states that the Tenere Desert was not fertile. It uses words like 'barren' and 'infertile domain' to describe the area, which means it was a place where very little could grow. This directly contradicts the idea that it was a 'fertile area'. |
| Q17 | TRUE | When reaching the first slope of the dune, he was shocked by the fact that the dunes were scattered with many bones. He photographed these bones with his digital camera and went to the Land Rover in a hurry. 'I found some bones,' Hettwer said to other group members, 'to my great surprise, they do not belong to the dinosaurs. They are human bones.' | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that when Hettwer was walking up a sand hill, he was very surprised to see many bones all over the place. He quickly took pictures and told his group that he found 'human bones,' which was a big surprise to him. Answer Explanation: The answer means that Hettwer found bones of people in the desert without planning to, it was an accident. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is TRUE because the passage explains that Mike Hettwer, a photographer, was taking pictures of the 'amazing landscape' when he unexpectedly found the bones. The text uses words like 'shocked' and 'to my great surprise' to show that he did not expect to find them, indicating it was a discovery made 'by chance' or accidentally. |
| Q18 | FALSE | But she did not know Sereno before this exploration, whose claim of having found so many skeletons in Tenere desert was unreliable to some archaeologists, among whom one person considered Sereno just as a 'moonlighting palaeontologist' | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage tells us that Elena Garcea did not know Paul Sereno before they started this trip to find old bones in the desert. This means it was their first time meeting and working together on a project like this. Answer Explanation: The answer is 'FALSE'. This means the statement, which says Sereno and Garcea worked together on archaeology before, is not true. They had not worked together before their study of ancient people in the Sahara. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is FALSE because the passage clearly states that Elena Garcea and Paul Sereno did not know each other before the specific journey to explore the ancient Sahara people. The phrase 'before this exploration' clearly indicates that their collaboration began with this particular project and not before it. |
| Q19 | a detailed map | In the following three weeks, Sereno and Garcea (along with five excavators, five Tuareg guides, and five soldiers from Niger's army) sketched a detailed map of the destined site, which was dubbed Gobero after the Tuareg name for the area, a place the ancient Kiffian and Tuareg nomads used to roam | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that in the first three weeks, Sereno and Garcea made a careful drawing of the area. This drawing was for the place they were going to dig. Answer Explanation: The answer, 'a detailed map,' means they made a careful drawing of the place where they would dig. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'a detailed map' because the passage explains that Paul Sereno and Elena Garcea spent time drawing out the area before they started digging. This map helped them plan their work. The words 'sketched a detailed map' from the passage directly tell us what they created. |
| Q20 | teeth / the teeth / teeth of skeletons | Meanwhile, he pulled out the teeth of skeletons carefully and sent them to a researching laboratory for radiocarbon dating | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that Sereno took the teeth from the dead bodies and sent them to a lab. This lab would then find out how old the teeth were using a special method called radiocarbon dating. Answer Explanation: The answer is 'teeth of skeletons'. This means the parts of a skeleton's mouth used for biting and chewing were sent. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'teeth of skeletons' because the passage clearly states that Paul Sereno removed these items from the skeletons and sent them to a special place for study. The text explicitly says he 'pulled out the teeth of skeletons carefully and sent them to a researching laboratory', which is another name for a research centre. |
| Q21 | 9000 years old / 9,000 years old | The results indicated that while the smaller 'sleeping' bones might date back to 6,000 years ago (well within the Tenerian period), the bigger compactly tied artefacts were approximately 9,000 years old, just in the heyday of Kiffian era | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage explains that after testing, the special items found that were 'compactly tied' (meaning tightly bundled or wrapped) were believed to be about 9,000 years old. This was during what is called the 'Kiffian era'. Answer Explanation: The answer means that the bigger, tightly wrapped graves were thought to be 9,000 years old. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is supported by the passage, which states that 'bigger compactly tied artefacts' were around 9,000 years old. These 'compactly tied artefacts' relate to the burials mentioned in the question. |
| Q22 | injuries | 'No injuries in heads or forearms indicate that they did not fight too much,' he said | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage means that because there were no signs of harm or wounds on the heads or lower arms of the Kiffian people, it showed that they probably did not have many fights. Answer Explanation: The answer, "injuries," means hurts or wounds on the body. The researcher did not find any marks of fighting on the Kiffian people's heads and arms. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is "injuries" because the passage states that the lack of these marks suggests the Kiffian people were peaceful and didn't fight much. The text says, "No injuries in heads or forearms indicate that they did not fight too much." This directly links the absence of 'injuries' to their peaceful nature. |
| Q23 | strenuous | 'From this muscle attachment, we could infer the huge leg muscles, which means this individual lived a strenuous lifestyle and ate much protein. Both of these two inferences coincide with the lifestyle of the people living on fishing.' | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that because of the big leg muscles found on the Kiffian people's bones, scientists believed they had a very active and hard-working life. This kind of life also suggested they ate a lot of protein, which fits with people who fish for food. Answer Explanation: The answer 'strenuous' means very hard work or needing a lot of effort and energy. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'strenuous' because the passage describes the Kiffian people as having 'huge leg muscles'. A scientist explains that these strong muscles mean they lived a 'strenuous lifestyle', which means they worked very hard, perhaps from activities like fishing, as the passage later suggests. |
| Q24 | protein | 'From this muscle attachment, we could infer the huge leg muscles, which means this individual lived a strenuous lifestyle and ate much protein. Both of these two inferences coincide with the lifestyle of the people living on fishing.' | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that by looking at how muscles were attached to a Kiffian person's leg bone, scientists could tell they had very big leg muscles. This suggests the person had a very active life and ate a lot of food rich in 'protein'. This kind of food and active life matches people who spent their time fishing. Answer Explanation: The answer 'protein' means a type of food that helps build strong muscles and bodies. People often get protein from meat, fish, or beans. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'protein' because the passage explains that the Kiffian people had very strong leg muscles. Scientists could tell this from their bones. Having big muscles meant they had a hard-working life and ate a lot of food that gives them strength, which is 'protein'. The text directly links 'huge leg muscles' to consuming 'much protein'. This lifestyle, involving a lot of physical activity like fishing, requires a high protein diet. |
| Q25 | hunting | Stojanowski concluded that the Tenerian were herders, which was consistent with the other scholars' dominant view of the lifestyle in Sahara area 6,000 years ago, when the dry climate favoured herding rather than hunting | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that a scientist named Stojanowski thought the Tenerian people raised animals (were herders). Other scientists agreed. They believed that about 6,000 years ago, the dry weather in the Sahara desert made it easier to raise animals than to catch wild animals for food. Answer Explanation: The answer 'hunting' means trying to catch and kill wild animals for food. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'hunting' because the passage explains that the Tenerian people were thought to be 'herders'. The text then contrasts this with 'hunting', saying that the dry weather at that time made 'herding' a better way of life than 'hunting'. So, they preferred herding instead of hunting. |
| Q26 | cows | Despite thousands of animal bones excavated in Gobero, only three skeletons of cows were found, and none of goats or sheep found | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage states that even though many animal bones were dug up, they only discovered three skeletons of cows and no skeletons of goats or sheep. This makes it hard to believe that the people were mainly herders, as one might expect more bones from their herds. Answer Explanation: The answer is 'cows'. This means that when they looked for animal bones, they only found skeletons of cows. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'cows' because the passage specifically mentions that despite many animal bones being found, only a small number of 'cow' skeletons were discovered. Chris Stojanowski thought the Tenerian people were herders, but Sereno found it confusing because there were hardly any remains of herds. The passage states, 'only three cow skeletons were found, and none of goats or sheep found,' which directly supports 'cows' as the type of individual animal bones found. |
| Q27 | transitional | Sereno suggested, 'Perhaps the Tenerian in Gobero were a transitional group that had still relied greatly on hunting and fishing and not adopted herding completely.' | Excerpt/Passage Explanation: The passage says that Sereno thought the Tenerian people in Gobero were a 'transitional group'. This means they were in a stage of change, still hunting and fishing a lot, and had not fully started keeping animals for farming yet. Answer Explanation: The answer 'transitional' means a group of people who were in the middle of changing how they lived, moving from one way to another. They had not fully adopted the new way yet. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'transitional' because Paul Sereno, one of the researchers, thought that the Tenerian people found in Gobero were still changing. He believed they had not completely switched to herding animals and still relied a lot on hunting and fishing. The passage uses the keyword 'transitional group' to describe this idea. |