Question 70·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas
Archaeologists excavating a shallow rock-shelter on the Tashir Plateau uncovered seven hearths within a 1.2-meter-deep stratified deposit. Radiocarbon dates indicate sporadic use between 1100 and 700 BCE. In most layers, faunal remains are dominated by antelope and hare bones with cut marks; fish remains are scarce. However, three distinct layers contain an influx of charred wild barley and oats, numerous obsidian microblades traced to a quarry 120 kilometers to the northeast, 3–5 cm lenses of fine angular silt identified under microscopy as windblown dust, and hearths that are larger and show multiple ash lenses consistent with repeated rekindling. The team argues that these three layers represent a different mode of site use compared with the surrounding strata, leading the researchers to hypothesize that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For Reading & Writing questions that ask which statement "most logically completes" a scientific or historical description, first list the key clues and contrasts in the passage (e.g., types of remains, environmental indicators, time pattern). Then, test each answer choice directly against those clues, eliminating any option that contradicts or goes well beyond what is supported. Choose the option that explains the greatest number of details with the fewest new assumptions.
Hints
Focus on the contrast
The question says the three layers show a different mode of site use from the surrounding ones. First, identify what is typical in most layers, and then what is new or different in those three layers.
Use every piece of evidence
Look closely at details: the grains are wild, the obsidian is from 120 km away, the silt is windblown dust, and the hearths are larger with multiple ash lenses. Ask: what do each of these clues suggest about how long people stayed and what activities they did?
Eliminate answers that go beyond the evidence
Prefer choices that explain the change using the passage’s concrete clues. Be cautious of choices that add a very specific story (e.g., a particular workshop purpose or ritual event) that the passage never indicates.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what the question is asking
The archaeologists see three layers that differ from the surrounding ones and say these show a different mode of site use. You must pick the hypothesis that best explains how site use changed, using the specific clues given for those three layers.
Summarize the evidence in the "special" layers
Compare the typical layers to the three distinct ones:
- Most layers: dominated by antelope and hare bones with cut marks (hunting emphasis); fish scarce.
- Three special layers:
- Influx of charred wild barley and oats (greater use of gathered wild plants).
- Numerous obsidian microblades from a quarry 120 km away (imported toolstone / long-distance movement or exchange).
- Fine angular silt identified as windblown dust (dry, windy conditions).
- Larger hearths with multiple ash lenses (fires tended/rekindled repeatedly, suggesting longer or more intensive use).
Radiocarbon dates indicate the shelter was used sporadically overall.
Infer what this pattern suggests about site use
Putting the clues together:
- More wild cereals + many imported obsidian tools suggests a shift in activities beyond quick hunting-only visits.
- Larger hearths with multiple ash lenses suggests people were staying longer (or at least using the shelter more intensively during those episodes).
- Windblown dust points to a dry, dusty phase that coincides with those changes.
So the best hypothesis should connect the distinctive layers to a climate-driven change (dust/aridity) and a change in how intensively/long the shelter was used.
Test each answer against the evidence
Check each option against what the passage actually supports:
- Choice B (tool-production workshop) is possible-sounding but adds an unsupported specific purpose (heat-treating stone, workshop use) and does not explain why the layers also show a strong increase in wild cereal remains consistent with food use.
- Choice C (one-night stopovers) conflicts with the strongest behavioral clue: multiple ash lenses from repeated rekindling and larger hearths point to more sustained/intensive use than a single-night stop.
- Choice D (communal feasting) is speculative: nothing in the passage indicates ritual/feast behavior, and it doesn’t explain the windblown dust as well as a broader dry-spell explanation.
- Choice A fits all evidence together: dust implies dry spells, and the combination of more wild cereals, imported obsidian, and repeatedly tended larger hearths supports longer stays and a different subsistence/tool-use pattern during those periods.
Therefore, the correct answer is: in typically wetter years the shelter served as a short-term hunting camp, but during region-wide dry spells marked by increased dust, groups stayed longer and relied more heavily on gathered wild cereals and imported obsidian.