Students names:

a. Lady Paola Orjuela Tique

b. Skarlet Suarez Rojas

Mysteries of the ancient world

1. Scientists are almost certain that the stones had a religious significance.
The stones MUST HAVE HAD a religious significance.

2. Scientists think that it’s impossible that the stones came from a different island.
The stones CAN’T HAVE COME from a different island.

3. It’s possible that the stones were carved to resemble a famous leader of the tribe.
The stones COULD/MIGHT/MAY HAVE BEEN CARVED to resemble a famous leader of the tribe.

4. Some people believe that there’s a possibility that the stones came from another planet.
The stones COULD/MIGHT/MAY HAVE COME from another planet.

Now it is your turn!

a) Work in pairs.
b) First, look at the photographs and read the descriptions.
c) Then, without using Google, answer the questions by SPECULATING.

Rules:

1. It is forbidden to answer the questions using aliens. Imagine speculative answers with human beings.

2. It is not correct to convert the facts included in the sentences into sentences with modal verbs. You
must offer your own speculations:

For example:
Question: How do you think Stonehenge was built? (use must)
Incorrect answer: Stonehenge must have been built using a prehistoric helicopter. (Stonehenge was
built, that is a fact)
Correct answer: The English aborigines must have used a prehistoric helicopter. (You must speculate,
not convert the original sentences)

Mysteries of the ancient world

1. The Giza pyramid complex includes the Great
Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the
Pyramid of Menkaure. All pyramids were built
during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of
Ancient Egypt between 2580 – 2560 BC.

What do you think the white painting the Egyptians used to cover the pyramids disappeared? (may)

The painting may have disappeared due to climatic changes and due to neglect.

The emperor may have used a poor quality paint

Who do you think had the idea of building a group of three pyramids? (Can’t)

The pyramids can’t have been imagined by a slave

A slave can’t have imagined the pyramids

2. Cave paintings dating from the Epipaleolithic,

late Neolithic, Eneolithic and early Bronze Age
decorate some of the cave's walls. The paintings are
estimated to be made between 10.000 and 8.000
years ago. The drawings represent important events
of the society that had occupied the Magura cave:
religious ceremonies, hunting scenes and depictions
of deities which are unique on the Balkan peninsula.

In your opinion, what materials were used to do the

paintings? (use can’t)

Materials cannot have been chalk

Inside a cave it is not possible to use fire, so how do you think they lighted the cave? (use must)

The aborigines must have used a material from the outside of the cave to illuminate them inside and
they must have developed their sight inside the caves
 3. Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It
consists of a ring of standing stones, each
around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1
m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons.

What do you think the English aborigines used to

move around the stones? (use may)

The English aborigines may have moved

animals or wheelbarrows around the stones to perform their rituals

Why do you think the English aborigines built Stonehenge? (use must)

The English aborigines must have built Stonehenge to perform rituals and use it as an astronomical
observatory.

The English aborigines must have believed that Stonehenge provided answers to their questions.

4. The Nazca Lines are a group of very large

geoglyphs formed by depressions or shallow incisions
made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.
They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE.

Why do you think the Nasca people drew gigantic animals in the middle of the dessert? (use might)

They drew gigantic animals because the inhabitants might have felt lonely

How do you think the gigantic animals were drawn? What tools were used? (you choose the modal verb
here)

Animals may have been drawn with their hands and feet
5. The Uffington White Horse is a figure that has long
been presumed to date from the Iron Age (800 BC–AD
100) or the late Bronze Age (1000–700 BC). It is a
prehistoric hill figure of 110 mts (360 ft) long, formed
from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk.

Why do you think the horse was made on top of a hill

and not on a valley? (use can’t)

The horse can’t have been built in a valley because it would not be seen

The horse built in a valley can’t have been seen

Why do you think they decided to draw a horse? (use may not)

The horse may not have been left behind in the history of this time

6. Machu Picchu was constructed as a

city for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–
1472). The Incas built it around 1450 but it
was abandoned it a century later before the
Spanish conquest. The city remained
unknown to the Spanish during the colonial
period and even after. The world only knew
about Machu Picchu when American
historian Hiram Bingham brought it to
international attention in 1911.

Why do you think the city was abandoned? What happened to the people who lived there (use may not)

People may not have stayed there because many tourists came to meet Machu Pichu

The big trees may not have left the people in town

Why do you think the city was not discovered by the Spanish for so many years? (use can’t)

The city can’t have been found so easy because it is a hidden wonder protected by the Incas
7. The lost city of Atlantis. What have you heard about this lost city?

Is known as one of the oldest and greatest mysteries of the world. According to Plato, the utopian
island kingdom existed some 9,000 years before his time and mysteriously disappeared one day.

Why do you think so many people were fascinated by the myth of the sunken city of Atlantis for so many
years? (use could)

The sunken city could have been a sample of human life under water

Why was the city never found? (use can’t)

The city can't have been close to the earth's surface.