Part3

Read the text and answer the questions below.

Ancient Rome

A

From ancient times to the present, historians have asked the question: How and why did an ordinary little town in central Italy grow so much bigger than any other in the ancient Mediterranean and come to control such a huge empire? During the first century BCE, Roman writers themselves began systematically to study the earlier centuries of their city and their empire. Yet these historians had little more direct evidence of the earliest phases of Rome’s history than modern writers have, and in some ways perhaps not as much, as there were no surviving documents or archives. Their ‘histories’ about the foundation of ancient Rome tell us a good deal about how the Romans saw their city, their values, and their failings. However, they tell us very little indeed about what they claim to inform us about: that is, what earliest Rome was actually like. One fact is obvious. Rome was already a very old city by 63 BCE, the birth date of its first emperor. But how exactly are we to access reliable information about the origins of Rome?

B

One way of doing this is by turning away from the histories of Roman writers and seeking out clues in the Latin language, or in later Roman institutions that might point back to features of earliest Rome. Much more tangible, however, is the evidence of archaeology. Dig down deep in the city of Rome, below the visible ancient monuments, and a few traces of a much earlier settlement or settlements remain. Beneath the Forum itself (an ancient marketplace at the centre of the city) lie the remains of an early cemetery, which caused tremendous excitement when they were first unearthed at the start of the 20th century. Cemeteries imply the existence of a community, and traces of that are presumably to be found in the groups of huts whose faint outlines have been detected under various parts of the later city, including on the Palatine (the centremost of the seven hills on which Rome is built). We have little idea of the nature of these huts beyond their construction in wood, clay, and thatch, and still less of the lifestyle they supported. But we can fill in some of the gaps if we look just outside Rome. One of the best preserved and most carefully excavated of these early structures was found at Fidenae, a few miles north of the city, in the 1980s. It is a rectangular building, some six by five metres, made of wood and rammed earth – a construction method still utilised up to the present day – with a simple porch around it, formed by the overhanging roof. Inside was a central hearth, some large pottery storage jars, and traces of predictable foodstuffs and domestic animals.

C

There are vivid glimpses of human and other life here; the question is, what do those glimpses add up to? The archaeological remains certainly demonstrate that there is a long and rich prehistory behind the ancient Rome we can still see, but quite how long that prehistory is is another matter.

D

Part of the problem is the conditions of excavation in the city itself. The site of Rome has been so intensively built on for centuries that we find these traces of early occupation only in spots that happen not to have been disturbed. The foundations dug in the first and second centuries CE for the vast marble temples of the forum obliterated much of what then lay beneath the surface; the cellars of grand Renaissance houses cut through even more ancient remains in other parts of the city. So we have tiny snapshots, never the big picture. This is archaeology at its most difficult, and – although new fragments of evidence emerge all the time – its interpretation, and reinterpretation is almost always contested and often controversial. For example, there is an ongoing debate about whether the small pieces of wattle and daub found in excavations in the Forum in the mid-20th century indicate that there was an early hut settlement there too, or whether they were inadvertently introduced as part of the rubble used a few centuries later to provide a new raised surface for the area. It has to be said that this place, though fine for a cemetery, would have been rather damp and marshy for a village.

E

Precise dating is even more contentious. It cannot be stressed enough that there is no certain independent date for any of the archaeological material from earliest Rome or the area around, and that arguments still rage about the age of almost every major find. It has taken decades of work over the past century or so – using such diagnostics as the existence of wheel-made pottery (assumed to be later than handmade), the occasional presence on graves of Greek ceramics (whose dating is better, but still not perfectly understood) and careful comparison from site to site – to produce a rough chronological scheme covering the period from around 1000 to 600 BCE.

F

On that basis, the earliest burials in Rome would have been around 1000 BCE, and the earliest known settlements around 750-700 BCE. But even these dates are far from certain. Recent scientific methods – including radiocarbon dating, which calculates the age of any organic material – have suggested that they are all too ‘young’, by as much as a hundred years. The building at Fidenae, for example, was dated around the middle of the eighth century BCE according to traditional archaeological criteria, but that is pushed back to around the end of the ninth century BCE if we follow radiocarbon analysis. If anything, Rome appears to be getting older.

Questions 27-32

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet, write YES NO NOT GIVEN

27 Historians have expressed little curiosity about the rise of the Roman Empire.

28 Accounts from the first century BCE of Rome’s origins may be less reliable than 21st-century accounts.

29 Most Roman historians viewed their ancient capital in an unrealistically positive light.

30 The accounts by early Roman historians about the founding of Rome provide a full description of life at that time.

31 It is certain that the city of Rome was in existence long before 63 BCE.

32 Some people oppose archaeological excavations in Rome because they can damage the ancient monuments.

Questions 33-36

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33 According to the writer, why were the archaeological remains found at Fidenae important? A They shed some light on the way of life of ancient Romans. B They were the first evidence of an ancient Roman settlement in the area. C They overturned common assumptions about the diet of ancient Romans. D They showed how sophisticated domestic Roman architecture could be.

34 What did Rome’s marble temples and Renaissance houses have in common? A They were the most enduring buildings of their respective eras. B They were evidence of Rome’s enormous wealth. C They were built on previously unoccupied sites. D Their construction destroyed evidence of earlier buildings.

35 What does the writer say in the fifth paragraph about the dating of excavated remains? A Only the age of a proportion of remains can be agreed upon. B Only an approximate sequence of eras can be established. C Serious attempts at dating began only a few decades ago. D More thorough investigations will result in reliable dates.

36 In the final paragraph, the writer makes the point that A traditional archaeological methods of dating have been discredited. B many archaeologists are reluctant to abandon traditional methods of dating. C radiocarbon dating is more accurate than archaeological methods. D the findings of traditional archaeology and radiocarbon dating differ.

Questions 37-40

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.

The Latin language can be ____________ 37 The Roman Forum was ____________ 38 The recently discovered building at Fidenae was ____________ 39 Ancient Greek pottery is sometimes ____________ 40

A composed of organic materials which are in use in the 21st century.

B referred to in popular legends about the origins of Rome.

C constructed on the site of an earlier burial ground.

D used to determine the relative dates of various Roman artefacts.

E chosen as the area for the greatest number of archaeological excavations.

F expected to shed some light on what Rome was originally like.