Q17

[AyakiK696]

I chose A for this question because it was the only one specific to "Mesolithic artwork," whereas the other answer choices spoke about "certain premodern populations," which I thought might NOT be relevant? Or does that not matter since we're supposed to give an example of the TYPE of evidence that would support the author's proposal, and not actually evidence that would support it?

[ohthatpatrick]

First we ask ourselves, "What was the author's proposal"?

PROPOSAL:
Mesolithic (ancient) humans made paths through the woods because they had a general fear of the wilderness.

(A) Doesn't connect to fear
(B) Doesn't connect to fear
(C) Doesn't connect to fear

(D) and (E) each connect to fear
(D)'s "heightened anxiety in wilderness areas"
(E)'s "wanting protection in the forest"

What makes (E) better than (D)? (E) is about premodern people, while (D) is about modern people.

Line 30 shows that the author is aware that we might think that anxiety of the wilderness is just a modern phenomenon, for humans that have spent their lives in cities rather than in nature.

So evidence of MODERN people being afraid of the woods isn't as compelling as evidence of "PRIMITIVE" people being afraid of the woods.

premodern = pre-civilization = similar to the hunter/gatherer tribes of our ancestral human lineage

Hope this helps.