4.2 Надання відповідей на запитання

Violent wind and rainstorms swept across southern England yesterday causing severe disruption to road and passenger transport. The end of the pier at Bognor Regis was washed away, homes were flooded and holidaymakers had to move to more sheltered accommodation.

Severe gale warnings were in place on the coast last night after force 8 south-westerly winds were forecast for the rest of the weekend, an Environment Agency spokesman said. A Sussex police spokesman said about 60 feet of Bognor Pier had been washed away, causing more than one million pounds’ worth of damage, but no-one has been reported injured.

Similar storms were recorded in this area in the winter of 1934, and in November 1965 22 people were drowned in a storm of similar intensity in Bognor, which lasted for two days.

Today we use the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ to describe the part of history between 450 AD and 1066, when the Battle of Hastings established the Norman Kings in England. This is the period generally referred to as the Dark Ages in British history.

Although the early part of Anglo-Saxon history would have been unsettled and only partly civilised, people still lived productive lives. Though urban centres tended to fall into decay in the fifth century, trade still continued with Europe. Mediterranean pottery was imported and grave goods found with cremation and urn burials from the time include imported bronze, glass and ivory. Pottery sherds and flint adze heads show that although new technologies were being introduced, older tools from the Bronze Age were still in use, particularly in more remote areas of Britain.

Glossary:

Adze blade A type of stone tool designed for woodworking by our very ancient ancestors. An adze blade differs from an axe in that it is mounted on a shaft at a 90-degree angle. It was probably used for stripping bark from timbers. This helped to produce a smoother surface for sinking piles or posts and helped to preserve the wood by removing wood-worms, moulds and fungi.

Ages The terms ‘Bronze Age’, ‘Iron Age’ and so on are used by archaeologists as easy and quick ways for talking about the time periods of the past. In fact, the changes from one period to the next would have been far more gradual than it seems. After all, our prehistoric ancestors didn’t stop using stone tools on 31 December 2301 BC and switch to bronze tools overnight!

Anglo-Saxons ‘Anglo-Saxon’ is used as a general way to refer to the peoples who invaded and settled in England in large numbers during the fifth and sixth centuries AD. As well as the Angles (who came from the southern part of the Danish peninsula and eventually gave their name to England) and the Saxons (who came from the north German plain to the west), there were also Jutes from Jutland as well.

Dark Ages A way of speaking of the centuries after the Roman period, from about 400 AD, when it is very difficult to know what was happening in Britain in terms of farming and settlement. In most of Britain, people stopped using and making pottery, did not mint any new coins, built in wood (which has rotted away) rather than stone and left little trace of the past.

Sherd A broken piece of pottery.