PT147.S2.P3.Q21

PrepTest 147 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 21

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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.
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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.)
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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)
Show answer
21.

Which one of the following █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████

a

phenomena that arise ██ ███████████ ██ █ █████████ ███████████ █████████

This is the best answer, because it captures the idea of creating something as a result of one’s behavior, but not intentionally. If something is a “by-product,” it’s a thing that’s produced unintentionally as a result of a process used for another purpose. Clearings might be a by-product of people’s practice of cutting corners and resting. In addition, (A)’s reference to “noneconomic practice” makes sense, because cutting corners and resting are non-economic; they don’t involve collecting resources. This contrasts with the economic model mentioned in P1, which involves collecting resources (in particular, food).

57%
b

phenomena that are █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████████

The author doesn’t suggest that woodland clearings might be “purely social phenomena” because they are universal and unique to human societies. The author doesn’t suggest that every human society had woodland clearings and that nonhuman societies never have or use woodland clearings.

3%
c

phenomena that serve ███ ███████ ██ █████████████ ████ ███████ █ ███████████ ███████

This doesn’t make sense as the meaning of the phrase, because cutting corners and using intersections as resting spots don’t indicate stronger ties between a society’s members. The author doesn’t suggest people used clearings to strengthen bonds between people in a society.

7%
d

phenomena that are █████████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █ ██████ ███████

Not supported, because the author suggests the clearings might have been created as a result of people cutting corners and taking rests. This doesn’t imply that people intentionally made clearings wider in order to cut corners and rest. Rather, people cut corners to save time, and in the process this behavior cleared out parts of the forest. Or, people tended to rest at certain spots, which cleared out those spots of vegetation. Think about what would happen if everyone cut across the corner of a lawn; the grass would be flattened out. This doesn’t imply that the people cutting across the grass want to flatten out the grass. It’s simply a by-product of their behavior.

31%
e

phenomena that reveal ███████████ █████ █ ███████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ███████████

This doesn’t make sense as the meaning, because nothing in the last sentence relates to cultural and economic development. The author doesn’t suggest clearings have anything to do with how a society’s or economy change over time.

3%

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