Anthropologist: The earliest known permanent human settlements in the Xylos Valley date to the exact same period as the valley's first evidence of systematic agriculture. Most historians conclude that the advent of agriculture provided a reliable food surplus, enabling formerly nomadic populations to settle. However, paleoclimatological data reveals that immediately prior to this period, a severe climatic shift drastically reduced the migratory range of the valley's primary game animals. Thus, it was likely the geographic confinement of this critical food source, rather than the adoption of agriculture, that primarily precipitated the transition to permanent settlements.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the anthropologist's argument?
- In neighboring valleys that experienced the identical climatic shift but where the terrain precluded systematic agriculture, contemporaneous nomadic populations also transitioned to permanent settlements.Cevap
- BThe types of crops first cultivated in the Xylos Valley required intensive year-round maintenance and could not be successfully grown by populations moving seasonally.
- CThe primary game animals of the Xylos Valley possessed migratory patterns that were highly sensitive to even minor fluctuations in regional precipitation.
- DFollowing the climatic shift, the primary game animals of the Xylos Valley were completely incapable of surviving outside of their newly confined geographic range.
- ENomadic populations in regions that did not experience a climatic shift eventually developed systematic agriculture much later than the populations in the Xylos Valley.