Historian: Excavations at the eighth-century settlement of Dunhaven revealed subterranean storage pits containing charred barley alongside rye grains infested with a species of grain weevil that reproduces exclusively in stored grain. Because no physical traces of aboveground storage structures were found at Dunhaven, some archaeologists have concluded that the settlement stored all of its harvested grain exclusively in these underground pits. However, this specific weevil species cannot survive winters in the subterranean humidity characteristic of Dunhaven's clay soil. Therefore, Dunhaven's residents must have utilized aboveground grain storage facilities that have left no trace in the archaeological record.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the historian's argument depends?
- ABarley is substantially less vulnerable to humidity-induced spoilage in underground pits than rye.
- The infested rye grains found at Dunhaven had been stored at the settlement through at least one winter season.Cevap
- CAny eighth-century settlement that utilized aboveground grain storage built timber granaries that decomposed completely.
- DIf a grain pest cannot survive underground conditions, grain stored in those conditions will remain free of all insect contamination.
- EMaintaining aboveground granaries was the only viable method for eighth-century farmers to prevent weevil infestations.