Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Implicit or Unstated Main Ideas

For decades, scholars of antiquity assumed that the cuneiform script of ancient Sumer—widely considered the world's earliest writing system—sprang from a sudden burst of creative invention, likely intended to record royal decrees or religious epics. However, excavations in the mid-twentieth century unearthed thousands of small, geometric clay tokens dating back to 8000 BCE. These tokens, representing specific quantities of agricultural goods like grain or sheep, were stored in hollow clay spheres called envelopes to secure transactions. To identify the contents without breaking the spheres, accountants began pressing the tokens into the wet clay exterior before sealing them inside. Over time, these two-dimensional impressions rendered the physical tokens redundant; scribes realized they could dispense with the three-dimensional tokens entirely and simply draw the symbols directly onto flat clay tablets. This evolutionary pathway suggests that the primary driver behind the invention of writing was not artistic expression or political propaganda, but rather the mundane administrative necessity of managing economic transactions in increasingly complex urban societies.

Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

  1. The invention of writing evolved from simple agricultural accounting systems rather than sudden political or creative innovations.Answer
  2. B
    Human civilizations have always relied on complex symbolic communication to record their history and manage their societies.
  3. C
    Ancient Mesopotamian accountants sealed geometric clay tokens inside hollow clay spheres to secure transactions.
  4. D
    Cuneiform writing was originally created by Sumerian kings to catalog royal decrees and religious epics.

Answer

The invention of writing evolved from simple agricultural accounting systems rather than sudden political or creative innovations.
The correct answer accurately synthesizes the passage's thesis: the archaeological evidence of clay tokens and clay envelopes demonstrates that writing did not emerge from a sudden creative or political impulse, but rather evolved gradually out of utilitarian accounting practices in Mesopotamian societies.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the author's primary focus and thesis statement in the passage.
The final sentence explicitly states that the primary driver of the invention of writing was the administrative necessity of managing economic transactions.
ACT Reading passages often state their main premise or underlying argument near the end, contrasting it with a traditional assumption mentioned at the beginning.
2
Analyze how the details in the passage support this final conclusion.
The historical description of clay tokens, clay envelopes, and the transition to impressions on clay tablets shows a step-by-step evolution from accounting to writing.
Understanding the function of details ensures that the chosen main idea aligns with the structural progression of the text.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that best captures this evolution and central argument without being overly broad, overly narrow, or factually incorrect.
The correct option accurately states that writing evolved from simple accounting systems, contrasting it with political or creative innovations, which directly reflects the main idea.
Comparing options against specific criteria helps eliminate distractors that represent common reading errors.

Key Concept

Identifying the unstated or implicit main idea of a passage by tracing the author's argument and differentiating it from supporting details or traditional assumptions.
Rate this question

Topics

Identifying Implicit or Unstated Main Ideas

More questions from this topic