Interpreting archaeological evidence requires careful consideration of historical context. Medieval European water management systems, recently uncove...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Interpreting archaeological evidence requires careful consideration of historical context. Medieval European water management systems, recently uncovered at an excavation site, demonstrate engineering sophistication that surprises many researchers. The environmental pressures and technical knowledge available to medieval engineers, however, were fundamentally different from modern conditions. Archaeologists who fail to account for these historical differences therefore ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
wrongly assume that medieval engineers were attempting to solve the same problems as modern water management systems.
risk evaluating medieval engineering by standards that may not be historically appropriate.
tend to conflate medieval technological knowledge with that of contemporary engineers.
forgo analyzing medieval water systems in favor of examining modern engineering practices.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Interpreting archaeological evidence requires careful consideration of historical context." |
|
| "Medieval European water management systems, recently uncovered at an excavation site, demonstrate engineering sophistication that surprises many researchers." |
|
| "The environmental pressures and technical knowledge available to medieval engineers, however, were fundamentally different from modern conditions." |
|
| "Archaeologists who fail to account for these historical differences therefore ______" |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Archaeological interpretation requires understanding historical context because past and present conditions are fundamentally different.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes that archaeological interpretation needs historical context, then uses medieval water systems as an example of sophisticated engineering that surprises researchers. It emphasizes that medieval conditions were fundamentally different from today, leading to a logical consequence about what happens when archaeologists ignore these differences.
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 passage emphasizes that medieval conditions were fundamentally different from modern ones, yet medieval engineering shows sophistication that surprises many researchers
- If archaeologists do not account for these differences, they would likely make errors in how they judge or evaluate medieval achievements
- The right answer should involve some kind of inappropriate evaluation or judgment that results from applying modern standards to medieval contexts
wrongly assume that medieval engineers were attempting to solve the same problems as modern water management systems.
✗ Incorrect
- Focuses on assumptions about what problems medieval engineers were trying to solve
- The passage does not discuss different problems, but rather different conditions and sophistication levels
- Too narrow and misses the broader evaluation issue
risk evaluating medieval engineering by standards that may not be historically appropriate.
✓ Correct
- Directly addresses the evaluation problem by mentioning inappropriate standards
- This perfectly captures the consequence of ignoring fundamentally different conditions and matches our prediction about evaluation errors
tend to conflate medieval technological knowledge with that of contemporary engineers.
✗ Incorrect
- Focuses on conflating or mixing up knowledge between time periods
- The passage emphasizes different conditions, not confusion about technological knowledge
forgo analyzing medieval water systems in favor of examining modern engineering practices.
✗ Incorrect
- Suggests archaeologists would abandon medieval analysis entirely
- The passage discusses how to properly analyze medieval systems, not avoiding them