Shadowing Practice: Cambridge 19 listening test 1 section 4 - Learn English Speaking with Video

For my presentation today, I’m going to talk about  the Ceide Fields in the northwest of Ireland, one of the largest Neolithic sites in the  world. I recently visited this site and observed the work that is currently being  done by a team of archaeologists there.

The site was first discovered in the 1930s by  a local teacher, Patrick Caulfield. He noticed that when local people were digging in the  bog, they were constantly hitting against what seemed to be (Q31) rows of stones. He realised  that these must be walls and that they must be thousands of years old for them to predate  the bog which subsequently grew over them He wrote to the National Museum in Dublin to  ask them to investigate, but no one took him seriously. It wasn’t until 40 years later,  (Q32) when Patrick Caulfield’s son Seamus, who had become an archaeologist by then, began  to explore further. He inserted iron probes into the bog to map the formation of the stones,  (Q33) a traditional method which local people had always used for finding fuel buried in the  bog for thousands of years. Carbon dating later proved that the site was over 5,000 years old  and was the largest Neolithic site in Ireland.

Thanks to the bog which covers the area, the  remains of the settlement at Ceide Fields, which is over 5,000 years old, are extremely  well-preserved. A bog is 90 percent water; its soil is so saturated that when the grasses  and heathers that grow on its surface die, they don’t fully decay but accumulate in layers.  (Q34) Objects remain so well preserved in these conditions because of the acidity of the peat and  the deficiency of oxygen. At least 175 days of rain a year are required for this to happen; this  part of Ireland gets an average of 225 days.

The Neolithic farmers at Ceide would have  enjoyed several centuries of relative peace and stability. Neolithic farmers generally lived  in larger communities than their predecessors, with a number of houses built around a community  building. As they lived in permanent settlements, Neolithic farmers were able to build bigger  (Q35) houses. These weren’t round as people often assume, but rectangular with a small hole  in the roof that allowed smoke to escape. This is one of many innovations and indicates that the  Neolithic farmers were the first people to cook indoors. Another new technology that Neolithic  settlers brought to Ireland was pottery. Fragments of Neolithic pots have been found in Ceide and  elsewhere in Ireland. The pots were used for many things; as well as for storing food, pots were  filled with a small amount of fat and when this was set alight, (Q36) they served as lamps. It’s thought that the Ceide Fields were mainly used as paddocks for animals to graze in.  Evidence from the Ceide Fields suggests that (Q37) each plot of land was of a suitable  size to sustain an extended family. They may have used a system of rotational grazing in  order to prevent over-grazing and to allow for plant recovery and regrowth. This must  have been a year-round activity as (Q38) no structures have been found which would have  been used to shelter animals in the winter.

However, archaeologists believe that this way  of life at Ceide ceased abruptly. Why was this?

Well, several factors may have contributed  to the changing circumstances. (Q39) The soil would have become less productive and  led to the abandonment of farming. The crop rotation system was partly responsible for  this as it would have been very intensive and was not sustainable. But there were also  climatic pressures too. The farmers at Ceide would have enjoyed a relatively dry period, but  this began to change and the conditions became wetter as (Q40) there was a lot more rain. It was  these conditions that encouraged the bog to form over the area which survives today. So now I’d like to show you some .