Toefl BMT Reading

  [1] Fossils give us a lot of evidence about the behaviour of  extinct  animals, reproduction and parental care. To discover dinosaur fossils, it’s important to find rocks of the right age. For example, in ancient rock exposures, we find only fossils of plants or marine organisms. In younger rocks, we find fossils of mammals, such as whales and horses. Palaeontologists can provide information on the exact age of rocks (225 to 65.6 million years old) that contain dinosaur fossils.   [2] Important clues of dinosaur behaviour include fossilized eggs and nests. There is evidence that dinosaurs took care of their babies after hatching from the discovery of skeletons of the theropod dinosaur Citipati. These skeletons were found in brooding positions which suggests that these dinosaurs were protecting their eggs. Bones of older babies in nests of the duckbill dinosaur Maiasaura were also discovered, along with a fossil of an adult Psittacosaurus  preserved  wi...

  [1] About 542 million years ago, a large diversity of animal phyla appeared. This  spurt  of evolution is called The Cambrian Explosion and is backed up by further fossil evidence. Over the course of the first 10 million years, marine animals developed the basic body forms now seen in modern groups. The record includes fossils of crustaceans, molluscs, sponges, algae, and starfish. However, animal fossils from the Precambrian era have been found, indicating that many animal phyla actually developed prior to the Cambrian explosion. In fact, plant fossils have been found dating back to 1400 million years ago in Montana, USA, and China. These fossils represent organisms that do not resemble any modern organism yet prove that animal life did exist. [2] The Cambrian Explosion lasted for about 20 to 25 million years, resulting in the divergence of most modern metazoan phyla. Prior to the Cambrian Explosion, many animals were unicellular organisms. Over the course of the e...

  [1] Metal detectors are used to find metal. Sometimes, a metal detectorist might find something  valuable , such as a historical relic or artefact. A metal detector might discover something of great importance. For example, in 2000, two sets of Iron Age jewellery was discovered by Kevan Hall's. His discovery was followed by an excavation. In 2001, Cliff Bradshaw in Kent discovered the Ringlemere Cup, a Bronze Age artefact. His find led to an exaction funded by English Heritage. [2] However, due to a recent survey on metal detecting in Britain, only a small percentage of discoveries are actually being reported to museums. Additionally, many protected, archaeological sites were raided and damaged by metal detectorists. In the 1980s, bronze artefacts were stolen from a Suffolk site and in the 1990s, a Surrey site was plundered. The result of such activity is that essential information about these sites is lost. Archaeology depends on understanding the location of an artefac...