Question 37·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas
At Bronze Age settlements throughout the Lyran Archipelago, archaeologists have found ceramic vessels with nearly identical rim angles and handle placements. Some researchers suggest that a workshop at the largest settlement manufactured the vessels and exported them to the other islands. Archaeologist Nia Calder argues instead that traveling craft specialists taught residents throughout the archipelago the same sequence for forming each vessel, although each community made its own pottery from nearby clay. She notes that similarities in finished shapes alone cannot distinguish these explanations.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Calder’s argument?
For a command-of-evidence question involving competing explanations, convert each explanation into distinct predictions. Then choose the finding that supports every essential part of the target explanation while also distinguishing it from the alternative; do not rely on evidence that merely repeats the original observation.
Hints
Break apart the claim
Identify what Calder’s explanation predicts about both the location of production and the process used to form the vessels.
Distinguish products from procedures
Evidence about finished dimensions or shapes does not necessarily reveal the steps used to make an object.
Look for production evidence
Consider which archaeological remains would indicate that vessels were manufactured at multiple settlements rather than delivered there after being completed.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify Calder’s two-part argument
Calder proposes that each community produced its own pottery using nearby clay but followed a common forming procedure taught by traveling specialists.
Translate the evidence
Misfired vessels and clay-preparation pits at every settlement indicate that pottery was being produced locally rather than merely imported. Clay matching nearby deposits strengthens that inference.
Evaluate the procedural evidence
An identical uncommon order of coil joining, thinning, and handle attachment is evidence of a shared production sequence, not merely a similarity in finished vessel shapes. Thus, the finding supports both parts of Calder’s argument.