Archaeologist Petra Vaiglova, anthropologist Xinyi Liu, and their colleagues investigated the domestiion of farm animals in China during the Bronze

Question

Archaeologist Petra Vaiglova, anthropologist Xinyi Liu, and their colleagues investigated the domestiion of farm animals in China during the Bronze Age (approximately 2000 to 1000 BCE). By analyzing the chemical composition of the bones of sheep, goats, and tle from this era, the team determined that wild animals made up the bulk of sheep’s and goats’ diets, while the tle’s diet consisted largely of millet, a crop cultivated by humans. The team concluded that tle were likely raised closer to human settlements, whereas sheep and goats were allowed to roam farther away.

Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the team’s conclusion?

Accepted Answer

Choice A is the best answer because it presents a finding that, if true, would most strongly support the team&rsquo;s conclusion that tle were likely raised closer to human settlements than sheep and goats were. The text explains that Vaiglova, Liu, and their colleagues analyzed the chemical composition of sheep, goat, and tle bones from the Bronze Age in China in order to investigate the animals&rsquo; domestiion, or their adaptation from a wild state to a state in which they existed in close connection with humans. According to the text, the team&rsquo;s analysis showed that sheep and goats of the era fed largely on wild animals, whereas tle fed on millet-importantly, a crop cultivated by humans. If analysis of the animal bones shows that the tle&rsquo;s diet also consisted of wheat, another crop cultivated by humans in China during the Bronze Age, the finding would support the team&rsquo;s conclusion by offering additional evidence that tle during this era fed on human-grown crops-and, by extension, that humans raised tle relatively close to the settlements where they grew these crops, leaving goats and sheep to roam farther away in areas with wild vegetation, uncultivated by humans. Choice B is incorrect because if it were true that sheep&rsquo;s and goats&rsquo; diets consisted of small portions of millet, which the text states was a crop cultivated by humans, the finding would suggest that sheep and goats were raised relatively close to human settlements, weakening the team&rsquo;s conclusion that tle were likely raised closer to those settlements than sheep and goats were. Choice C is incorrect because the finding that tle generally require more food and nutrients than do sheep and goats wouldn&rsquo;t support the team&rsquo;s conclusion that tle were likely raised closer to human settlements than sheep and goats were. Nothing in the text suggests that tle were incapable of obtaining sufficient food and nutrients without access to human-grown crops. Hence, even if tle&rsquo;s diets are found to have different requirements than the diets of sheep and goats, the tle could have met those requirements from food loed far from human settlements. Choice D is incorrect because if it were true that the diets of sheep, goats, and tle varied based on what the farmers in each Bronze Age settlement could grow, the finding would weaken the team&rsquo;s conclusion that tle were likely raised closer to human settlements than sheep and goats were, suggesting instead that all three types of animals were raised close enough to human settlements to feed on those settlements&rsquo; crops.

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