Question

12th grade pre-assessment
1 on a cold winter’s day in 1980, a group of recreational cavers entered a narrow, wet stream passage south of knoxville, tennessee. they navigated a slippery mud slope and a tight keyhole through the cave wall, trudged through the stream itself, ducked through another keyhole, and climbed more mud. eventually, they entered a high and relatively dry passage deep in the cave’s “dark zone” – beyond the reach of external light.

on the walls around them, they began to see lines and figures traced into remnant mud banks laid down long ago when the stream flowed at this higher level. no modern or historic graffiti marred the surfaces. they saw images of animals, people, and transformational characters blending human characteristics with those of birds, and those of snakes with mammals.

ancient cave art has long been one of the most compelling of all artifacts from the human past, fascinating both to scientists and to the public at large. its visual expressions resonate across the ages, as if the ancients speak to us from deep in time. remarkably, this group of cavers in 1980 had happened upon the first ancient cave art site in north america.

since then, archaeologists like me have discovered dozens more of these cave art sites in the southeast. we’ve been able to learn details about when cave art first appeared in the region, when it was most frequently produced, and what it might have been used for. we have also learned a great deal by working with the living descendants of the cave art makers, the present-day native american peoples of the southeast, about what the cave art means and how important it was and is to indigenous communities.

cave art in america?

assessment questions

question 19

how does the author develop the idea that cave art was important to ancient native americans?

a. by suggesting that cave art is still created today

b. by detailing what was recorded through cave art

c. by highlighting how difficult it was to create cave art

d. by explaining the processes by which cave art was created

Explanation:

• Option A: The passage doesn't suggest cave art is still created today, so A is incorrect.
• Option B: The author details the content of the cave art (images of animals, people, transformational characters) and what archaeologists learned from it (details about when it appeared, its uses, and its importance to Native Americans), which helps develop the idea of its importance.
• Option C: The passage focuses on the discovery and meaning of cave art, not the difficulty of creating it, so C is incorrect.
• Option D: The passage doesn't explain the creation processes of cave art, so D is incorrect.

Answer:

B. by detailing what was recorded through cave art