4 . It's easy to imagine the Sahara as a lifeless and timeless place, where the merciless forces of nature rule over any sense of human history. However, that’s far from the truth. Some corners of the Western Sahara, found along the northwestern coast of Africa, are littered with hundreds of ancient stone monuments from centuries worth of human culture, some of which date back to over 10,000 years ago.
Between 2002 and 2009, the Western Sahara Project, led by the University of East Anglia in the UK, documented the archaeology(考古学) and environment of northwestern Sahara around the town of Tifariti. The monuments come in a variety of forms and were constructed by a number of different cultures across the centuries. Many appear to be little more than long rows of piled rocks, while others are purposefully placed large stones standing proudly in a circular pattern. Others are 5-meter-high (16 feet) dry stone wall constructions that could have only been built by human hands.
It’s unclear what most of the monuments are meant to represent, although most are assumed to be burial mounds(墓冢), used as part of a funerary ceremony, or sign at the presence of a grave. This desire to construct burial mounds is something that can be found in countless cultures across the planet, from the Scythians of ancient Siberia to the sea-faring Vikings of northern Europe, and it looks like the ancient people of Western Sahara were not different.
For one reason or another, this natural basin area managed to remain a place of human activity over the millennia, especially when times became tough in the surrounding areas. "One of our theories is that as the Sahara dried between five and six thousand years ago—this is one of the refugia(避难所), an area where water remained," Joanne Clarke, prehistoric archaeologist at the University of East Anglia, told Atlas Obscura.
1. How were the monuments constructed?
| A．They are in different shapes. |
| B．They are piled up on one another. |
| C．They took about 500 years to complete. |
| D．Most of them are parallel to each other. |
2. What will the researchers probably focus on about the monuments in future?
| A．The way to build burial mounds. |
| B．The symbols of different monuments. |
| C．The original appearances of the monuments. |
| D．Their difference between the Sahara and other regions. |
3. What does Joanne Clarke think of the Sahara in history?
| A．It was the mere source of water in that area. |
| B．It used to be a shelter from sufferings for people. |
| C．People used to hold various activities in its honor. |
| D．It shouldn’t have dried five and six thousand years ago. |
4. What can be the best title of the text?
| A．The Sahara used to be a heaven for every culture. |
| B．The Sahara is really a lifeless and timeless place. |
| C．The burial bounds represent different cultures in the Sahara. |
| D．The Western Sahara is covered with mysterious ancient stone monuments. |
