Question

Though most people view the printing press as the singular catalyst for the European Renaissance, it was actually the introduction of rag paper that made this intellectual leap possible. Before the fourteenth century, European documents were written on parchment made from animal skins—a process that was both labor-intensive and prohibitively expensive. A single Bible required the skins of hundreds of sheep, making books a luxury reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Rag paper, made from recycled linen and cotton rags, offered a far cheaper alternative. Consequently, the cost of written material plummeted, and literacy rates began to climb even before Gutenberg cast his first metal type. Rag paper provided the affordable medium that the printing press would later exploit to distribute knowledge on an unprecedented scale.

Based on the passage, the sentence 'Consequently, the cost of written material plummeted, and literacy rates began to climb even before Gutenberg cast his first metal type' primarily serves to do which of the following?