Reading: True / False / Not Given: Question 4

In 2003, engineers surveying land for a proposed reservoir in a low-lying river valley uncovered a series of timber posts protruding from thick layers of waterlogged peat. Subsequent excavation revealed the remains of a settlement, since named Mossgill Fen, that had been built on a raised wooden platform above what was once a shallow lake, and radiocarbon dating of the timber placed its construction at approximately 2900 BCE, making it one of the oldest lake-side settlements identified in the region. Because the site had been continuously waterlogged for almost five thousand years, oxygen was largely excluded from the sediment, and this anaerobic environment preserved organic materials (wood, textile fibres, and even food remains) that would ordinarily have decomposed within a few centuries in drier soil.

Among the most significant finds at Mossgill Fen was a wooden causeway roughly four hundred metres long, constructed from split oak planks laid across a foundation of driven posts, which appears to have connected the settlement to firmer ground on the valley's northern edge. Excavators also recovered several woven baskets still containing carbonised grain, indicating that the inhabitants cultivated cereal crops on nearby dry land despite living on a platform surrounded by water. Analysis of animal bones recovered from refuse deposits beneath the platform showed a diet supplemented substantially by fish and waterfowl, a detail that distinguishes Mossgill Fen from contemporary inland settlements in the same period, which relied almost exclusively on livestock and cultivated grain.

The site's excavators have proposed that the settlement was abandoned rather than destroyed, since no evidence of fire damage or violent conflict has been found among the structural remains, and valuable items such as tools and ornaments were left behind in a manner more consistent with a planned departure than a hurried flight. A leading theory holds that a gradual rise in the surrounding lake's water level, evidenced by successive layers of platform repair and heightening found in the excavation, eventually made continued habitation impractical, though the excavation team has not yet been able to establish precisely how long the settlement's abandonment took to complete.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.

1. Mossgill Fen was discovered during a survey carried out for a proposed reservoir.
2. Radiocarbon dating placed the construction of the settlement at approximately 2900 BCE.
3. The waterlogged conditions at the site caused organic remains to decompose faster than they would have in typical dry soil.
4. The inhabitants of Mossgill Fen grew no cereal crops and depended entirely on fish for food.
5. The number of people who lived at Mossgill Fen at its peak has been precisely calculated by archaeologists.
6. The causeway discovered at the site was built from split oak planks laid over driven posts.
7. Dyes used to colour the textile fibres found at the site have been chemically identified.
8. Excavators found clear evidence that the settlement was destroyed by fire or violent conflict.