In 1957 a European silver coin dating to the eleventh century was discovered at a Native American archaeological site in the state of Maine in the United States. Many people believed the coin had been originally brought to North America by European explorers known as the Norse, who traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and came into contact with Native Americans almost a thousand years ago.
However, some archaeologists believe that the coin is not a genuine piece of historical evidence but a historical fake: they think that the coin was placed at the site recently by someone who wanted to mislead the public. There are three main reasons why some archaeologists believe that the coin is not genuine historical evidence.
Great Distance from Norse Settlements
First, the Native American site in Maine where the coin was discovered is located very far from other sites documenting a Norse presence in North America. Remains of Norse settlements have been discovered in far eastern Canada. The distance between the Maine site and the Norse settlements in Canada is more than a thousand kilometers, suggesting the coin has no real connection with the settlements.
No Other Coins Found
A second problem is that no other coins have been found at the Canadian sites that were inhabited by the Norse. This suggests that the Norse did not bring any silver coins with them to their North American settlements.
No Use for European Coins
Third, the Norse who traveled to North America would have understood that silver coins would most likely be useless to them. Silver coins may have been in wide use in Europe at the time, but the Norse, as experienced explorers, would have known that native North Americans did not recognize silver coins as money.
The reading and the lecture are about a European silver coin discovery. The author of the reading feels that the coin found at the site is not an original coin. Additionally, he says that the coin found at the archeological site was placed by someone to mislead the people. The lecturer challenges the claims made by the author and expresses his point of view in the subsequent paragraphs.
Firstly, the writer posits that the coin discovered location is far from the Norse settlements. Moreover, it states that the coin must have no real connection with the Norse settlement. However, the women in the conversation say that it is not a fake coin but it's genuine evidence found. She also adds the point that several other objects detected which came from very far distances. On top of it, she mentions that North Americans lived at the Maine site traveled North America and while traveling they bought the coin to Maine.
Secondly, the passage tells that no other coins are found at the Canadian sites of Norse settlements, it shows the Norse did not bring any coins with them. On the contrary, the professor states that the Norse did not create a permanent settlement and when they were leaving the inhabited sites, they packed all their belongings. Moreover, they even packed the coin before leaving.
Finally, the article mentions that Norse traveled to North America have understood the silver coins are of no use to them, and also native North Americans did not recognize it as money. On the other hand, the academician depicts that the North Americans valued the objects which were attractive such as silver objects because of their beauty. In addition to that, she says that silver coins can be used in necklaces or even in jewelry. This shows the North Americans used those coins to trade with them.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, first, firstly, however, moreover, second, secondly, so, while, in addition, such as, on the contrary, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 10.0 10.4613686534 96% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 12.0772626932 132% => OK
Pronoun: 35.0 22.412803532 156% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 31.0 30.3222958057 102% => OK
Nominalization: 7.0 5.01324503311 140% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1511.0 1373.03311258 110% => OK
No of words: 310.0 270.72406181 115% => OK
Chars per words: 4.87419354839 5.08290768461 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.19604776685 4.04702891845 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.46736239966 2.5805825403 96% => OK
Unique words: 157.0 145.348785872 108% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.506451612903 0.540411800872 94% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 463.5 419.366225166 111% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 3.25607064018 276% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 9.0 8.23620309051 109% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 2.5761589404 155% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 13.0662251656 122% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 21.2450331126 89% => OK
Sentence length SD: 38.2773084706 49.2860985944 78% => OK
Chars per sentence: 94.4375 110.228320801 86% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.375 21.698381199 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.75 7.06452816374 124% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.27373068433 164% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.295113147061 0.272083759551 108% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.10234213009 0.0996497079465 103% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0636521662953 0.0662205650399 96% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.178758161117 0.162205337803 110% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0390756140775 0.0443174109184 88% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.2 13.3589403974 84% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 60.65 53.8541721854 113% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 11.0289183223 86% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.97 12.2367328918 90% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.79 8.42419426049 92% => OK
difficult_words: 63.0 63.6247240618 99% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 10.498013245 91% => OK
text_standard: 8.0 11.2008830022 71% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 78.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 23.5 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.