PT121.S3.P1.Q3

PrepTest 121 - Section 3 - Passage 1 - Question 3

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P1

One of the intriguing questions considered by anthropologists concerns the purpose our early ancestors had in first creating images of the world around them. █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ █ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ████████████████ ████ ███

Phenomenon · Aurignacian cave paintings
Question: What was the purpose of the cave paintings?
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OP Hypothesis 1 · It was art; it was luxury meant for enjoyment
Evidence: paintings are astonishingly well-executed; suggests creators were professional artists; suggests that Aurignacian culture was wealthy enough to support an artistic class.
P2

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Counter Evidence · Paintings' location too inconvenient if purpose was truly for aesthetic enjoyment
If it really was for aesthetic enjoyment, why hide the paintings deep in hard to get to caves? Doesn't make sense.
P3

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OP Hypothesis 2 · It was religious; intended to secure prey for hunting
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Argument for Hypothesis 2 · Superstitious beliefs were common; paintings outline vital organs in red; evidence of ceremonies around the paintings
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Show answer
3.

The author would be most ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

a

The cave paintings ████████ ████ ███ ████████████ █████ █ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ███████████████ █████████

Although some anthropologists believe Aurignacians had a more secure life than Neanderthals, it’s not clear that the author agrees with this hypothesis. In addition, the author never compares Aurignacians’ security to “most” other hunter-gatherer cultures.

13%
b

Skill in art ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███████

Not supported. The only mention of shamans is that some paintings depicted shamans. We have no idea what was required to become a shaman.

1%
c

Prehistoric hunter-gatherers did ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████

Although the author shows signs of agreement with the anthropologists’ explanation in P3, that explanation concerns a particular group of 25,000-year-old cave paintings. We have no evidence the author thinks that explanation — which posits that the cave paintings are made at least partially for religious/hunting purposes — extends to all art made by prehistoric hunter-gatherers.

14%
d

All art created ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ███████

Although the author shows signs of agreement with the anthropologists’ explanation in P3, that explanation concerns a particular group of 25,000-year-old cave paintings. We have no evidence the author thinks that explanation — which posits that the cave paintings are made at least partially for religious/hunting purposes — extends to all art made by Aurignacians.

1%
e

The Aurignacians sought ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████

Supported by these lines. The author mentions evidence of ceremonies performed before the paintings were made to support the theory that the paintings were used to gain power over the Aurignacians’ prey. This suggests the ceremonies were part of the Aurignacians’ power-granting process.

71%

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