PT108.S4.P4.Q24

PrepTest 108 - Section 4 - Passage 4 - Question 24

Hide analysis
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

██████ ████████████ █████████████ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ █████ █████ ███████ ████████ █████████ ████████████ ███ ██████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ████████████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████

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

█████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████ █ █████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████

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)
Show answer
24.

The author cites the early █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██

a

counter anthropologists' previous ██████████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ██████

Not supported. The purpose doesn’t relate to alternate theories about how hominids walked.

1%
b

provide an example ██ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████

This best captures the purpose, which is to provide an example of how “early hominids could have been well adapted to scavenging.”

94%
c

explain why early ████████ █████████ ██ █ ████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ████

This doesn’t capture the purpose, because the author doesn’t bring up how hominids stood upright in order to explain why they ate more fruit.

2%
d

increase the reader's ████████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██████

This doesn’t capture the purpose. The reference to upright walking shows how hominids were adapted to scavenging. The author doesn’t try to connect early hominids’ style of walking to modern humans.

2%
e

contrast early hominids ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████

This doesn’t capture the purpose. The reference to upright walking shows how hominids were adapted to scavenging. There’s no contrast provided here between early humans and other predators.

2%

Confirm action

Are you sure?