Human Remains In Green Sahara Reading Answers

Nov 30, 2022

Human Remains In Green Sahara Reading Answers contains 14 questions which need to be answered in 20 minutes. Human Remain In Green Sahara Reading Answers consists of three types of questions; no more than two words, no more than three words, and true/false/not given. no more than two words, no more than three words, and choose the correct answers. Candidates need to skim the passage for keywords, understand the concept and answer based on the given instructions. In no more than two words, candidates are required to answer based on a given cue within a word limit of two words. In no more than three words, candidates are required to answer based on a given cue. Answers shouldn’t exceed the mentioned three word limits. For true/false/not given, candidates are required to skim through the passage properly and answer the mentioned questions. Candidates must read the IELTS reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question.

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Reading Passage Questions

On October 13,2,000, a small team of paleontologists led by Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago clambered out of three battered Land Rovers, filled their water bottles, and scattered on foot across the toffee-colored sands of the Tenere desert in northern Niger. The Tenere , on the southern flank of the Sahara, easily ranks among the most desolate landscapes on Earth. The Tuareg , turbaned nomads who for centuries have ruled this barren realm, refer to it as a “desert within a desert”-a California-size ocean of sand and rock, where a single massive dune might stretch a hundred miles, and the combination of 120-degree heat and inexorable winds can wick the water from a human body in less than a day. The harsh conditions, combined with intermittent conflict between the Tuareg and the Niger government, have kept the region largely unexplored.
Mike Hettwer, a photographer accompanying the team, headed off by himself toward a trio of small dunes. He crested the first slope and stared in amazement. The dunes were spilling over with bones. He took a few shots with his digital camera and hurried back to the Land Rovers. “I found some bones:’ Hettwer said, when the team had regrouped. “But they’re not dinosaurs. They’re human.”
In the spring of 2005 Sereno contacted Elena Garcea, an archaeologist at the University of Cassino, in Italy, inviting her to accompany him on a return to the site. Garcea had spent three decades working digs along the Nile in Sudan and in the mountains of the Libyan Desert, and was well acquainted with the ancient peoples of the Sahara. But she had never heard of Paul Sereno. His claim to have found so many skeletons in one place seemed far fetched, given that no other Neolithic cemetery contained more than a dozen or so. Some archaeologists would later be skeptical; one sniped that he was just a “moonlighting paleontologist.” But Garcea was too intrigued to dismiss him as an interloper. She agreed to join him.
Garcea explained that the Kiffian were a fishing-based culture and lived during the earliest wet period, between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. She held a Kiffian sherd next to a Tenerian one. “What is so amazing is that the people who made these two pots lived more than a thousand years apart.”
Over the next three weeks, Sereno and Garcea-along with five American excavators, five Tuareg guides, and five soldiers from Nigeria’s army, sent to protect the camp from bandits—made a detailed map of the site, which they dubbed Gobero, after the Tuareg name for the area. They exhumed eight burials and collected scores of artifacts from both cultures. In a dry lake bed adjacent to the dunes, they found dozens of fishhooks and harpoons carved from animal bone Apparently the Kiffian fishermen weren’t just going after small fry: Scattered near the dunes were the remains of Nile perch, a beast of a fish that can weigh nearly 300 pounds, as well as crocodile and hippo bones.
Sereno flew home with the most important skeletons and artifacts and immediately began planning for the next field season. In the meantime, he carefully removed one tooth from each of four skulls and sent them to a lab for radiocarbon dating. The results pegged the age of the tightly bundled burials at roughly 9,000 years old, the heart of the Kiffian era. The smaller “sleeping” skeletons turned out to be about 6,000 years old, well within the Tenerian period. At least now the scientists knew who was who.
In the fall of 2006 they returned to Gobero, accompanied by a larger dig crew and six additional scientists. Garcea hoped to excavate some 80 burials, and the team began digging. As the skeletons began to emerge from the dunes, each presented a fresh riddle, especially the Tenerian. A male skeleton had been buried with a finger in his mouth.
Even at the site, Arizona State University bio archaeologist Chris Stojanowski could begin to piece together some clues. Judging by the bones, the Kiffian appeared to be a peaceful, hard working people. “The lack of head and forearm injuries suggests they weren’t doing much fighting,” he told me. “And these guys were strong.” He pointed to a long, narrow ridge running along a femur. “That’s the muscle attachment,” he said. “This individual had huge leg muscles, which means he was eating a lot of protein and had a strenuous lifestyle — both consistent with a fishing way of life.” For contrast, he showed me the femur of a Tenerian male. The ridge was barely perceptible. “This guy had a much less strenuous lifestyle,” he said, “which you might expect of a herder.”
Stojanowski’s assessment that the Tenerian were herders fits the prevailing view among scholars of life in the Sahara 6,000 years ago, when drier conditions favored herding over hunting. But if the Tenerian were herders, Sereno pointed out, where were the herds? Among the hundreds of animal bones that had turned up at the site, none belonged to goats or sheep, and only three came from a cow species. “It’s not unusual for a herding culture not to slaughter their cattle, particularly in a cemetery, M Garcea responded, noting that even modern pastoralists, such as Niger’s Wodaabe, are loath to butcher even one animal in their herd. Perhaps, Sereno reasoned, the Tenerian at Gobero were a transitional group that had not fully adopted herding and still relied heavily on hunting and fishing.
Back in Arizona, Stojanowski continues to analyze the Gobero bones for clues to the Green Saharans’ health and diet. Other scientists are trying to derive DNA from the teeth, which could reveal the genetic origins of the Kiffian and Tenerian- and possibly link them to descendants living today. Sereno and Garcea estimate a hundred burials remain to be excavated. But as the harsh Tenere winds continue to erode the dunes, time is running out. “Every archaeological site has a life cycle,” Garcea said. “It begins when people begin to use the place, followed by disuse, then nature takes over, and finally it is gone. Gobero is at the end of its life.

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-3:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet, 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

Q1. Hettwer accidentally found human remains in the desert.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: Mike Hettwer headed off by himself toward a trio of small dunes and stared in amazement. The dunes were spilling over with bones.
Keyword: Mike Hettwer, small dunes, stared, amazement, spilling over, bones.
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 1-3
Explanation: Mike Hettwer came across human remains coincidentally while he was assisiting a team of palaeontologists at Tenere desert in Niger.

Q2. Sereno and Garcea have cooperated in some archaeological activities before.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: Garcea had never heard of Paul Sereno.
Keyword: Garcea, never heard of, Paul Sereno
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 2-3
Explanation: It has been mentioned in the reading passage that Elena Garcea who was an experienced archaeologist never contacted Paul Sereno.

Q3. The pictures of rock engravings found in Green Sahara is similar to other places.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: The passage talks about the physical attributes and possible lifestyle of the people living in Green Sahara. However, no mention of the discovery of rock engravings in this region has been made in the passage.

Questions 4-7:
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND / OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Q4. What did Sereno and Garcea produce in the initial weeks before digging work?

Answer: A Map
Supporting Sentence: Over the next three weeks, Sereno and Garcea made a detailed map of the site.
Keyword: next few weeks, Sereno, Garcea, detailed map, site
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Line 1
Explanation: A comprehensive map of the site was developed by Sereno and Garcea prior to their visit on the excavation site.

Q5. For what purpose did Sereno send one tooth from each of the four skulls to the laboratory?

Answer: Radiocarbon Dating
Supporting Sentence: Sereno carefully removed one tooth from each of four skulls and sent them to a lab for radiocarbon dating.
Keyword: Sereno, removed, one tooth, four skulls, lab, radiocarbon dating
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Line 1-2
Explanation: With the use of radiocarbon dating, Paul Sereno sent several samples of a single tooth collected from each of the four excavated human skulls. This was solemnly for the purpose of labrotary experiments.

Q6. How old are the bigger tightly bundled burials being identified?

Answer: 9000 years
Supporting Sentence: The results pegged the age of the tightly bundled burials at roughly 9,000 years old, the heart of the Kiffian era.
Keyword: results, age, tightly bundled burials, 9000 years, Kiffian era
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Line 3
Explanation: It was effectively concluded as mentioned in the reading passage that human remains that have been collected from four human skull dated back to Kiffian era. The Kiffian Era is believed to exist approximately 9000 years ago.

Q7. What part of the body remains did the scientists send for inspection to find out the genetic origins of the Kiffian and Tenerian?

Answer: Teeth
Supporting Sentence: Sereno carefully removed one tooth from each of four skulls and sent them to a lab for radiocarbon dating.
Keyword: Sereno, removed, one tooth, four skulls, lab, radiocarbon dating
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Line 1-2
Explanation: Tooth samples were collected from each of the four excavated human skulls. These were collected in order to be sent in the labrotary for conducting radiocarbon dating.

Questions 8-14:
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet.

On the basis of bone judgement, Kiffian seemed to be 8. __________________ hardworking people, because we did not find 9. ___________________ on head and forearm. Through observation of the huge leg muscles, it can be inferred that their diet had plenty of 10. __________________ and their lifestyle was 11. __________________. All evidence pointed to compliance with a fishing way of life. On the other hand, Stojanowski presumed that Tenerian preferred to live on herding over 12. __________________, but only some animal bones such as 13. ___________________ were found, which Sereno supposed that Tenerian at Gobero lived in a 14. ___________________ group at that time.

Question 8:

Answer: Peaceful
Supporting Sentence: Judging by the bones, the Kiffian appeared to be a peaceful people.
Keyword: judging, bones, Kiffian, peaceful people
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 2
Explanation: A thorough assessment was conducted and it was concluded that the remains were of individuals from Kiffian Era. Moreover, people in the Kiffian Era were friendly and peaceful in nature.

Question 9:

Answer: Injuries
Supporting Sentence: The lack of head and forearm injuries suggests they weren’t doing much fighting
Keyword: lack, head, forearm, injuries, suggests, fighting
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 3
Explanation: There has been absence of any form of forearm or head injury in within the people of Kiffian Era. Furthermore, after in-depth analysis it was effectively concluded that these people from Kiffian Era were peace-loving and hard-working individuals.

Question 10:

Answer: Protein
Supporting Sentence: This individual had huge leg muscles, which means he was eating a lot of protein
Keyword: leg muscles, eating, protein
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 7
Explanation: Further assessment over the remains of Kiffian People revealed that these poeple had big muscles. These were on their legs which indicated that these individuals incorporated a huge amount of protein in their diet.

Question 11:

Answer: Strenuous
Supporting Sentence: This individual had huge leg muscles, which means he had a strenuous lifestyle
Keyword: leg muscles, strenuous lifestyle
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 7
Explanation: Further assessment over the remains of Kiffian People revealed that these poeple had big muscles. These were on their legs which indicated that these individuals incorporated a huge amount of protein in their diet.

Question 12:

Answer: Hunting
Supporting Sentence: Chris Stojanowski showed the femur of a Tenerian male and said, “This guy had a much less strenuous lifestyle, which you might expect of a herder.”
Keyword: Chris Stojanowski, showed, femur, Tenerian male, less strenuous lifestyle, herder
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 1, 8, 10
Explanation: It can be concluded from the above paragraph that people living in the Kiffian Era had a different body structure. Thus, it was concluded that they were consuming alot of protien on a daily basis. Furthermore, they hunted animals in that particular pattern itself.

Question 13:

Answer: Cow Species
Supporting Sentence: Among the hundreds of animal bones that had turned up at the site, none belonged to goats or sheep, and only three came from a cow species.
Keyword: animal bones, site, none, goats, sheep, three, cow species
Keyword Location: Paragraph I, Line 2
Explanation: The archaeologists criticised the assumption of Stojanowski on grounds that other than three bones belonging to cow species. No other animal bones belonging to cattle species were found within the vicinity of the excavation site.

Question 14:

Answer: Transitional
Supporting Sentence: The Tenerian at Gobero were a transitional group that had not fully adopted herding and still relied heavily on hunting and fishing
Keyword: Tenerian, Gobero, transitional group, adopted, herding, relied, fishing, hunting
Keyword Location: Paragraph I, Line 4
Explanation: The absence of any animal bones belonging to cattle species might be because the Tenerian of Gobero were a mere evolutionary group of people. They had not completely adopted a herding lifestyle and were dependent upon hunting and fishing as a means of obtaining their food.

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