As to When the First People Populated the American Subcontinent GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

As to when the first people populated the American subcontinent is hotly debated. Until recently, the Clovis people, based on evidence found in New Mexico, were thought to have been the first to have arrived, some 13,000 years ago. Yet evidence gathered from other sites suggest the Americas had been settled at least 1,000 years prior to the Clovis. The “Clovis first” idea, nonetheless, was treated as gospel, backed by supporters who, at least initially, outright discounted any claims that suggested precedence by non-Clovis people. While such a stance smacked of fanaticism, proponents did have a solid claim: if the Clovis peoples crossed the Bering Strait 13,000 years ago, only after it had become ice-free, how would a people have been able to make a similar trip but over ice?

A recent school of thought, backed by Weber, provides the following answer: pre-Clovis people reached the Americas by relying on a sophisticated maritime culture, which allowed them to take advantage of refugia, or small areas in which aquatic life flourished. Thus they were able to make the long journey by hugging the coast as far south as to what is today British Columbia. Additionally, they were believed to have fashioned a primitive form of crampon so that they would be able to dock in these refugia and avail themselves of the microfauna. Still, how such a culture developed in the first place remains unanswered.

The Solutrean theory has been influential in answering this question, a fact that may seem paradoxical—and startling—to those familiar with its line of reasoning: the Clovis people were actually Solutreans, an ancient seafaring culture along the Iberian peninsula, who had--astoundingly given the time period--crossed into the Americas via the Atlantic ocean. Could not a similar Siberian culture, if not the pre-Clovis themselves, have displayed equal nautical sophistication?

Even if one subscribes to this line of reasoning, the “Clovis first” school still have an objection: proponents of a pre-Clovis people rely solely on the Monte Verde site in Chile, a site so far south that its location invites yet another question: What of the 6,000 miles of coastline between the ice corridor and Monte Verde? Besides remains found in network of caves in Oregon, there has been scant evidence of a pre-Clovis peoples. Nonetheless, Meade and Pizinsky claim that a propitious geologic accident could account for this discrepancy: Monte Verde was located near a peat bog that essentially fossilized the village. Archaeologists uncovered two wooden stakes, which, at one time, were used in twelve huts. Furthermore plant species associated with areas 150 miles away were found, suggesting a trade network. These findings indicate that the Clovis may not have been the first to people the Americas, yet more excavation, both in Monte Verde and along the coast, must be conducted in order to determine the extent of pre-Clovis settlements in the Americas.

‘As to when the first people populated the American subcontinent is hotly debated’ is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analysing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. It can be inferred from the passage that the reason the author finds the Solutrean hypothesis both startling and paradoxical is that

(A) ancient cultures were in most likelihood unable to develop such a sophisticated form of maritime transport that they were able to cross the Atlantic
(B) it supports the Clovis school of thought, and posits the existence of a capacity not commonly associated with ancient people
(C) the Clovis people had crossed from Siberia navigating across a difficult ice corridor, whereas the pre-Clovis people had sailed, with far less difficulty, across the Atlantic ocean
(D) it suggests that the pre-Clovis people had a way to circumvent the ice-corridor, yet were unlikely to have traveled as far south as modern-day Chile
(E) it runs counter to one of the chief tenets of the “Clovis first” school of thought

2. According to the passage, Meade and Pizinsky address the question, “What of the 6,000 miles of coastline...”, by offering up the Monte Verde site for which of the following reasons?

(A) The Monte Verde settlement was so rudimentary that it fundamentally differs from known Clovis settlements.
(B) Monte Verde is one of the only pre-Clovis sites found between Monte Verde and the ice corridor, and thus provides compelling evidence of a pre-Clovis settlement.
(C) The circumstances that allowed scientists to discover Monte Verde were so unique that such circumstances were unlikely to have occurred in sites between Monte Verde and the ice corridor.
(D) Evidence that the Americas were settled over thousand years ago provides support for the Solutrean hypothesis, because it suggests that water travel over long distances was possible.
(E) The spread of plant species over 150 miles from the Monte Verde site indicate that there were numerous settlements throughout the Americas, beginning from the ice corridor and stretching to Monte Verde.

3. According to the passage, the existence of the refugia would have enabled pre-Clovis people to do which of the following?

(A) Access a form of sustenance on an arduous journey
(B) Find a place to dock their watercraft so they could undertake inland exploration
(C) Develop a sophisticated maritime culture rivaling that of the Solutreans
(D) Build settlements around the coastline
(E) Access inland regions otherwise cut off to those on watercraft

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