An inference question with clues that seem to clash tests whether you can draw a conclusion that fits them together. Read the words before the blank to see what kind of ending it needs. Then put each clue in a few words, asking what each one can actually show. Predict the smallest conclusion that lets all the clues stay true, without filling gaps with guesses. Wrong choices often turn a clue about one thing into a claim about something else.
Hints
- Hint 1
At Yet, the passage shifts from isotope ratios to casting sand and tool marks. Ask what each kind of evidence can show.
- Hint 2
Look for the places named by the different clues. What would have to happen for all those clues to be true of the same figurines?
Step-by-step
Separate the metal’s source from the casting site
Step 1Identify what the isotope ratios trace
The isotope ratios match ores from southern Iberia rather than Italian deposits, giving us the first clue for the conservators’ conclusion. Do they tell us where the metal came from or where the figurines were cast? They trace the metal’s source, not the workshop, so we still need the clues about how the figurines were made.
- Step 2
Use the clues from casting
Where do the clues about casting point? The casting sand trapped inside hollow cavities contains foraminifera species restricted to the Tiber delta, linking the sand to the area around Rome. Since that sand was used in casting, it points to where the figurines were made. The tool marks fit techniques documented in workshops around Rome of that period, giving us another clue that they were made there. The figurines were likely cast near Rome.
- Step 3
Reject unsupported additions
Does an Iberian metal source mean the workers came from Iberia too? The clues trace the metal, not the workers, so metalworkers from southern Iberia relocated to Rome adds a journey the text never gives. And using only Italian ores and sands goes against isotope ratios that match ores from southern Iberia rather than Italian deposits.
- Step 4
Connect the source to the workshop
What connects the metal’s source to the casting site? The bronze traveled before it became these figurines. The ending manufactured in southern Iberia puts the casting in the wrong place, while bronze from southern Iberia was imported and cast brings the metal to the Roman workshops before the figurines were made. Choice B.