Format for answering the questions [May 22, 2012, 8:22 p.m.]
Each task will require you to read a passage. You will then be given a question to answer.
Your answer should start with an introduction sentence.
You should then write 3 further sentences to reinforce your answer.
Finally you should finish with a concluding sentence.
So let us try this first task together.
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The aim of this task is to decide if history has been rewritten with the use of forged artifacts.
Read the following extract:
"From the 1700s onwards, it has been considered Etruscan. But with new studies and the carbon tests, the dating has changed." Experts said the wolf was made from a single cast, using a technique which was not known to the Etruscans or Romans, who would have had to forge separate pieces and then solder them together. The museum reluctantly announced that it would amend an information plaque to reflect the renewed doubts over the wolf's age and provenance. "Besides the current dating, which claims that the statue was created in the fifth century BC, we'll include the theory that it may have been made during the medieval era," said a statement from Rome's archaeology and heritage department. Umberto Broccoli, a senior heritage official, said some scholars still believed the wolf was of Etruscan origin. ... Full article can be found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8907425/Romulus-and-Remus-symbol-of-Rome-could-be-medieval-replica.html
------------------------------------ Okay here is my answer: Artifacts are often used to corroborate the historical record; but do we need to revise what we have be taught about the past? A bronze statue of a she-wolf suggests that the Etruscan empire did indeed exist; because surely they created it. It now transpires that the bronze was a medieval hoax. We know this through carbon dating and because the bronze was cast as 'one piece'. I can only conclude that all other artifacts may well have been forged; and that the whole Etruscan civilisation might be a complete fabrication. -------------------------- You should keep a journal with your own answer to the task. You should also discuss your answer with other learners in the comment section. Collaboration is an important part of the learning process and be mindful that there is no right or wrong answer!
"From the 1700s onwards, it has been considered Etruscan. But with new studies and the carbon tests, the dating has changed." Experts said the wolf was made from a single cast, using a technique which was not known to the Etruscans or Romans, who would have had to forge separate pieces and then solder them together. The museum reluctantly announced that it would amend an information plaque to reflect the renewed doubts over the wolf's age and provenance. "Besides the current dating, which claims that the statue was created in the fifth century BC, we'll include the theory that it may have been made during the medieval era," said a statement from Rome's archaeology and heritage department. Umberto Broccoli, a senior heritage official, said some scholars still believed the wolf was of Etruscan origin. ... Full article can be found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8907425/Romulus-and-Remus-symbol-of-Rome-could-be-medieval-replica.html
------------------------------------ Okay here is my answer: Artifacts are often used to corroborate the historical record; but do we need to revise what we have be taught about the past? A bronze statue of a she-wolf suggests that the Etruscan empire did indeed exist; because surely they created it. It now transpires that the bronze was a medieval hoax. We know this through carbon dating and because the bronze was cast as 'one piece'. I can only conclude that all other artifacts may well have been forged; and that the whole Etruscan civilisation might be a complete fabrication. -------------------------- You should keep a journal with your own answer to the task. You should also discuss your answer with other learners in the comment section. Collaboration is an important part of the learning process and be mindful that there is no right or wrong answer!