I29-28

Question

Beginning about 70 million years ago, pressure from colliding tectonic plates pushed up the land from what is now Colorado to northern Mexico. These forces eventually formed the Rocky Mountain range. About 30 million years ago, the plates began pulling in the opposite direction, stretching the crust to form mountains and low-lying basins along fault lines. The Tularosa Basin and its surrounding Sacramento and San Andres mountains formed at this time. Two to three million years ago, the ancient Rio Grande river began to flow along the southern edge of the Tularosa Basin, and only for approximately the last 12,000 years has the basin been inhabited by human groups.During the last ice age, from about 24,000 to 12,000 years ago, the climate in the Tularosa Basin region was considerably colder and wetter. As the Earth warmed approximately 11,000 years ago, ice melt and rain flowed down the mountains into the then 1,600-square-mile Lake Otero, which once covered much of the Tularosa Basin. Gradually, the climate in the basin became more arid, and Lake Otero receded, leaving large deposits of gypsum on the basin floor. The lake disappeared by about 10,000 years ago, and today all that remains of Lake Otero is a small remnant, Lake Lucero, at the foot of the San Andres Mountains.The entries below describe human groups that lived in the Tularosa Basin between approximately 10,000 BC and the late 1800s AD.
 
• Paleoindians (10000 BC – 2000 BC): Small bands of nomadic hunters who roamed the basin in search of large game animals such as mammoths and camels. Fossils of these animals have been found in modern times.
 
• Hunter-Gatherers (6000 BC – 200 AD): Descendants of Paleoindian hunters who turned to hunting smaller game and began to rely more heavily on plants for food. Over time, they began trading with other cultures and settled near water sources.
 
• Jornada Mogollon (200 AD – 1350 AD): Hunter-gatherers who settled in the Tularosa Basin at the time pottery and permanent living structures first appeared in the region. Their disappearance from the region is considered accurately dated to 1350 AD based on records of drought at the time.
 
• Apachean (1450 AD – Present): Descendants of Athabaskan speakers from Alaska and western Canada who established seasonal villages in the basin for hunting and gathering. They had few outside influences until the late 1800s, and some historians believe they may have arrived earlier than the consensus date.
 
• Spanish Colonials (1536 AD – 1800s AD): Explorers who came in search of fabled cities of gold. Although no gold was found, the horses and cattle they left behind gave rise to wild herds that still exist in the region today.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

It has been a continuous home to human populations for the past 10,000 years. 
 
• Tab 3 shows a 100-year gap between the disappearance of the Jornada Mogollon and the arrival of the Apachean, so the basin was not continuously inhabited over the past 10,000 years. So there is no support for this claim.
 
 There are multiple mountain ranges located inside the Tularosa Basin. 
 
• Tab 1 states that the Sacramento and San Andres mountains are surrounding the Tularosa Basin, not located inside it. Therefore, the basin does not contain multiple mountain ranges. So there is no support for this claim.
 
 Fossils of early humans have been discovered in the basin. 
 
• Tab 3 mentions fossils of animals such as mammoths and camels but does not mention any fossils of humans. There is no support for this claim. So there is no support for this claim.
 
 Spanish Colonials did not find valuable metals in the basin. 
 
• Tab 3 says the Spanish Colonials came in search of gold and did not find any, but it says nothing about whether they found other valuable metals. Since the statement makes a broader claim than what the tab supports, it cannot be inferred.
 
 The Tularosa Basin was not exclusively home to permanent forms of human settlement. 
 
• The Apachean are described in Tab 3 as having established  seasonal  villages in the basin, indicating their presence was not permanent. Therefore, the basin was not exclusively home to permanent human settlements. So, this statement is True.

Correct answer:

Which of the following statements about the Tularosa Basin can be most reasonably inferred from the information provided?  "The Tularosa Basin was not exclusively home to permanent forms of human settlement."

needforspeed112 · Answer

I don’t quite agree with the solution. Jornada Mogollon (200 AD – 1350 AD): Hunter-gatherers who settled in the Tularosa Basin at the time pottery and permanent living structures first appeared in the region. Their disappearance from the region is considered accurately dated to 1350 AD based on records of drought at the time.

what abt this

what abt this

Bunuel · Answer

Jornada Mogollon did build permanent structures, but the Apachean later had  seasonal  villages. That proves not all settlements were permanent, so the correct answer still holds.

Nipunh · Answer

bb   Bunuel   KarishmaB   MartyMurray   ChiranjeevSingh 
I have a doubt, as the first tab states, "Two to three million years ago, the ancient Rio Grande river began to flow along the southern edge of the Tularosa Basin, and only for approximately the last 12,000 years has the basin been inhabited by human groups." On the basis of this, can't we really say that yes indeed they have been living for the past 10,000 years? I could see the gap, and in fact, that's the reason why I took some time here... in third tab we are given "The entries below describe human groups that lived in the Tularosa Basin between approximately 10,000 BC and the late 1800s AD." But this doesn't explicitly mean that the author has presented all the data... there might be a few groups that they might have missed/not covered...

This was my reasoning for choosing A instead of E. Please let me know where I might be going wrong. Thanks in advance!

Bunuel · Answer

Tab 3 lists the human groups that lived in the Tularosa Basin between 10,000 BC and the late 1800s AD, and this list clearly shows a 100-year gap between the Jornada Mogollon and the Apachean. Since we are asked what can be inferred from the information provided, there is nothing in the tab to support that the basin was a continuous home to humans for the past 10,000 years. On the other hand, Tab 3 directly states that the Apachean established seasonal villages, so it supports that the basin was not exclusively home to permanent settlements. That’s why E is correct, not A.

Luca46 · Answer

I like the solution - it’s helpful.

I29-28

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	It has been a continuous home to human populations for the past 10,000 years.
	There are multiple mountain ranges located inside the Tularosa Basin.
	Fossils of early humans have been discovered in the basin.
	Spanish Colonials did not find valuable metals in the basin.
	The Tularosa Basin was not exclusively home to permanent forms of human settlement.