Self-study
P1
It is generally accepted that woodland clearings were utilized by Mesolithic human populations (populations in Europe roughly 7,000 to 12,000 years ago) for food procurement. ███████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███
Intro topic / traditional perspective ·
Generally accepted that woodland clearings were used by Mesolithic people to get food
Not clear on whether the clearings were made deliberately or naturally.
Weakness of traditional perspective ·
Archaeological evidence is weak
No secure link between presence of human artifacts and presence of clearings. Don't have much, if any, non-circumstantial evidence that humans prepared animals for food near clearings.
P2
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More about evidence for traditional perspective ·
Based on ethnography
There's evidence that recent people (not Mesolithic) used fire to increase size of areas for animals to graze. (Note that the label "resource-procurement model" is introduced for the traditional belief.)
Different perspective ·
Other ethnographic evidence suggests that clearings were not used for getting food
This is a "noneconomic" hypothesis for the phenomenon of clearings.
P3
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Set-up for alternate hypothesis ·
Mesolithic people were scared of the wilderness
P4
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Set-up for alternate hypothesis ·
Mesolithic people moved along woodland paths because of fear
P5
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Alternate hypothesis ·
Clearings result from concentrated activity along woodland paths
And some clearings may result from people cutting corners in paths or resting along paths.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
17.
Which one of the following ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████████
a
Mesolithic artwork that ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ███ █████████
This doesn’t reveal anything about the potential motivation underlying use of woodland paths. We already know the woodland paths and clearings exist. What matters is why people used them.
b
the ubiquity of █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████
This doesn’t reveal anything about the potential motivation underlying use of woodland paths. We already know the woodland paths and clearings exist. What matters is why people used them. The fact there are other kinds of roads elsewhere doesn’t shed light on the motivation underlying woodland paths.
c
maps showing pathways ████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████████
This doesn’t reveal anything about the potential motivation underlying use of woodland paths. We already know the woodland paths and clearings exist. What matters is why people used them.
d
survey results showing ████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████
This provides evidence that modern humans are afraid of the wilderness. But this isn’t particularly compelling evidence that ancient humans were scared of the wilderness or that they used paths because of that fear.
e
rituals performed by ███████ ██████ █████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████
(E) is better evidence than (D). Whereas (D) involves modern humans, (E) provides evidence concerning “recent premodern populations” (i.e. more ancient peoples rather than modern humans). (E) provides evidence that premodern humans were afraid of the forest and took actions based on that fear. This suggests that Mesolithic people might have also been afraid of the forest and may have taken actions as a result of that fear.