PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 16
Hundreds of clay tablets marked in cuneiform have(447 more words not shown)
With which one of the(19 more words not shown)
- ASociety members' trade(12 more words not shown)
- BReligious rituals were(12 more words not shown)
- CSociety members regarded(12 more words not shown)
- DThe society eventually(8 more words not shown)
- EWithout a readily(18 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
What happened to the tokens in Schmandt-Besserat's account? Marks on tablets replaced them. Once marks could do the representational work, people no longer needed a separate clay object each time they wanted to record an item.
What we’re looking for
That gives us a supported inference about the society. It doesn't give us permission to invent its governmental structure or rank everything its members valued.
Working the answers
- A
Official records of contributions to temple pools don't establish that a strong central government managed members' trade and other economic activities. That describes a much broader system of control than the account supplies.
- B
Temples are mentioned, but nothing compares the importance of religious rituals with agriculture and trade. A recordkeeping theory doesn't establish which activities people valued more.
- C
Contributing goods to a common pool is different from treating everything anyone produces as everyone's property. The account gives us the former, not this sweeping ownership rule.
- DCorrect
The token system was replaced by marks on tablets. That supports the idea that the physical tokens came to be seen as redundant: their function could be performed without retaining the objects themselves.
- E
The artifacts were made of clay, but no claim says representation through tokens required that material. What people actually used doesn't establish what they could or could not have developed without it.
More Application questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Application questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.