Self-study
P1
Complex societies flourished on the central plateau of southern Africa from the ninth through sixteenth centuries. █████ ████████ █████████ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ██████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ██████████████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ██████ █████ ███████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███████████ █████████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ ███
Intro to topic ·
Great Zimbabwe
Prosperous city-state, part of complex and stratified society
Other people's hypothesis ·
Prosperity was due to gold mining
Alternative hypothesis ·
Prosperity was due to agricultural system
P2
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Problem ·
Crop cultivation could not support large, permanently situated populations
Soil needed breaks between planting, no means of transporting or storing grain
Solution ·
Cattle farming
Evidence for Alt. Hypothesis ·
Cattle farming was complex
That complexity influenced Great Zimbabwe's social structure
P3
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Evidence for alt. hypothesis ·
Cattle farming gave ruling class extensive power
Evidence for alt. hypothesis ·
Cattle farming also supported gold mining industry
Not only was gold mining not the main driver of Great Zimbabwe's prosperity, but gold mining actually owed its success to cattle farming
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Main point
The author presents her hypothesis that the Great Zimbabwe’s prosperity resulted from its agricultural system, which involved a complex cattle economy. She presents this hypothesis at the end of P1 and supports it in P2 and P3.
a
Understanding the basis ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████
This best captures the main point, which is
b
The diversity and █████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████████████
This doesn’t capture the author’s hypothesis that the complex cattle economy can explain the Great Zimbabwe’s prosperity. The author doesn’t argue that the diversity and abundance of natural reosuces explains the Great Zimbabwe’s rise and fall.
c
The power of ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████
Not supported. Although cattle was the property of a ruling class, this doesn’t imply that the ruling class’s power arose from owning croplands. Since (C) isn’t supported, it can’t be the main point. It also doesn’t capture the author’s hypothesis that the complex cattle economy can explain the Great Zimbabwe’s prosperity.
d
Great Zimbabwe's economic ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████████ ██████
This doesn’t capture the author’s hypothesis that the complex cattle economy can explain the Great Zimbabwe’s prosperity.
e
The communal nature ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████
Not supported. The author doesn’t suggest that cattle ownership was “communal.” We’re told that ordinary people were “given use of individual cattle as an act of royal patronage” and that “cattle exchange was an essential element in marriage contract.” This doesn’t imply cattle ownership was “communal.”