sat suite question viewer
Text 1
Fossils of the hominin Australopithecus africanus have been found in the Sterkfontein Caves of South Africa, but assigning an age to the fossils is challenging because of the unreliability of dating methods in this context. The geology of Sterkfontein has caused soil layers from different periods to mix, impeding stratigraphic dating, and dates cannot be reliably imputed from those of nearby animal bones since the bones may have been relocated by flooding.
Text 2
Archaeologists used new cosmogenic nuclide dating techniques to reevaluate the ages of A. africanus fossils found in the Sterkfontein Caves. This technique involves analyzing the cosmogenic nucleotides in the breccia—the matrix of rock fragments immediately surrounding the fossils. The researchers assert that this approach avoids the potential for misdating associated with assigning ages based on Sterkfontein’s soil layers or animal bones.
Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion in Text 1?
Explanation
Choice C is the best answer. Text 2 states that the researchers used cosmogenic nuclide dating to "avoid the potential for misdating" caused by the geology of Sterkfontein, which Text 1 describes as "challenging" and unreliable.
Choice A is incorrect. Neither text suggests that the A. africanus fossils have been "corrupted," but only that traditional dating methods are difficult in Sterkfontein because of floods and soil mixing where the fossils were found. Nothing is implied to have compromised the fossils themselves. Choice B is incorrect. This choice misreads Text 2. Text 2 agrees that stratigraphy and other methods are prone to error in the context of Sterkfontein: there’s a "potential for misdating" when evaluating age based on soil layers and bones. Choice D is incorrect. Text 2 does not state that cosmogenic nuclide dating is applied to the fossils directly but rather to the breccia that surrounds them.