Archaeologist Christiana Kohler and her team excavated the Egyptian tomb of Queen Merneith, the wife of a First Dynasty pharaoh....
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Archaeologist Christiana Kohler and her team excavated the Egyptian tomb of Queen Merneith, the wife of a First Dynasty pharaoh. Some scholars claim that she also ruled Egypt on her own and was actually the first female pharaoh. The team found a tablet in Merneith's tomb with writing suggesting that she was in charge of the country's treasury and other central offices. Whether Merneith was a pharaoh or not, this discovery supports the idea that Merneith likely ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Archaeologist Christiana Kohler and her team excavated the Egyptian tomb of Queen Merneith, the wife of a First Dynasty pharaoh.' |
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| 'Some scholars claim that she also ruled Egypt on her own and was actually the first female pharaoh.' |
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| 'The team found a tablet in Merneith's tomb with writing suggesting that she was in charge of the country's treasury and other central offices.' |
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| 'Whether Merneith was a pharaoh or not, this discovery supports the idea that Merneith likely ______' |
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Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Archaeological evidence from Queen Merneith's tomb suggests she held significant governmental power, regardless of whether she was technically a pharaoh.
Argument Flow: The passage introduces an archaeological discovery and ongoing scholarly debate about Merneith's role as potentially the first female pharaoh. It then presents new evidence from a tablet showing she controlled important government functions. Finally, it concludes that this evidence supports a particular inference about her role, independent of the pharaoh debate.
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
- The tablet shows Merneith was 'in charge of the country's treasury and other central offices.' This is concrete evidence of governmental responsibility and authority. The phrase 'whether Merneith was a pharaoh or not' tells us we're looking for something that would be true regardless of her exact title.
- Key elements the correct answer must have:
- Should reflect the governmental control shown by the tablet evidence
- Must be something that works whether she was pharaoh or not
- Should be a reasonable conclusion from controlling treasury and central offices
- So the right answer should indicate that Merneith held significant governmental authority or responsibility.
- This directly matches what the tablet evidence shows - controlling treasury and central offices clearly indicates an important governmental role
- Works perfectly with the 'whether pharaoh or not' qualifier - she could have this important role either way
- This is exactly what we'd conclude from someone being 'in charge of the country's treasury and other central offices'
- The passage clearly states she was 'wife of a First Dynasty pharaoh,' placing her during (not after) the First Dynasty
- Nothing in the tablet evidence relates to timing or dynasty periods
- Contradicts the established timeline given in the passage
- The tablet evidence is about domestic governmental control (treasury, central offices), not travel
- No information in the passage suggests anything about travel or international activities
- The passage mentions finding 'writing' on the tablet but gives no indication this was a new form of writing
- The evidence is about what the writing said (her governmental role), not about the writing system itself
- Nothing suggests Merneith created or innovated any writing methods