PrepTest 146, Section 4, Question 17
Hundreds of clay tablets marked in cuneiform have(447 more words not shown)
The passage states that the(7 more words not shown)
- Awas not deciphered(4 more words not shown)
- Bused relatively few(2 more words not shown)
- Ceventually evolved into(7 more words not shown)
- Dtranscribed a language(10 more words not shown)
- Etranscribed a language(9 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Stay with the writing on the Uruk tablets in the opening. The author tells us its approximate date, says it uses few pictographs, and illustrates its abstract signs with sheep and metal. This is a direct retrieval question; the correct choice should match something actually stated about that writing.
Working the answers
- A
1992 is the publication year of Schmandt-Besserat's book. It isn't given as the year archaeologists deciphered the tablets.
- BCorrect
The second sentence explicitly says the writing “uses relatively few pictographs.” That is the fact this answer restates.
- C
This transfers the developmental story to the wrong subject. The account traces the token system into increasingly abstract writing; it doesn't say that the particular Uruk writing introduced in the opening subsequently evolved into a still more flexible linguistic system.
- D
The Jordan and nearby rivers locate sites where tokens were found. The author doesn't identify a commonly spoken language there that the Uruk tablets transcribed.
- E
The puzzle concerns abstract writing appearing at such an early date. We aren't told that the spoken language being transcribed was much older than expected. The age of a writing system and the age of a spoken language are different matters.
More Detail questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Detail questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.