Traditional archaeological excavations often damage or destroy the very artifacts they aim to study due to invasive digging techniques or...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Traditional archaeological excavations often damage or destroy the very artifacts they aim to study due to invasive digging techniques or exposure to environmental elements. But archaeologist Dr. Elena Rodriguez and her colleagues have pioneered non-invasive methods that preserve site integrity while still yielding valuable data. Ground-penetrating radar technology allows the team to create detailed subsurface maps without disturbing the soil, revealing the location and approximate size of buried structures and artifacts before any excavation begins.
Which choice best states the purpose of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
It mentions a technique discussed in the text that researchers plan to test in upcoming excavations.
It details the problems that motivated the archaeological methods discussed in the text.
It provides an example of how the approach described in the text helps achieve the researchers' goals.
It presents a reason why traditional excavation problems will continue to occur in archaeology.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Traditional archaeological excavations often damage or destroy the very artifacts they aim to study due to invasive digging techniques or exposure to environmental elements.' |
|
| 'But archaeologist Dr. Elena Rodriguez and her colleagues have pioneered non-invasive methods that preserve site integrity while still yielding valuable data.' |
|
| 'Ground-penetrating radar technology allows the team to create detailed subsurface maps without disturbing the soil, revealing the location and approximate size of buried structures and artifacts before any excavation begins.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Dr. Rodriguez has developed non-invasive archaeological methods that solve traditional excavation problems by preserving sites while still gathering valuable data.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes the damage problem with traditional archaeology, then presents Dr. Rodriguez's non-invasive solution, and finally provides ground-penetrating radar as a concrete example.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The purpose or function of the underlined portion within the overall text structure
What type of answer do we need? Question characterization: Purpose question asking how a specific sentence serves the passage's argument
Any limiting keywords? [content not provided]
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The underlined portion provides a concrete example of how the non-invasive methods work in practice
- It demonstrates how ground-penetrating radar implements the approach described earlier to achieve the researchers' goals of preserving site integrity while getting valuable data
It mentions a technique discussed in the text that researchers plan to test in upcoming excavations.
✗ Incorrect
- Claims this describes future plans, but the passage presents ground-penetrating radar as current practice
It details the problems that motivated the archaeological methods discussed in the text.
✗ Incorrect
- Says it details problems that motivated the methods, but the problems were already described in the first sentence
It provides an example of how the approach described in the text helps achieve the researchers' goals.
✓ Correct
- Recognizes that the underlined portion provides an example of the approach and shows how it helps achieve the researchers' goals
It presents a reason why traditional excavation problems will continue to occur in archaeology.
✗ Incorrect
- Claims it presents reasons why problems will continue, but it actually describes technology that solves problems