# PTE Reading FIB #40: Historical Perspectives on...

Reading: Fill in the Blanks #40 - Level 3 - Feeds Reading

> In the text below some words are missing. Drag word from the box below to the appropriate place in the text. To undo an answer choice, drag the word back to the box below the text.

Anthropologists' early perception of Neanderthals was partly ____ in a racist ideology that one's intelligence or humanity could be ____ from skull shape and that ancestral human species like Neanderthals were necessarily much more "primitive" than humans are today. Those assumptions have now been ____: new discoveries over the past few decades have helped to rehabilitate Neanderthals' reputation as people who were a lot like us.

## Answer

Anthropologists' early perception of Neanderthals was partly **rooted** in a racist ideology that one's intelligence or humanity could be **assessed** from skull shape and that ancestral human species like Neanderthals were necessarily much more "primitive" than humans are today. Those assumptions have now been **discredited**: new discoveries over the past few decades have helped to rehabilitate Neanderthals' reputation as people who were a lot like us.

## Explanation

Blank 1 comes before "in a racist ideology," and "rooted in" means based on. "Crated" looks close but means packed in a box. Blank 2 follows "could be" and comes before "from skull shape," so you need a past participle meaning judged. "Assessed" fits. In blank 3, new discoveries "rehabilitate" Neanderthals, so the old assumptions were "discredited."

## Hints

- Look at the words immediately preceding and following each blank to determine the necessary part of speech.
- Consider the overall tone of the passage, which contrasts past misconceptions with modern scientific findings.

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