Q16

[EmileeW523]

I chose A. I get that it's kind of a stretch to say that there's a "strong centralized government" just based on "official records" and "temple-based pools" in the passage. But isn't that better than D? D seems like more of a stretch because it's trying to say that based on the progression of how the writings got more and more simple (went from using tokens to using a few simple marks on a tablet) , the "society eventually came to regard the clay tokens as redundant". The jump to "redundant" argument seems really stretching it.

Help!

[ohthatpatrick]

Answer expected in lines/paragraph:
Something about "the society of clay tokens" … P2 … lines 28-37

Any prephrase?
We know that this society had farming, that villagers pooled together their grain and livestock (at least partially) by contributing to a collective supply at the temple, and that their crafts were starting to get more diverse and sophisticated.

Correct answer:
D

Answer choice analysis:

(A) "Strong centralized govt authority"? Never mentioned. Instead, it seems like a religious authority (temple-based) is in charge of pooling together resources.

(B) "Religious rituals"? Never mentioned.

(C) Extreme: "ANYTHING produced by anyone belonged to all?"

(D) Yes, I guess. In P3 they move onto clay tablets (38-40) and we hear how markings on the tablets served the same function as the tokens originally did. (46-51)

(E) Extreme/speculative: "The only way you could have developed a token system was with a good supply of raw clay"

Takeaway/Pattern: This question stem is a bit of a misdirect. By putting "society" in there, it seems like they're targeting the societal things we hear at the end of P2. Instead, they use those ideas to write some trap answers, and they end up just rewarding the understanding of the evolution of the clay tokens into clay tablets (and thus the evolution into an abstract and flexible written form).

#officialexplanation

[HelenH783]

I also chose A and on review see how it is wrong-- I think the issue is actually not the centralized government piece (I do think "official records" and "temple-based" gives us enough to qualify here, especially considering that in early societies religious institutions and government were often intertwined), but rather the "trade and other economic activities" part. We only know about one economic activity-- contributions to a centralized authority. Don't know anything about trade, don't know about any other economic activities, which I think makes this answer "too strong".

In the absence of D, A would probably be the best answer choice. D, though, is proven in lines 38-40: "The token system... was replaced in about 3100 B.C. by a system of marks on clay tablets." ("replaced" seems like a good fit for "redundant" in the answer choice.)