Question

Difficulty: Very hardSequence of Events

The passage details several events in Dr. Harrison's career and research. Read the passage and arrange the events below in chronological order from earliest to latest:

"It was not until the summer of 1994, when Dr. Harrison first unearthed the obsidian seal in the ruins of Carchemish, that the fragmented timeline of the Hittite scribe began to cohere. Years later, in a draft of his memoirs completed just before his retirement in 2018, he recalled the cold autumn evening of 2002 when he had finally decoded the third register of the seal. That evening, as rain lashed against his study window, Harrison was reminded of a warning his mentor, Professor Vance, had delivered during their first joint survey of the Euphrates valley in 1985. Vance had cautioned that the 'scribe of the seals' often recorded events decades after they occurred, muddying the chronological waters. This warning proved prophetic when, in 2012, carbon dating of the organic layer overlying the seal's original strata forced researchers to revise their estimates of the scribe’s active period, placing it much earlier than the 1994 excavation reports had hypothesized."

  1. 1Professor Vance warns Dr. Harrison about the chronological reliability of the Hittite scribe's recordings.
  2. 2Dr. Harrison unearths the obsidian seal at Carchemish.
  3. 3Dr. Harrison decodes the third register of the seal.
  4. 4Researchers revise the active period of the scribe using carbon dating of the organic layer overlying the seal's strata.
  5. 5Dr. Harrison completes a draft of his memoirs prior to his retirement.

Answer

The correct chronological order of the events, from earliest to latest, is: first, Professor Vance warning Dr. Harrison about the scribe's reliability (1985); second, Dr. Harrison discovering the obsidian seal (1994); third, Dr. Harrison decoding the third register (2002); fourth, researchers revising the scribe's active period using carbon dating (2012); and fifth, Dr. Harrison completing his memoirs (2018).
The correct chronological sequence is established by identifying the specific calendar year associated with each event in the passage: Vance's warning occurred in 1985; the seal was unearthed in 1994; the seal's third register was decoded in 2002; the carbon dating revision took place in 2012; and the memoir was drafted in 2018.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the year of the warning from Professor Vance.
1985
The passage states that the warning was delivered during their first joint survey of the Euphrates valley in 1985.
2
Identify the year of the obsidian seal's discovery.
1994
The passage states Dr. Harrison first unearthed the obsidian seal in the summer of 1994.
3
Identify the year of decoding the third register of the seal.
2002
The passage notes that Harrison decoded the third register of the seal on a cold autumn evening in 2002.
4
Identify the year of the carbon dating revision.
2012
The passage notes that carbon dating of the organic layer occurred in 2012, forcing researchers to revise their estimates.
5
Identify the year of completing the draft of the memoirs.
2018
The passage states Harrison completed the draft of his memoirs just before his retirement in 2018.
6
Sort the dates in ascending chronological order.
1985, 1994, 2002, 2012, 2018
Arranging the years chronologically from earliest to latest gives the final sequence.

Key Concept

Chronological Sequence of Events in a Non-linear Narrative
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