Free Practice Question
RC · Reading Comprehension
605-655
Short Passage - Social Science
Reading Passage
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, many Western Pueblo settlements in what is now the southwestern United Line States may have possessed distinctly hierarchical organizational structures. These communities' agricultural systems-which were "intensive" in the use of labor rather than "extensive" in area-may have given rise to political leadership that managed both labor and food resources. That formal management of food resources was needed is suggested by the large size of storage spaces located around some communal Great Kivas (underground ceremonial chambers). Though no direct evidence exists that such spaces were used to store food, Western Pueblo communities lacking sufficient arable land to support their populations could have preserved the necessary extra food, including imported foodstuffs, in such apparently communal spaces.
Moreover, evidence of specialization in producing raw materials and in manufacturing ceramics and textiles indicates differentiation of labor within and between communities. The organizational and managerial demands of such specialization strengthen the possibility that a decision-making elite existed, an elite whose control over labor, the use of community surpluses, and the acquisition of imported goods would have led to a concentration of economic resources in their own hands. Evidence for differential distribution of wealth is found in burials of the period: some include large quantities of pottery, jewelry, and other artifacts, whereas others from the same sites lack any such materials.
Moreover, evidence of specialization in producing raw materials and in manufacturing ceramics and textiles indicates differentiation of labor within and between communities. The organizational and managerial demands of such specialization strengthen the possibility that a decision-making elite existed, an elite whose control over labor, the use of community surpluses, and the acquisition of imported goods would have led to a concentration of economic resources in their own hands. Evidence for differential distribution of wealth is found in burials of the period: some include large quantities of pottery, jewelry, and other artifacts, whereas others from the same sites lack any such materials.
According to the passage, which of the following is probably true of the storage spaces mentioned in line 14?
Answer Choices
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They were used by the community elite for storage of their own food supplies.
B
They served a ceremonial as well as a practical function.
C
Their size is an indication of the wealth of the particular community to which they belonged.
D
Their existence proves that the community to which they belonged imported large amounts of food.
E
They belonged to and were used by the community as a whole.
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Difficulty
605-655
Type
RC
Category