Self-study
P1
Through years of excavations and careful analysis of her finds around Krasnyi Yar in Kazakhstan, archaeologist Sandra Olsen has assembled what may be evidence of the earliest known people to have domesticated and ridden horses, a momentous development in human history. ███
Intro to Topic ·
Olsen found evidence of earliest domestication of horses for riding?
Phenomenon ·
Large number of horse bones in pit houses of the Botai people
Phenomenon ·
Unclear if horses were domesticated or wild
Cannot tell difference just by looking at the bones.
Method ·
Statistical tabulations
Olsen used statistics to find patterns that might distinguish between domestication or wild.
P2
Exclude Alternate Hypothesis ·
Domesticated horses for food?
Because if domesticated for food, wouldn't find that many fully grown male horses and most of the bones were exactly that.
Alternate Hypothesis ·
Wild horses hunted for food?
That would explain the large proportion of males since hunters like to hunt bigger animals for more food.
Exclude Alternate Hypothesis ·
Proportion of adult males is too high
Because if the Botai hunted horses, they would target families, not groups of males.
Phenomenon ·
Why were young males not culled?
Hypothesis ·
Because the horses were domesticated for riding
P3
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Evidence for Hypothesis ·
Remains include full skeletons
This is also inconsistent with the hunting hypothesis because hunters presumably would have only brought the meat and not the full skeletons back.
Evidence for Hypothesis ·
Burial patterns
Horses were buried in carefully arranged patterns which suggests a closer relationship with the Botai, consistent with the riding hypothesis.
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
7.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Olsen's careful analysis ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █ ███████████ ███████ ███████████ ███████████ ███ █████████████
The main point isn’t about how archaeologists can draw conclusions based on correlations. The main point concerns Olsen’s specific view about the Botai people and horses. The author doesn’t try to use Olsen’s view as an example to support a broader point.
b
Olsen's excavations and ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██████ █ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████
This mischaracterizes Olsen’s view about the Botai people and horses. She believes she’s found evidence that the Botai people domesticated and rode horses. Whether this constitutes playing a “critical role” in Botai culture is not clear, and we have no basis to say that Olsen claims horses played such a role.
c
Olsen's findings regarding █████ █████████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ████████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ █████
This best captures the main point, which is that Olsen may have found evidence that shows the Botai people domesticated and rode horses. This point is best expressed
d
Olsen's findings regarding ███████████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████████ ██ ██████ ███ █ █████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████
This is too strong, because the author doesn’t suggest that Olsen’s evidence definitively proves that the Botai people rode horses. The author notes that Olsen “
e
Olsen's findings regarding ███ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ █████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████
This doesn’t capture Olsen’s view that she has found evidence the Botai domesticated and may have ridden horses. The main point isn’t about the reverence the Botai people may have had for horses; it’s about the Botai’s domestication and potential use of horses for riding.