accusation
n. a charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrongpapal
a. relating to the position or authority of the PopePeople who had worked with the Templars were under severe pressure from papal inquisitors to say something to support the accusations.
BBC News contaminated
a. having been made impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or polluting substancecarbon-date
v. to determine the age of an organic object by examining the relative proportions of the carbon isotopesWhile it's thought the cave would once have been brightly painted, the minimal pigment remains, and that which does is too contaminated to be carbon-dated.
BBC News chalk
n. a soft white limestone formed from the skeletal remains of sea creaturesescarpment
n. a long, steep slope, especially one at the edge of a plateauThe cave lies directly beneath the intersection of two highly significant ancient roads: a historical trackway along southern England's chalk escarpment.
BBC News esoteric
a. likely to be understood by only a small number of people with specialized knowledge or interestley line
n. an imaginary line between some important places such as hills, believed to be where there were very old pathsThose of an esoteric disposition have claimed that the cave lies at the intersection of two ley lines - ancient pathways theorized to connect places of spiritual power.
BBC News intriguing
a. arousing one's curiosity or interest; fascinatingenigma
n. a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understandThe cave is so intriguing to visitors and historians because it's still an enigma, a mystery as to who made it or when or why.
BBC News tantalizing
a. causing excitement, interest, and desiretheorize
v. form a theory or set of theories about somethingIt portrayed a person holding a skull in the right hand, theorized to represent an initiation ceremony – a tantalizing clue as to the cave's possible purpose.
BBC News deplete
v. use up the supply or resources ofdistraction
n. extreme agitation of the mind or emotionsIf they believed that their willpower was easily depleted, then their ability to resist temptation and distraction quickly dissolved.
BBC News fiddly
a. complicated or detailed and awkward to do or usebeforehand
ad. before an action or event; in advanceAfter applying fiddly corrections to a boring text – they found it much harder to pay attention to a subsequent activity than if they had been resting beforehand.
BBC News procrastination
n. the action of delaying or postponing somethingiron grip
n. total, dominant control over someone or something