Self-study
The Levant—the area that borders the eastern Mediterranean—was heavily populated in prehistoric times. ███ ████████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██████████████ ████ ████████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ██████████████
Summary
The Levant has a northern and a southern part, and both used to have high populations. The northern part still has a high population, but the southern part does not. This is because of a sudden economic collapse resulting from deforestation more than 6,000 years ago.
Notable Valid Inferences
The northern Levant did not face economic collapse about 6,000 years ago. Climate must not be part of the reason why the southern Levant is abandoned. The economic collapse is what caused the depopulation of the southern Levant, as opposed to some other factor.
12.
If the statements above are ████ ███ ███ ███████████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ █████
a
The sheep and █████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ █████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████████
This could be true. No information in the stimulus suggests the goats and sheep that existed prior to the deforestation and depopulation of the southern Levant did not graze on indigenous tree species’ seedlings and saplings.
b
Trees were used ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ █ ████████ ████████ ████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████ █████ █████ █████ ████
This could be true. No information in the stimulus suggests trees were not used to produce lime plaster prior to the deforestation and depopulation of the southern Levant.
c
Organic remains from ███ ████████ ██████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████████
This could be true. No information in the stimulus suggests the northern Levant had any issues with deforestation.
d
Carbon dating of ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ████████ ████████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ████
This must be false. We know the southern Levant faced economic collapse due to deforestation. Such deforestation could not have occurred if there were no forests in the region in the first place.
e
Since there are ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████
This could be true. No information in the stimulus suggests the southern Levant’s buildings were not made solely from timber.