The secret history of StonehengeBy James Owens Stonehenge, located in southern England, ranks among the world’s most iconicarchaeological sites and one of its greatest enigmas. The megalithic stone circle on SalisburyPlain inspires awe and fascination — but also intense debate some 4,600 years after it was builtby ancient Britons who left no written record. The monument’s mysterious past has spawned countless tales and theories. According tofolklore, Stonehenge was created ___ Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, who magicallytransported the massive stones ___ Ireland, where giants had assembled them. Another legend says invading Danes put the stones up, and another theory says they werethe ruins of a Roman temple. Modern-day interpretations are no less colorful. Some argue thatStonehenge is a spacecraft landing area for aliens, and even more say it’s a giant fertility symbolin the shape of female genitalia. Archaeological investigation of the site dates back to the 1660s, when it was first surveyedby antiquarian John Aubrey. He wrongly credited Stonehenge to the much later Celts, believingit to be a religious center presided over by Druid priests. Centuries of fieldwork since show the Neolithic monument, now a UNESCO World Heritagesite, was more than a millennium in the making. It started out 5,000 years ago as a circularearthen bank and ditch, in a larger area of burial mounds. Modern debate over the monument’s meaning has two main camps: those who see it as aholy site, and others who believe it represents a scientific observatory. Both camps base their theories on the site’s celestial influence. They point to alignments tothe sun and moon as evidence of rituals linked to the changing seasons andthe summer and winter solstices. A radical theory asserts that Stonehenge served as a “prehistoric Lourdes” where peoplecame to be healed. This idea revolves around the smaller bluestones, which, researchers argue,must have been credited with magical powers for them to have been floated, dragged, and hauled145 miles from west Wales. Competing to solve the enduring prehistoric puzzle is University College London’s MikeParker Pearson, co-leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, “Stonehenge isn’t a monumentin isolation,” he says. “It is actually one of a pair — one in stone, one in timber. The theory isthat Stonehenge is a kind of spirit home to the ancestors.”(Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/stonehenge-1 – text specially adapted for this test). Which word is closest in meaning to “burial” in the sentence “in a larger area of burial mounds” (l. 17)?

Which word is closest in meaning to “burial” in the...

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Língua Inglesa Língua Inglesa - Compreensão e Interpretação de Texto

Ano: 2025

Banca: Fundação Universidade Empresa de Tecnologia e Ciências - FUNDATEC

Prova: FUNDATEC - Prefeitura - Professor - Área: Inglês - 2025

The secret history of Stonehenge

By James Owens

Stonehenge, located in southern England, ranks among the world’s most iconic
archaeological sites and one of its greatest enigmas. The megalithic stone circle on Salisbury
Plain inspires awe and fascination — but also intense debate some 4,600 years after it was built
by ancient Britons who left no written record.
The monument’s mysterious past has spawned countless tales and theories. According to
folklore, Stonehenge was created ___ Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, who magically
transported the massive stones ___ Ireland, where giants had assembled them.
Another legend says invading Danes put the stones up, and another theory says they were
the ruins of a Roman temple. Modern-day interpretations are no less colorful. Some argue that
Stonehenge is a spacecraft landing area for aliens, and even more say it’s a giant fertility symbol
in the shape of female genitalia.
Archaeological investigation of the site dates back to the 1660s, when it was first surveyed
by antiquarian John Aubrey. He wrongly credited Stonehenge to the much later Celts, believing
it to be a religious center presided over by Druid priests.
Centuries of fieldwork since show the Neolithic monument, now a UNESCO World Heritage
site, was more than a millennium in the making. It started out 5,000 years ago as a circular
earthen bank and ditch, in a larger area of burial mounds.
Modern debate over the monument’s meaning has two main camps: those who see it as a
holy site, and others who believe it represents a scientific observatory.
Both camps base their theories on the site’s celestial influence. They point to alignments to
the sun and moon as evidence of rituals linked to the changing seasons and
the summer and winter solstices.
A radical theory asserts that Stonehenge served as a “prehistoric Lourdes” where people
came to be healed. This idea revolves around the smaller bluestones, which, researchers argue,
must have been credited with magical powers for them to have been floated, dragged, and hauled
145 miles from west Wales.
Competing to solve the enduring prehistoric puzzle is University College London’s Mike
Parker Pearson, co-leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, “Stonehenge isn’t a monument
in isolation,” he says. “It is actually one of a pair — one in stone, one in timber. The theory is
that Stonehenge is a kind of spirit home to the ancestors.”

(Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/stonehenge-1 – text specially adapted for this test).

Which word is closest in meaning to “burial” in the sentence “in a larger area of burial mounds” (l. 17)?

Exhumation.

Interment.

Disinterment.

Disinterred.

Identified.

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