Englisch BHS, Maturatraining mit Audio-CD

16 Reading The discovery of Homo naledi Read the text about the discovery of skeleton remains in a cave in South Africa, then choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for questions 1–7. Put a cross ( ) in the correct box. The first one (0) has been done for you. 04 e discovery of Homo naledi In 2015, bones were found in a South African cave that may turn out to be a new species of an ancient human relative called Homo naledi . ey were excavated by six scientists with a hard-to- –nd combination of skills. e advertisement on Facebook called for ‘tiny and small specialised cavers and spelunkers with excellent archaeological, palaeontological and excavation skills’. And there was a catch: they would work for no pay. “Why wouldn’t you apply, with an advertise- ment like that?” recalled successful applicant Elen Feuerriegel, speaking at the Cradle of Human- kind world heritage site in South Africa a er scientists claimed the discovery of a new human ancestor. “How could you not? It was the thrill of discovery.” ere were 57 applicants for the excavation: the six chosen were all women. “I suspect that physiology probably played a part,” Feuerriegel said. “I know for a fact that we were all of a size appropriate for getting into this cave, and we also had the caving experience.” e all-female team – Hannah Morris, Marina Elliot, Becca Peixotto, Alia Gurtov, Lindsay Eaves and Feuerriegel – were drawn from Australia, Canada and the US. Feuerriegl – 1.60m, 52kg and ‘pretty skinny’ – said: “It was really unusual, in terms of teamwork, how well we got on, because you really expect there are going to be small clashes of personality at least, but we got on really great. I think that a lot of it had to do with a shared goal and that we were sort of in the public eye, as National Geographic was funding the expedition. ere was quite a bit of media attention, and I think that helped foster camaraderie among us – the shared distaste of being in the limelight all the time.” e 21-day excavation meant crawling for 20 minutes through a narrow underground tunnel, illuminated only by head torches to –nd the chamber containing the remains. Feuerriegel, who is studying for a PhD in human evolutionary biomechanics at the Australian National University, re£ected: “To get in, there was a 12-metre vertical sha that you had to drop into. We were moving within 200 metres of an under- ground cave system with very tight and very nar- row squeezes, including points where it got down to about 18 centimetres in breadth. You could feel the press of the rock on either side, but aside from that it was actually all right getting in with a little bit of wriggling.” “It’s a bit crowded, there’s not much room, so we did have to coordinate these yoga poses, the three of us who were down there at any given time, to work around each other. We o en had to exchange positions because someone’s legs would get tired and go numb and then we’d have to go and try to move delicately over to the next little rocky outcrop without crushing any of the remains.” e women were supposed to work in shi s of three hours but o en spent twice as long. “Some days you couldn’t get us out, really, with a crow- bar. It was absolutely one of the most exciting experiences of my life. I don’t really have words to describe how thrilling it is to have been involved in it.” e expedition leader, Lee Berger, who was too big to squeeze into the cave complex for a look, described the –nds as “the largest assemblage of fossil human relatives ever discovered in the history of the continent of Africa.” Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv