A finding question tests whether new evidence backs up a claim drawn from the passage. Read the conclusion, then put the claim in a few words, including what happened, where, and when. For a claim about a past practice, ask what evidence would show that people actually used it at the claimed time and place. Predict what would support every part of the claim. A finding can fit the background facts without showing that the proposed practice took place.
Hints
- Hint 1
Split Patel’s conclusion into parts. What farming practice does the team name, and what time and place is it tied to?
- Hint 2
Ask about the gap between water stress and farming practice. What do the isotope ratios tell us, and what do they leave unknown about how farmers supplied water?
- Hint 3
Test the whole conclusion. Does a finding connect the proposed practice to the settlements and to the period the team is discussing?
Step-by-step
Match the practice, place, and time
Step 1Pin down the full claim
Patel’s team argues that local farmers must have practiced organized flood irrigation, centuries earlier than previously documented. What would support that full claim? We need a planned way to supply water at the claimed time and place, tied to the lower Indus settlements around 4000 BCE.
- Step 2
Separate the crop result from the farming practice
What do the isotope ratios tell us, and where does the conclusion go beyond them? The ratios suggest crops experienced little water stress, even though the climate record shows limited rainfall in the region. That points to water beyond the scarce rain, but having water isn’t the same as farmers organizing its delivery. So let’s predict evidence that people managed water for crops, tied to the barley sites and the early period.
- Step 3
Set aside findings that don’t show the farming practice
Do the findings about water stress or ceremonies show organized flood irrigation? The grains from five centuries later show water stress at a later time, and the upland settlements show water stress elsewhere, so neither shows farmers managing water at the early settlements. The tablets describing ceremonial offerings of water describe a religious practice in 2000 BCE, long after the claimed farming practice.
- Step 4
Connect the physical evidence to the claim
The complex network of earthen canals is physical evidence of a planned way to direct water to crops, which is what organized flood irrigation would involve. Its date, about 4000 BCE, places that system in the period the team names, and its location beside the barley settlements connects it to these farmers. Choice D.