The following sentences are from a draft of an essay about Maya engineering. To ensure that the paragraph logically builds its claim that Maya engineering successfully addressed water scarcity, in what order should these sentences be placed?
- 1Many ancient Maya cities were built far from natural rivers, forcing builders to design sophisticated systems to collect and preserve water.
- 2At the city of Tikal, engineers excavated massive reservoirs from limestone quarries and lined them with plaster to prevent seepage.
- 3These plaster-lined basins were connected to a series of paved canals, which channeled seasonal rainwater directly from public plazas into the reservoirs.
- 4Consequently, these engineered reservoirs held enough water to support a population of tens of thousands of residents throughout the dry season.
Answer
The logical order of the sentences is: the sentence establishing the general water scarcity problem, followed by the sentence introducing the reservoirs at Tikal, then the sentence detailing the canal connections to those basins, and concluding with the sentence stating the population supported by the system.
The paragraph begins with the general claim that Maya cities built far from rivers required sophisticated water management systems. It then provides the concrete example of the reservoirs at Tikal, which were lined with plaster. The next sentence builds on this detail by explaining how 'these plaster-lined basins' were filled using paved canals. Finally, the paragraph concludes with the result of this system—that it successfully supported tens of thousands of residents throughout the dry season.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Supporting Claims with Evidence and Details
Estimated Time:1m 30s