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

  1. bodies
  2. advantages
  3. loved
  4. revealed
  5. honor
  6. usual
  7. 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

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
burial grounds 2

Important Words

  1. advantages
  2. afterlife
  3. ancient
  4. belief
  5. benefits
  6. bodies
  7. burial
  8. burials
  9. common
  10. contained
  11. contrast
  12. dead
  13. decay
  14. designed
  15. elements
  16. excluding
  17. graves
  18. honor
  19. intended
  20. loved
  21. objects
  22. practical
  23. practices
  24. protected
  25. reserved
  26. revealed
  27. rites
  28. ritual
  29. scavengers
  30. shielding
  31. shifted
  32. sight
  33. strange
  34. suggesting
  35. thinking
  36. today
  37. tools
  38. transgressors
  39. usual
  40. venerating
  41. ways
  42. years