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many anthropologists assumed that the environment of what is
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28 Apr 2016, 09:55
28 Apr 2016, 09:55
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Until recently, many anthropologists assumed that the environment of what is now the southwestern United States shaped the social history and culture of the region’s indigenous peoples. Building on this assumption, archaeologists asserted that adverse environmental conditions and droughts were responsible for the disappearances and migrations of southwestern populations from many sites they once inhabited.
However, such deterministic arguments fail to acknowledge that local environmental variability in the Southwest makes generalizing about that environment difficult. To examine the relationship between environmental variation and socio-cultural change in the Western Pueblo region of central Arizona, which indigenous tribes have occupied continuously for at least 800 years, a research team recently reconstructed the climatic, vegetational, and erosional cycles of past centuries. The researchers found it impossible to provide a single, generally applicable characterization of environmental conditions for the region. Rather, they found that local areas experienced different patterns of rainfall, wind, and erosion, and that such conditions had prevailed in the Southwest for the last 1,400 years. Rainfall, for example, varied within and between local valley systems, so that even adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields.
The researchers characterized episodes of variation in southwestern environments by frequency: low-frequency environmental processes occur in cycles longer than one human generation, which generally is considered to last about 25 years, and high frequency processes have shorter cycles. The researchers pointed out that low-frequency processes, such as fluctuations in stream flow and groundwater levels, would not usually be apparent to human populations. In contrast, high-frequency fluctuations such as seasonal temperature variations are observable and somewhat predictable, so that groups could have adapted their behaviors accordingly. When the researchers compared sequences of socio-cultural change in the Western Pueblo region with episodes of low- and high-frequency environmental variation, however, they found no simple correlation between environmental process and socio-cultural change or persistence.
Although early Pueblo peoples did protect themselves against environmental risk and uncertainty, they responded variously on different occasions to similar patterns of high-frequency climatic and environmental change. The researchers identified seven major adaptive responses, including increased mobility, relocation of permanent settlements, changes in subsistence foods, and reliance on trade with other groups. These findings suggest that groups’ adaptive choices depended on cultural and social as well as environmental factors and were flexible strategies rather than uncomplicated reactions to environmental change. Environmental conditions mattered, but they were rarely, if ever, sufficient to account for socio-cultural persistence and change. Group size and composition, culture, contact with other groups, and individual choices and actions were — barring catastrophes such as floods or earthquakes — more significant for a population’s survival than were climate and environment.
However, such deterministic arguments fail to acknowledge that local environmental variability in the Southwest makes generalizing about that environment difficult. To examine the relationship between environmental variation and socio-cultural change in the Western Pueblo region of central Arizona, which indigenous tribes have occupied continuously for at least 800 years, a research team recently reconstructed the climatic, vegetational, and erosional cycles of past centuries. The researchers found it impossible to provide a single, generally applicable characterization of environmental conditions for the region. Rather, they found that local areas experienced different patterns of rainfall, wind, and erosion, and that such conditions had prevailed in the Southwest for the last 1,400 years. Rainfall, for example, varied within and between local valley systems, so that even adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields.
The researchers characterized episodes of variation in southwestern environments by frequency: low-frequency environmental processes occur in cycles longer than one human generation, which generally is considered to last about 25 years, and high frequency processes have shorter cycles. The researchers pointed out that low-frequency processes, such as fluctuations in stream flow and groundwater levels, would not usually be apparent to human populations. In contrast, high-frequency fluctuations such as seasonal temperature variations are observable and somewhat predictable, so that groups could have adapted their behaviors accordingly. When the researchers compared sequences of socio-cultural change in the Western Pueblo region with episodes of low- and high-frequency environmental variation, however, they found no simple correlation between environmental process and socio-cultural change or persistence.
Although early Pueblo peoples did protect themselves against environmental risk and uncertainty, they responded variously on different occasions to similar patterns of high-frequency climatic and environmental change. The researchers identified seven major adaptive responses, including increased mobility, relocation of permanent settlements, changes in subsistence foods, and reliance on trade with other groups. These findings suggest that groups’ adaptive choices depended on cultural and social as well as environmental factors and were flexible strategies rather than uncomplicated reactions to environmental change. Environmental conditions mattered, but they were rarely, if ever, sufficient to account for socio-cultural persistence and change. Group size and composition, culture, contact with other groups, and individual choices and actions were — barring catastrophes such as floods or earthquakes — more significant for a population’s survival than were climate and environment.
Question 1
00:00
A
B
C
D
E
Question Stats:
71% (03:10) correct
29% (02:47) wrong based on 56 sessions
Show timer Statistics
9. The passage is primarily concerned with
A explaining why certain research findings have created controversy
B pointing out the flaws in a research methodology and suggesting a different approach
C presenting evidence to challenge an explanation and offering an alternative explanation
D elucidating the means by which certain groups have adapted to their environment
E defending a long-held interpretation by presenting new research findings
Show: :: OA
C
Question 2
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A
B
C
D
E
Question Stats:
63% (01:23) correct
37% (01:43) wrong based on 52 sessions
Show timer Statistics
10. Which of the following findings would most strongly support the assertion made by the archaeologists mentioned in line 3?
A A population remained in a certain region at least a century after erosion wore away much of the topsoil that sustained grass for their grazing animals.
B The range of a certain group’s agricultural activity increased over a century of gradual decrease in annual rainfall.
C As winters grew increasingly mild in a certain region, the nomadic residents of the region continued to move between their summer and winter encampments.
D An agricultural population began to trade for supplies of a grain instead of producing the grain in its own fields as it had in the past.
E A half century of drought and falling groundwater levels caused a certain population to abandon their settlements along a riverbank.
Show: :: OA
E
Question 3
00:00
A
B
C
D
E
Question Stats:
89% (00:49) correct
11% (01:13) wrong based on 47 sessions
Show timer Statistics
11. The fact that “adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields” (lines 16–17) is offered as evidence of the
A unpredictability of the climate and environment of the southwestern United States
B difficulty of producing a consistent food supply for a large population in the Western Pueblo region
C Clack of water and land suitable for cultivation in central Arizona
D local climatic variation in the environment of the southwestern United States
E high-frequency environmental processes at work in the southwestern United States
Show: :: OA
D
Question 4
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A
B
C
D
E
Question Stats:
71% (01:03) correct
29% (01:53) wrong based on 48 sessions
Show timer Statistics
12. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following activities is NOT an example of a population responding to high-frequency environmental processes?
A Developing watertight jars in which to collect and store water during the rainy season
B Building multistory dwellings in low-lying areas to avoid the flash flooding that occurs each summer
C Moving a village because groundwater levels have changed over the last generation
D Trading with other groups for furs from which to make winter clothes
E Moving one’s herds of grazing animals each year between summer and winter pastures
Show: :: OA
C
Practice Test Questions
Question: 9-12
Page: 448- 450
Question: 9-12
Page: 448- 450
Re: many anthropologists assumed that the environment of what is
[#permalink]
28 Apr 2016, 10:00
28 Apr 2016, 10:00
1
Expert Reply
Description
The passage describes research that bears on a presumed historical relationship between environmental variation and sociocultural change among indigenous people of the southwestern United States. The author mentions in the first paragraph that many anthropologists believed until recently that environmental variations explain changes in the human populations of the region. The passage then goes on to point out studies that show problems with this explanation, including the lack of generally applicable characterizations of the environment in the region and lack of correlation between environmental changes and sociocultural changes. In the final paragraph the author mentions an alternative explanation in researchers’ findings suggesting that responses to environmental changes varied according to differing factors such as group size and composition, culture, contact with other groups, and individual choices.
Question 9
As the description above indicates, Choice C is the best answer: the passage introduces an explanation, presents evidence that challenges it, and offers an alternative explanation. The passage does not mention the creation of controversy or discuss flaws in research methodology; therefore, Choices A and B are incorrect. Although the passage reports findings that different groups used different adaptive responses to environmental conditions, there is no focus on the adaptations used by particular groups, so Choice D is incorrect. The passage presents recent research findings but not in defense of a long-held interpretation; therefore, Choice E is incorrect.
Question 10
The archaeologists mentioned in line 3 asserted that adverse environmental conditions caused southwestern populations to move or disappear. The question asks which finding would support this assertion.
Choices A, B, and C all describe populations that did not move away or disappear in the face of environmental changes, and hence are all incorrect. Choice D is incorrect because it does not mention a change in environmental conditions and therefore cannot support an assertion about the effects of changing environmental conditions.
Choice E is the best answer: it mentions an adverse environmental change (a long drought) that caused a population to leave the site it had inhabited, which would support the archaeologists’ assertion that such environmental changes caused such population changes.
Question 11
Choice D is the correct answer: the second paragraph says rainfall variations between local valleys cause different agricultural yields between adjacent fields and gives this as an example of how climate is not uniform within the Southwest but rather can vary significantly from place to place. Choice A is incorrect: while such variability might give rise to unpredictability, that is not how the difference in agricultural yields is being used as evidence in the passage. Choices B and C are incorrect: the passage does not make or report a claim about feeding large populations, nor does it assert that central Arizona lacks land suitable for cultivation. Choice E is incorrect: a discussion of highand low-frequency processes occurs in the third paragraph, but the author does not present geographic differences in rainfall and agricultural yield as either a high- or a
low- frequency environmental process.
Question 12
The phrasing of the question indicates that all but one of the answer choices are examples of a population responding to a high-frequency environmental process. You are asked to choose the one answer choice that does not provide such an example. Choices A, B, D, and E are incorrect because they all present responses to high-frequency environmental processes: developing water-storage jars to adapt to seasonal rainfall variations,
adapting dwellings in response to seasonal flooding, trading to acquire clothing in adaptation to seasonal temperature variations, and moving grazing herds seasonally.
Choice C is the best answer: the passage mentions fluctuations in ground water levels as a low-frequency process (lines 21–22); moving a village because of a change that takes place over the course of a generation is not a response to a high-frequency process.
The passage describes research that bears on a presumed historical relationship between environmental variation and sociocultural change among indigenous people of the southwestern United States. The author mentions in the first paragraph that many anthropologists believed until recently that environmental variations explain changes in the human populations of the region. The passage then goes on to point out studies that show problems with this explanation, including the lack of generally applicable characterizations of the environment in the region and lack of correlation between environmental changes and sociocultural changes. In the final paragraph the author mentions an alternative explanation in researchers’ findings suggesting that responses to environmental changes varied according to differing factors such as group size and composition, culture, contact with other groups, and individual choices.
Question 9
As the description above indicates, Choice C is the best answer: the passage introduces an explanation, presents evidence that challenges it, and offers an alternative explanation. The passage does not mention the creation of controversy or discuss flaws in research methodology; therefore, Choices A and B are incorrect. Although the passage reports findings that different groups used different adaptive responses to environmental conditions, there is no focus on the adaptations used by particular groups, so Choice D is incorrect. The passage presents recent research findings but not in defense of a long-held interpretation; therefore, Choice E is incorrect.
Question 10
The archaeologists mentioned in line 3 asserted that adverse environmental conditions caused southwestern populations to move or disappear. The question asks which finding would support this assertion.
Choices A, B, and C all describe populations that did not move away or disappear in the face of environmental changes, and hence are all incorrect. Choice D is incorrect because it does not mention a change in environmental conditions and therefore cannot support an assertion about the effects of changing environmental conditions.
Choice E is the best answer: it mentions an adverse environmental change (a long drought) that caused a population to leave the site it had inhabited, which would support the archaeologists’ assertion that such environmental changes caused such population changes.
Question 11
Choice D is the correct answer: the second paragraph says rainfall variations between local valleys cause different agricultural yields between adjacent fields and gives this as an example of how climate is not uniform within the Southwest but rather can vary significantly from place to place. Choice A is incorrect: while such variability might give rise to unpredictability, that is not how the difference in agricultural yields is being used as evidence in the passage. Choices B and C are incorrect: the passage does not make or report a claim about feeding large populations, nor does it assert that central Arizona lacks land suitable for cultivation. Choice E is incorrect: a discussion of highand low-frequency processes occurs in the third paragraph, but the author does not present geographic differences in rainfall and agricultural yield as either a high- or a
low- frequency environmental process.
Question 12
The phrasing of the question indicates that all but one of the answer choices are examples of a population responding to a high-frequency environmental process. You are asked to choose the one answer choice that does not provide such an example. Choices A, B, D, and E are incorrect because they all present responses to high-frequency environmental processes: developing water-storage jars to adapt to seasonal rainfall variations,
adapting dwellings in response to seasonal flooding, trading to acquire clothing in adaptation to seasonal temperature variations, and moving grazing herds seasonally.
Choice C is the best answer: the passage mentions fluctuations in ground water levels as a low-frequency process (lines 21–22); moving a village because of a change that takes place over the course of a generation is not a response to a high-frequency process.
Re: many anthropologists assumed that the environment of what is
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03 Sep 2020, 05:29
03 Sep 2020, 05:29
1
Tok me 11.22 min but I got all correct
Process of solving-
1. read and made points
2. went throught the notes in 30 sec and made one line summary
3. went on to the answers
Process of solving-
1. read and made points
2. went throught the notes in 30 sec and made one line summary
3. went on to the answers
