PT147.S2.P3.Q15 > Analytics

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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.

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.

Set-up for alternate hypothesis · Mesolithic people were scared of the wilderness

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Set-up for alternate hypothesis · Mesolithic people moved along woodland paths because of fear

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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)

15.

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

Question Type

Main point

In a Phenomenon-Hypothesis passage, if the author proposes a hypothesis, the main point is that hypothesis. Here, the author proposes a hypothesis for the woodland clearings used by Mesolithic human populations. Whereas others think that these clearings had an economic use, the author proposes that they were formed and used in non-economic ways. In particular, early humans’ fear of wilderness may have led them to create paths, and wider clearings may have been created due to the practice of cutting corners and using parts of paths as resting spots.

Though fear of ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ █ ██████ █████ ███████████ ██████████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████

This doesn’t capture the author’s attempt to provide an alternative hypothesis for woodland clearings. The main point isn’t about the timeline of our fear of the wilderness; it’s about what might explain woodland clearings in the Mesolithic era.

Though the resource-procurement █████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██ ████████████ ███████████ ██████

This best captures the author’s proposal of an alternate hypothesis for woodland clearings. Instead of viewing the woodland clearings as a place to gather resources, the author proposes that they may have been created and used due to a fear of the wilderness, and that they may have been further shaped due to the practice of resting and cutting corners along paths. This is a non-economic explanation.

83%

Though ethnographic evidence ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██████████████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████████████

Not supported, because all that the author says about archaelogical evidence is that it’s at best circumstantial, and that certain kinds of archaelogical evidence are lacking. This doesn’t imply that the archaeological evidence shows that clearings were used for other purposes besides the gathering of resources. Since (C) is not supported, it can’t be the main point.

Evidence of woodland █████████ ████ ███ ███████████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███████████ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██████

The author never connects paleoecological evidence to the theory that humans moved around the landscape through paths. In any case, (D) also misses the broader point that the author believes clearings may have been used for non-economic purposes.

Ethnography provides clear ███ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███████

Anti-supported, because the author notes that ethnographic evidence can support different theories about woodland clearings. So the evidence doesn’t provide “clear and unambiguous” insight into the uses of woodland clearings.

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PrepTest 147 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 15

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