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.)
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
27.
The author's primary purpose in ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██
Question Type
Implied
Purpose of passage
In a Phenomenon-Hypothesis passage, the primary purpose is typically related to presenting a hypothesis. Here, the author focuses on presenting the researchers’ new hypothesis about early hominids based on taphonomy.
a
differentiate between outdated ███ ████████████ ████████ ███████
The passage doesn’t compare different research methods. Although we learn about a new method, taphonomy, we don’t get any comparison to other methods.
b
expose the preconceptions ██████ ████████ ████████
This ignores the passage’s focus on the researchers’ hypothesis about early hominids. (B) is a good description of the purpose of P1, but not the whole passage.
c
present a narrative ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████ ████ ████████
The passage isn’t focused on telling a hypothetical story about historical events. The passage is focused on presenting a hypothesis about early hominids. A hypothesis isn’t a narrative of events.
d
explain the basis ███ █ ███████████ ████████ ██ █ ███████
This is the best answer. The passage discusses taphonomy, which is the basis for a “revisionary approach” to the subject of early hominids. The “revision” is the new hypothesis that they were mainly scavengers rather than hunters.
e
describe how a ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████████ ███
The new theory about early hominids has not yet “replaced” the traditional one. We don’t know that anyone besides the researchers discussed accepts the new theory.
Difficulty
66% of people who answer get this correct
This is a difficult question.
It is similar in difficulty to other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%142
157
75%173
Analysis
Implied
Purpose of passage
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis
Science
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
2%
154
b
10%
163
c
3%
163
d
66%
168
e
18%
165
Question history
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