Bioarchaeologist: Dental calculus preserves microscopic dietary residues, such as starches and phytoliths, allowing researchers to reconstruct the nutritional practices of past human populations. Excavations at the Bronze Age site of Tell el-Aqar revealed dental calculus samples containing microscopic phytoliths from cultivated millet in over 70 percent of adult skeletons dating to 2200 BCE, but in fewer than 5 percent of adult skeletons dating to 2600 BCE. Because carbon isotope analysis of animal bones at the site shows that domesticated livestock were not fed millet during either period, agriculturalists at Tell el-Aqar must have adopted millet cultivation primarily for direct human dietary consumption between 2600 BCE and 2200 BCE.
Which of the following are unstated assumptions on which the bioarchaeologist's argument depends?
- The millet consumed by the inhabitants of Tell el-Aqar around 2200 BCE was not acquired predominantly through long-distance trade networks with other cultivating regions.Cevap
- BMillet was the single largest contributor to the overall caloric intake of the human population at Tell el-Aqar by 2200 BCE.
- The accumulation of millet phytoliths in the dental calculus of the 2200 BCE skeletons did not result primarily from using teeth in non-dietary activities such as processing millet fibers for craft production.Cevap
- DAny agricultural society that incorporates a new cereal grain into its farming system will experience a detectable shift in the dental calculus of a majority of its members within a few centuries.
- EThe overall human population of Tell el-Aqar remained relatively stable between 2600 BCE and 2200 BCE.