Archeologist: The discovery of chicken bones in a recently

Question

Archeologist: The discovery of chicken bones in a recently excavated Incan settlement, dating between 1320 and 1410 C.E., suggests that chickens were brought to the Americas by Polynesians before introduction by the Spaniards. It is also possible that contamination caused the specimens to appear older than they actually are. To settle this, scientists sequenced DNA from the ancient chicken bones and from Polynesian chickens and found that they share a genetic signature. A later genetic study revealed that the same signature is found in chickens from throughout Europe and Asia

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the findings of the later study? 
(A) European explorers in the 16th century collected live animals from throughout the Americas and returned them to Europe for study and breeding. 
(B) The Incas did not raise chicken for food. 
(C) DNA sequencing is a reliable method of identifying the migration of species from one continent to another, even over a period of centuries. 
(D) In diaries of Asian expeditions, European explorers refer to feasting on a game bird that may be related to the Polynesian chicken. 
(E) The Spaniards did not introduce chickens to the Americas until at least 1500 C.E.

pradeepskunwar · Answer

I got to A by using POE, however I still am not able to understand why A? Anyone with alternative explanation?

BlueRobin · Answer

Here is my understanding.

The whole information if summarized is as follows.

The paradox here is that The discovery of chicken bones suggests chickens were brough by polynesians BUT DNA results show a match not only between the dna of the ancient chicken bones and poly chickens but also between the dna of ancient chickens and euro and asia chickens.

So how can this be explained?

If there is evidence that chickens from america were introduced in europe and other places then it would bridge the gap.

So A does that by explaining that travellers from europe brought chickens from america to europe and hence the dna match is possible.

B, C, D, E do not offer an explanation.

shrouded1 · Answer

This is how it is resolved :

Event 1 : Polynesians bring chicken to the Americas
Fact : Europeans collected live animals from wherever they went
Event 2 : Europeans arrived in the Americas
Event 3 : Europeans take the live chicked from the Americas back with them, and these chicken are the reason we find the same "polynesian genetic sequence" back in Europe

arundas · Answer

One more 3 min+ question. I arrived at A by POE. Had to read the choices couple of times. I was bit surprised by the fact that answers revolved around 16th century and thats what made me over think this question.

feruz77 · Answer

I can hardly agree with the OA only because there is not any other option which can be more suitable. The problem with the OA is that it, i.e. A, mentions "16th century". Even if we should try to find better explanation to the last study case we have to take into account the whole text. In this regard, in the text it is written that there is another cause which brings scientists into confusion, namely, the bones may seem older also in result of desease. Without rebutting this part of the text we can hardly proove that the chicken has brought to the Americas from Polynesia and then sent to Europe or Asia. Without disproving the illness as a cause we cannot tell the resemblance of the DNA among Polynesian, American, European and Asian chickens must be explained by what is given in A. On the other hand, it should not be required that one will have a special knowledge in some subject, in our case, in history, e.g.: whether the Europeans have not discovered the Americas before the latter came to contact with Polynesians.

Moreover, the word "returned" in the ans. choice A is not appropriate here. Words such as "brought" or "sent" would be here adequate and unambiguous.

I hope, in the true GMAT one does not face such confusing conditions.

Moreover, the word "returned" in the ans. choice A is not appropriate here. Words such as "brought" or "sent" would be here adequate and unambiguous.

I hope, in the true GMAT one does not face such confusing conditions.

adityapagadala · Answer

A - European explorers in the 16th century collected live animals from throughout the Americas and returned them to Europe for study and breeding

only explains about European chicken...But it says nothing about asian chicken?

This made me sceptical abt this answer. Where did i go wrong?

ramannanda9 · Answer

They share the same signature as the Europeans  and  asian  chickens, So one should suffice no ?

adityapagadala · Answer

i think the answer should explain why/how the signature is same in Both Eupoean and asian chickens.

ramannanda9 · Answer

The signature is same for both european and asian chicken, the answer does not need to explain why european and asian chickens are same, but why american samples are same.

Posted from my mobile device

adityapagadala · Answer

Yes i accept that answer need not explain how european and asian are same. 
But i think the answer should explain how the american and asian are same too? The answer explaisn why american and europian chickens are same, but how come the asian also have same signature?. Does the explorers came to asia too?

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the findings of the later study?

As later study also have statement that asian chicken have same signature. We know they are same, but I think answer need to explain why BOTH (european and asian) of them are same as american. 
Option A doesnot help to explain how the signature is same in American and asian.

Correct me if i am wrong...!!

bb61 · Answer

The discovery of chicken bones in a recently excavated Incan settlement, dating between 1320 and 1410 C.E., suggests that chickens were brought to the Americas by Polynesians before introduction by the Spaniards. ------->the introduction of chickens by the S was after 1410 C.E.; so, if there were chickens in Incan settlement it means that there were introduced by another source than previously thought 
genetic signature among ancient chicken bones, P chickens ,and chickens throughout Europe and Asia are the same.
therefore, it is possible that the some of the American chickens took to S or the same chickens from P were taken to S.
A express similar idea.

RanjanSury · Answer

I too picked A. I too deliberated over the date mentioned (16th century). But then for me the deciding factor was the word ‘study’ in Choice A. This helped me eliminate choice D.

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

+1. And the official explanation is very vague too...maybe this question is in poor quality?

Pratyaksh1907 · Answer

Argument- Fact A - The discovery reveals that chickens were brought to America by Polynesians and the DNA of this ancient chicken shares a genetic signature with Polynesian chickens. Fact B - A later genetic study reveals that this genetic signature is found in European and Asian chicken too. Now, how can these two contradicting facts exist together, and that's the paradox? In answer choice analysis, try finding a world in which there is proof of why the genetic signature matches European and Asian? Option A is the only one that gives the reason for our question. Option D does mention Asians, but just because of that reason, it doesn't mean it's correct. The word 'maybe' is the controlling word of this option. Since, we are not certain about it, we can easily eliminate this choice. If this helps then kudos will be appreciated, Thanks

kartickdey · Answer

In option A, Asia has not been talked about. So please clarify how it can explain the findings of the last sentence

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

The information in the passage suggests that genetic evidence links ancient chickens from the Americas to Polynesian chickens, and also to chickens in Europe and Asia. We're looking for a choice that explains why the genetic signature for the ancient and Polynesian chickens is the same as that of the European and Asian chickens.

(A)  This is correct. If explorers took chickens that were related to the ancient chickens from the Americas, then bred them in Europe, it would explain the presence of the same genetic signature.

(B)  The use of the chickens is completely off-topic.

(C)  This is a general statement that doesn't explain or contradict the studies in the passage. Usually, such general statements are incorrect.

(D)  This choice suggests that chickens similar to Polynesian chickens may been in Asia for some time, but the words  "may be"  make the choice much weaker.

(E)  The study suggests that chickens first appeared in the Americas because they were introduced by someone other than the Spanish. If that ‘s the case, it doesn't matter when the Spaniards introduced chickens to the Americas.

Answer: A

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hello kartickdey

Some very old chicken bones were found from the Inca period (around 1320–1410 CE), and the DNA from these bones matched chickens from Polynesia. This made people think maybe Polynesians brought chickens to South America before the Spanish came. But then, another genetic study later showed that the same DNA signature is actually found not only in Polynesian chickens, but also in chickens from many parts of Europe and Asia.

That means this genetic match isn’t something special only to Polynesia it’s actually quite common in chickens across Europe and Asia too. So maybe the ancient Inca chickens didn’t necessarily come from Polynesia, they could have come from somewhere else that also had chickens with this same DNA. We need to find a reason why this chicken DNA type became so widespread in Europe and Asia, so that the match between Inca bones and Polynesian chickens is less strong as proof.

Option  (A)  says: In the 16th century, European explorers took live animals from the Americas back to Europe, to study them or breed them.

If that happened, chickens from the Americas (which might have originally come from Polynesia long before) could have been brought to Europe in the 1500s. Then, they could have mixed with local European and Asian chickens. Over time, the DNA signature would spread. That would explain why chickens in Europe and Asia today also share that same DNA signature. So choice  (A)  helps to explain the finding of the later study.

Archeologist: The discovery of chicken bones in a recently

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Archeologist: The discovery of chicken bones in a recently

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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