Self-study
P1
Darwin's conception of early prehistoric humans as confident, clever hunter-gatherers has long dominated anthropology. ███
Traditional perspective ·
Early prehistoric humans were hunter-gatherers
Why this perspective persists ·
Most recent ancestors were discovered first
People confuse modern hunter-gatherer lifestyles with the lifestyle of our ancestors.
Author's criticism ·
Traditional perspective overlooks important differences
Modern hunter-gatherers are very advanced, and their environments are very different from our ancestors'.
P2
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New methodology and new perspective ·
Taphonomy questions perspective that ancesetors were hunters
Taphonomy involves studying bones. Example: pattern of bone pile deposits and the nature of markigns on bones.
P3
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Evidence against traditional view ·
Grooves on animal bone fossils
Markings made by stone tools on animal bone fossils are different from those made by carnivores' teeth or sedimentary abrasion. Animal bone fossils had carnivore markings underneath markings made by tools, and the tool markings were not systematically at joints. (The implication is that if our ancestors were hunters, we'd expect to see tool markings at joints and we wouldn't see carnivore marking underneath the tool markings.)
P4
███
New hypothesis ·
Ancestors were scavengers, not hunters
Additional evidence ·
Ancestors' teeth show diet primarily of fruit, only occasionally meat
Develop new hypothesis ·
Ancestors may have used trees to spot animal carcasses
Fossil record suggests our ancestors climbed trees and foraged or scavenged for food, rather than hunted live prey.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
27.
The author's primary purpose in ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██
a
differentiate between outdated ███ ████████████ ████████ ███████
The passage doesn’t compare different research methods. Although we learn about a new method, taphonomy, we don’t get any comparison to other methods.
b
expose the preconceptions ██████ ████████ ████████
This ignores the passage’s focus on the researchers’ hypothesis about early hominids. (B) is a good description of the purpose of P1, but not the whole passage.
c
present a narrative ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████ ████ ████████
The passage isn’t focused on telling a hypothetical story about historical events. The passage is focused on presenting a hypothesis about early hominids. A hypothesis isn’t a narrative of events.
d
explain the basis ███ █ ███████████ ████████ ██ █ ███████
This is the best answer. The passage discusses taphonomy, which is the basis for a “revisionary approach” to the subject of early hominids. The “revision” is the new hypothesis that they were mainly scavengers rather than hunters.
e
describe how a ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████████ ███
The new theory about early hominids has not yet “replaced” the traditional one. We don’t know that anyone besides the researchers discussed accepts the new theory.