Early medieval European Mappaemundi were not intended to serve as navigational aids; instead, they functioned as theological and historical diagrams, organizing space according to spiritual importance rather than empirical distance. Some scholars have suggested that this focus on symbolic geography reflects a widespread ignorance of practical surveying techniques during the period. However, cartographic historian Maria Werden argues that this view overlooks the highly sophisticated engineering plans and cadastral surveys that were routinely produced for land-ownership disputes at the time. According to Werden, the religious nature of medieval world maps was a deliberate choice of genre rather than a limitation of skill.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
- It presents a common explanation for a historical phenomenon that the passage subsequently challenges using another scholar's research.Answer
- BIt states the primary thesis of the cartographic historian whose theories are detailed in the latter portion of the passage.
- CIt provides a specific example of the practical surveying methods that were used to resolve land disputes during the period.
- DIt outlines a major conclusion about medieval cartography that the rest of the text seeks to validate through empirical evidence.