In 1901, An Assortment of Artifacts was Recovered From a 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea.

Reading Passage Question

In 1901, an assortment of artifacts was recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea. Among them were calcified clumps of corroded bronze that proved to be fragments of an ancient astronomical device, a device now referred to as the Antikythera mechanism. When archaeologists removed the corroded material, they uncovered not only gears and dials but also an inscription that allowed them to date the mechanism to the first century BCE. At first, this inscription appeared unsurprising, given the historical timeline of Greek navigation as well as the site of the artifact's discovery. Had it not been for the complexity of the artifact's gear system, archaeologists would have had every reason to misjudge the significance of this find. However, there was clear physical indication that a gear tooth was missing from one part of the device and that the mechanism had been mended in another place; the mechanical knowledge required to create and maintain such an instrument far exceeded what had been credited to the Greeks, based on ancient Greek texts, at the time of the shipwreck.

Over a century later, archaeologists used X-ray tomography to aid their analysis. This technique enabled them to penetrate the corrosion and expose more inscriptions, to create digital images of the device, and ultimately to reconstruct a three-dimensional model that showed the position of the gears. The analysis appeared to confirm not only the original hypothesis that the Antikythera mechanism was some sort of astronomical device but also that the ancient Greeks had knowledge of clock-making techniques and had used the mechanism as a rudimentary computer to predict eclipses and record an anomaly of the moon's motion.

“In 1901, an assortment of artifacts was recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea.” - this is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. The passage suggests that the Antikythera mechanism is significant because it

1. indicated that scholars may have misinterpreted other information in Greek texts
2. confirmed that the dating of other shipwreck artifacts may be imprecise
3. suggested that the timeline of ancient Greek technological innovation needed revision
4. exposed the sophistication of ancient Greek navigational techniques
5. raised the question of whether the artifact was produced by the Greeks or acquired by them

2. The author most likely mentions the mending of the Antikythera mechanism in order to

1. accuse archeologists of fabricating evidence
2. explain why archeologists were able to deduce the state of ancient Greek technology
3. stress the effectiveness of the technology used to reconstruct the artifact
4. explain why archaeologists initially failed to recognize the importance of the discovery
5. suggest that further analysis of the artifact may yield important results

3. According to the passage, which of the following played a role in confirming the function of the Antikythera mechanism?

1. Realizing that the mechanism had been mended
2. Dating the site of discovery to the first century BCE
3. Discovering an inscription that described an unusual feature of lunar motion
4. Appreciating the complexity of the artifact's gear system
5. Digitally visualizing inscriptions on the device

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