full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Keith Eggener: The fascinating history of cemeteries
Unscramble the Blue Letters
All of these practices, though some may seem strange today, were ways of venerating the dead. By ctosrnat, the first known burials about 120,000 years ago were likely reserved for transgressors, excluding them from the usaul rites intended to honor the dead. But the first burials rlevaeed some angvaaedts over other practices: they protected bedios from scavengers and the elements, while shielding leovd ones from the sight of decay. These benefits may have shifted ancient people’s thinking toward graves designed to hoonr the dead, and burial became more common. Sometimes, these graves contained practical or ritual objects, suggesting belief in an afterlife where the dead might need such tools.
Open Cloze
All of these practices, though some may seem strange today, were ways of venerating the dead. By ________, the first known burials about 120,000 years ago were likely reserved for transgressors, excluding them from the _____ rites intended to honor the dead. But the first burials ________ some __________ over other practices: they protected ______ from scavengers and the elements, while shielding _____ ones from the sight of decay. These benefits may have shifted ancient people’s thinking toward graves designed to _____ the dead, and burial became more common. Sometimes, these graves contained practical or ritual objects, suggesting belief in an afterlife where the dead might need such tools.
Solution
- bodies
- advantages
- loved
- revealed
- honor
- usual
- contrast
Original Text
All of these practices, though some may seem strange today, were ways of venerating the dead. By contrast, the first known burials about 120,000 years ago were likely reserved for transgressors, excluding them from the usual rites intended to honor the dead. But the first burials revealed some advantages over other practices: they protected bodies from scavengers and the elements, while shielding loved ones from the sight of decay. These benefits may have shifted ancient people’s thinking toward graves designed to honor the dead, and burial became more common. Sometimes, these graves contained practical or ritual objects, suggesting belief in an afterlife where the dead might need such tools.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
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Important Words
- advantages
- afterlife
- ancient
- belief
- benefits
- bodies
- burial
- burials
- common
- contained
- contrast
- dead
- decay
- designed
- elements
- excluding
- graves
- honor
- intended
- loved
- objects
- practical
- practices
- protected
- reserved
- revealed
- rites
- ritual
- scavengers
- shielding
- shifted
- sight
- strange
- suggesting
- thinking
- today
- tools
- transgressors
- usual
- venerating
- ways
- years