TOEFL® Vocabulary Flashcard

Archaeology is the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures.Therefore, an archaeologist is someone who studies prehistoric people and their cultures.

Archaeology is the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures.Therefore, an archaeologist is someone who studies prehistoric people and their cultures.

A burial site is a tract of land used for burials. In other words, it is anywhere that has dead bodies. A cemetery is a common burial site. In certain cultures, there may be a burial site for each family outside of the family home.

Definition: Made of clay and permanently hardened by heat

Example sentences:

• Remove from heat, pour into a ceramic bowl, add fifteen drops each of the lavender and sandalwood essential oil and beat until cool and creamy.

Definition: (Of a record of events) following the order in which they occurred

Example sentences:

• The events are presented in chronological order of occurrence.

Definition: Scattered pieces of rubbish or remains

Example sentences:

• Workmen were clearing the roads of the debris from shattered buildings.

When something such as a dead body, a dead plant, or a tooth decays, it is gradually destroyed by a natural process. An example in a sentence:

• Radioactive atoms decay into stable atoms by a simple mathematical process. Half of the available atoms will change in a given period of time, known as the half-life.

Decay is also a noun, meaning a process of being destroyed by a natural process. An example in a sentence:

• The new method of mummification began around 2600 BC when the Egyptians began to remove the internal organs to prevent fast decay.

If you decipher a piece of writing or a message, you work out what it says, even though it is very difficult to read or understand.  Here are example sentences:

• The inscription on the stone could help decipher the hieroglyphs.
• I'm still no closer to deciphering the code.

A dwelling is housing, or the place where someone lives. Here is an example sentence:

• Mesolithic Britain was thought to have been inhabited by hunter-gatherers, however, the recent excavation of a dwelling in Northumbria reveals our Stone Age ancestors to have been ingenious and elaborate house builders.​

To engrave is to cut or carve lines, letters, designs, etc., onto or into a hard surface. For example

• They will engrave your initials on the ring for free.
• She had the ring engraved with her initials.
• The image was engraved on the plaque.

— often used figuratively

• That incident was engraved in my memory. = That incident engraved itself on my memory. [=I will never forget that incident]

When archaeologists or other people excavate a piece of land, they remove earth carefully from it and look for things such as pots, bones, or buildings which are buried there, in order to discover information about the past. Here are example sentences:

• A group of archaeologists excavated an ancient city.
• In 1870, an archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site in northwestern Turkey.

Excavation is the act or process of digging, especially when you are digging to remove something from the ground. Archaeologists often excavate different artifacts. It can also be the hole in the ground made by the digging. Here are example sentences:

• The townspeople were bothered by the excavation site the archaeologists had set up.
• Mesolithic Britain was thought to have been inhabited by hunter-gatherers, however, the recent excavation of a dwelling in Northumbria reveals our Stone Age ancestors to have been ingenious and elaborate house builders.​

A fossil is the hard remains of a prehistoric animal or plant that are found inside a rock. The synonym is fossilized remains or remains.

Definition: The process of remains becoming fossils

Example sentences:

• Fossilization usually occurs in organisms with hard, bony body parts, such as skeletons, teeth, or shells. Soft-bodied organisms, such as worms, are rarely fossilized.

Definition: Preserved to become a fossil:

Example sentences:

• Even more remarkable than the evidence of prehistoric man was the discovery of thousands of fossilised animal bones.

Hieroglyphic is a writing system using symbols or pictures. Ancient Egyptians had a hieroglyphic system, rather than an alphabet. An example  in a sentence:

• We discovered the tribe had a hieroglyphic system which was very difficult to translate.

"Inscribe" can have several meanings, but in most cases, it means to write something in a permanent or formal way. Inscribe can mean to carve, cut or etch into a material or surface, such as:

• The rock was inscribed with tribal markings.

It can also mean to mark with one’s signature:

• The doctor inscribed on the prescription for the patient.

Engrave and inscribe are synonyms, though you normally engrave into metal or stone.

The noun "inscription" means writing or short message. An example in a sentence:

• The inscription on the museum door was thought-provoking.

A mammoth is an extinct animal that is the size of an elephant, but it is also used to describe things that are really big.

Example sentences in the noun form:

• The little business she started by herself has now become a mammoth (meaning giant) in the industry.

We can also use mammoth to emphasize that a task or change is very large and needs a lot of effort to achieve.​ For example

• Renovating the house is a mammoth undertaking.
• This mammoth undertaking was completed in 18 months.
• Relocating the library is a mammoth task.

A millenium is a span of 1000 years. More than one millenium, or plural milleniums is “millenia.”

A monument is a structure or statue erected to honor a great person or a great event. Normally, when you visit the capital city of a country, you can see many monuments. Washington D.C. is a perfect example of this. It can also be an important site that is marked for public property. An example in a sentence:

• I was very impressed with the monuments outside of Buckingham Palace.

A mound is a collection of things put on top of one another. It can be anything- man-made, like dirt, or artificial, like clothing. In historic times, the word mounds can also be used for a burial site.

Pottery is ceramic ware made from clay and baked in a kiln. You can mold pottery wit you hands, or use a machine to create bowls, vases, plates, etc.

Present-day things, situations, and people exist at the time in history we are now in.

Something that is radioactive contains a substance that produces energy in the form of powerful and harmful rays. Here are example sentences:

• The government has been storing radioactive waste at Fernald for 50 years.
• The nucleus of a radioactive atom disintegrates spontaneously and forms an atom of a different element while emitting radiation in the process.

Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon (14. C), a radioactive isotope of carbon.

The ruins of something are the parts of it that remain after it has been severely damaged or weakened.

A scholar is an intelligent person who has studied from a young age to gain mastery in a certain discipline. You can think of historians as scholars, as professors.

A tablet has several meanings. First, it can be a small flat cake compressed of something. For example, a tablet of soap. It can also be a dose of medicine in a pill form. The last meaning for tablet that we will talk about is how it is used in the listening passage, a slab of stone or wood suitable for bearing an inscription. Imagine just a small piece of wood that was cut from a tree, and engraved with a simple direction. This is an example of a tablet.

To unearth something is to recover it by digging. Anything that is found my digging is unearthed, it could be a spoon or a body.  An example in a sentence:

• The children were frightened when a skeleton was unearthed in our neighborhood.