Archaeological excavations led by Dr. Maria Santos have uncovered what appears to be the oldest known ceremonial mask in the...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Archaeological excavations led by Dr. Maria Santos have uncovered what appears to be the oldest known ceremonial mask in the Americas. The intricately carved jade artifact, discovered in a burial chamber in Guatemala, dates to approximately 2,100 years ago. Santos and her team believe the mask belonged to a Maya ruler from the Late Preclassic period, which spanned from roughly 400 BCE to 250 CE. The discovery provides new insights into early Maya royal burial practices.
According to the text, how old is the ceremonial mask that Santos and her team discovered?
approximately 2,100 years old
400 years old
250 years old
roughly 2,350 years old
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Archaeological excavations led by Dr. Maria Santos have uncovered what appears to be the oldest known ceremonial mask in the Americas." |
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| "The intricately carved jade artifact, discovered in a burial chamber in Guatemala, dates to approximately 2,100 years ago." |
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| "Santos and her team believe the mask belonged to a Maya ruler from the Late Preclassic period, which spanned from roughly 400 BCE to 250 CE." |
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| "The discovery provides new insights into early Maya royal burial practices." |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Dr. Maria Santos discovered what appears to be the oldest known ceremonial mask in the Americas, a 2,100-year-old jade artifact from a Maya ruler's burial chamber in Guatemala.
Argument Flow: The passage moves from announcing the discovery to providing specific details about the mask's age, material, and location, then offers the team's interpretation of its historical context, and finally explains why this find matters for understanding Maya burial practices.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our passage analysis, we can see that the second sentence gives us the exact age: "dates to approximately 2,100 years ago."
- This is straightforward factual information that doesn't require any interpretation or calculation.
- The correct answer should state that the mask is approximately 2,100 years old.
approximately 2,100 years old
✓ Correct
- This directly matches what the passage states: "dates to approximately 2,100 years ago" using the exact wording from the text.
400 years old
✗ Incorrect
- This number (400) comes from the Late Preclassic period date range "400 BCE to 250 CE" but this is the time period the civilization existed, not the age of the mask.
250 years old
✗ Incorrect
- This number (250) also comes from the Late Preclassic period range, referring to when the period ended, not the mask's age.
roughly 2,350 years old
✗ Incorrect
- This number doesn't appear anywhere in the passage and represents a miscalculation of the stated age.