Text 1
Many cognitive archaeologists argue that European Upper Paleolithic cave paintings were created primarily as part of shamanic rituals. Researcher Elena Rostova posits that the placement of animal depictions in deep, acoustic-rich chambers of caves indicates that these spaces served as conduits for altered states of consciousness. According to Rostova, the repetitive, geometric signs accompanying the animal figures represent entoptic phenomena—visual patterns generated by the human brain during trance states—rather than early attempts at notation or graphic communication.
Text 2
Linguist Clara Thorne and colleagues analyzed the distribution of thirty specific geometric signs across various Ice Age sites. They discovered that these symbols recur in highly structured pairs and sequences throughout a twenty-thousand-year period, showing consistent patterns of regional variation. Thorne argues that this high degree of systemic repetition suggests the signs functioned as a shared, conventionalized graphic code for transmitting specific semantic information, such as tribal markers or seasonal migration guides, rather than serving as the spontaneous, subjective visual bi-products of ritual ecstasy.
Based on the passages, how would Clara Thorne (Text 2) most likely characterize Elena Rostova's (Text 1) interpretation of the geometric signs accompanying the cave paintings?
- AAs a perspective that correctly identifies the cave symbols as early notation but fails to link them to seasonal migrations.
- BAs an argument that fails to recognize that the geometric signs were subjective, spontaneous by-products of trance states.
- As an interpretation that fails to account for the systematic organization and consistent distribution of the signs across different locations.Answer
- DAs a hypothesis that relies on the assumption that ancient writing systems could only develop in acoustic-rich environments.