VOA · Science & Technology
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed3:162025-02-27public domain
Science & Technology reports explain discoveries and inventions in plain English. Technical terms are always introduced with context, making this program a low-stress way to build the science vocabulary that exam listening loves to test.
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01Danish researchers have announced the discovery of a collection of wooden pieces placed in a circle that are believed to date back thousands of years ago.
02The team says the wood pieces and some other objects were found during building work in the northwestern Danish town of Ars.
03The discovery led the researchers to suggest the people who placed the wooden pieces might have been linked to a group who built Britain's famous Stonehenge stone structure.
04A total of 45 ancient wood pieces were discovered underground last week during building or construction work.
05The pieces formed a circle about 30 meters across.
06In an email to the French news agency AFP, Sidsel Wallen of the town's West Himmerlands Museum described the discovery as a once-in-a-lifetime find.
07The circle points to a strong connection with the British Henge world, she added.
08The British Museum says on its website the first stones placed at Stonehenge in southern England are believed to have started arriving there around 3000 BC.
09The Danish researchers said they were looking to see whether an inner circle might also exist where the wooden pieces were found.
10Wallen noted that in the past, other wood circles had been found on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.
11But Wallen said the circle in Ars was the first one of this larger type that we can properly investigate.
12Archaeologists working at the building site also found an ancient settlement that included a leader's grave and a bronze sword.
13Wallen said her team was still carrying out detailed work in the area in an effort to estimate the age and purpose of the materials.
14In particular, the archaeologists are now searching for religious-connected materials known as ritual deposits.
15These might include flint arrowheads and small knives or daggers.
16Wallen said the researchers will continue looking for links between the Ars site and other groups, such as those who built Stonehenge.
17She added the influence of other groups had already been found in some objects and graves found in Denmark.
18I'm John Russell.
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