SAT OwlArchaeologists excavating a Bronze Age settlement found that nearly all of the pottery from the site's earliest layers was made from local clay. In later layers, about a third of the pottery was made from clay found only in a region some 200 kilometers to the south, yet its shapes and decorations were identical to those of the local ware. Because potters in the southern region made vessels in a distinctly different style, the archaeologists concluded that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
the settlement's potters stopped using local clay entirely in the later period.
the southern region's potters eventually adopted the settlement's style for all of their vessels.
trade between the settlement and the southern region declined over time.
the clay itself, rather than finished pots made in the southern tradition, was likely what traveled from the south to the settlement.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
The later pots used southern clay but looked exactly like local ware, and southern potters worked in a different style. If finished southern pots had been imported, they would show the southern style. The more likely explanation is that the raw clay was brought north and shaped by potters working in the local style, which is choice D.
Choice B overreaches: the evidence concerns pots found at the settlement and says nothing about what southern potters made for themselves.
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