Fossil Ancestors

Level: C1

Why are legends handed down by storytellers useful? We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write. But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas – legends handed down from one generation to another. These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.

But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first ‘modern men’ came from.

Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away. Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.

From Finding Fossil Man by Robin Place

Glossary

ancestor- a member of your family that lived a long time ago

anthropologist- a scientist who studies people and their societies

archaeologist- a scientist who studies ancient societies by examining what remains of their buildings, graves, tools, etc.

decay- to be slowly destroyed by a natural chemical process, or to make something do this

hand something down- to give or leave something to people who will live after you

legend- an old well-known story, often about brave people, adventures, or magical events

migration- when large numbers of people go to live in another area or country

preserve- to save something or someone from being harmed or destroyed; to make something continue without changing

recount- to tell someone a story or describe a series of events

rot away- to decay by a gradual natural process, or to make something do this

saga- a long story about events that happen over many years

shape something- to make something have a particular shape

trace- a small sign that shows that someone or something was present or existed

Collocations

hand down a legend

preserve your history

recount something as a saga

write something down

remote ancestors (of someone)

make tools of stone/flint/etc.

tools of long ago

without trace