Stonehenge — IELTS Reading Answers

“which may have been fashioned out of deer antlers”

The note needs the material of the earliest Stonehenge artefacts; 'fashioned out of deer antlers' supplies the plural noun 'antlers'.

“Deep pits dating back to that era and located within the circle may have once held a ring of timber posts, according to some scholars.”

The gap needs what the deep pits once held; 'a ring of timber posts' gives the plural noun 'posts'.

“According to one long-standing theory among archaeologists, Stonehenge’s builders fashioned sledges and rollers out of tree trunks to lug the bluestones from the Preseli Hills.”

The note needs what sledges and rollers were made from; 'fashioned sledges and rollers out of tree trunks' answers it.

“More recent archaeological hypotheses have them transporting the bluestones with supersized wicker baskets on a combination of ball bearings and long grooved planks, hauled by oxen.”

The gap needs the animals hauling the basket-and-plank method; the text names them as 'hauled by oxen'.

“Challenging the classic image of industrious builders pushing, carting, rolling or hauling giant stones from faraway Wales, some scientists have suggested that it was glaciers, not humans, that carried the bluestones to Salisbury Plain.”

The gap needs the alternative carrier of the bluestones; the text says 'it was glaciers, not humans, that carried the bluestones'.

“In the 17th century, archaeologist John Aubrey made the claim that Stonehenge was the work of druids,”

The note needs who John Aubrey credited with building Stonehenge; he claimed it 'was the work of druids'.

“While there is consensus among the majority of modern scholars that Stonehenge once served the function of burial ground, they have yet to determine what other purposes it had.”

The gap needs the agreed function of the site; 'Stonehenge once served the function of burial ground' gives 'burial'.

“the astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the cluster of megalithic stones operated as a form of calendar”

The gap needs what Gerald Hawkins said the stones operated as; 'operated as a form of calendar' answers it.

During the third phase of construction, sandstone slabs were placed in both the outer areas and the middle of the Stonehenge site.

“The third phase of construction took place around 2000 BCE. At this point, sandstone slabs – known as ‘sarsens’ – were arranged into an outer crescent or ring; some were assembled into the iconic three-pieced structures called trilithons that stand tall in the centre of Stonehenge.”

The third phase placed sarsens in 'an outer crescent or ring' and in trilithons 'in the centre', so slabs stood in both outer and middle areas, TRUE.

There is scientific proof that the bluestones stood in the same spot until approximately 1600 BCE.

“Radiocarbon dating has revealed that work continued at Stonehenge until roughly 1600 BCE, with the bluestones in particular being repositioned multiple times.”

The statement claims the bluestones stayed in place, but the text says they were 'repositioned multiple times' until roughly 1600 BCE, contradicting it.

John Aubrey’s claim about Stonehenge was supported by 20th-century findings.

“However, in the mid-20th century, radiocarbon dating demonstrated that Stonehenge stood more than 1,000 years before the Celts inhabited the region.”

Aubrey tied Stonehenge to the druids, but radiocarbon dating showed it 'stood more than 1,000 years before the Celts inhabited the region', refuting his claim.

Objects discovered at Stonehenge seem to indicate that it was constructed by a number of different groups of people.

“Many modern historians and archaeologists now agree that several distinct tribes of people contributed to Stonehenge, each undertaking a different phase of its construction. Bones, tools and other artefacts found on the site seem to support this hypothesis.”

The text says 'several distinct tribes' each undertook a different phase, and 'bones, tools and other artefacts found on the site seem to support this hypothesis'.

Criticism of Gerald Hawkins’ theory about Stonehenge has come mainly from other astronomers.

“While his theory has received a considerable amount of attention over the decades, critics maintain that Stonehenge’s builders probably lacked the knowledge necessary to predict such events or that England’s dense cloud cover would have obscured their view of the skies.”

Critics of Hawkins' calendar theory are quoted, but the passage never says whether those critics are mainly astronomers rather than another group.