What evidence indicated that bananas were being cultivated in New Guinea during an earlier period than was previously thought? C

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问题
What evidence indicated that bananas were being cultivated in New Guinea during an earlier period than was previously thought? Click on 3 answers.
Listen to part of a lecture in an Anthropology class.
Professor: We are aware that early agriculture arose independently in several regions of the world, for example, the Middle East, China, Southeast Asia, and parts of the Americas, roughly 10,000 years ago. And then agriculture spread from those areas to the rest of the world, lt is now believed by some archaeologists that agriculture also developed independently in New Guinea. Up here, you can see a huge island on this map located in the Southwest Pacific, north of Australia.
    So for many years, it was considered that New Guinea domesticated crops and animals introduced from Southeast Asia about 3,500 years ago. Then in the 1960s and 70s, researchers explored sites in the island, hoping to find some evidence of independent agriculture development. Unfortunately, though, the research was unsuccessful to gather some conclusive evidence to support their speculation. For example, although evidence was found in deforestation, which is from at least 7,000 years ago, which is long before we’ve thought previously, it was unclear whether the forest had been cleared by farmers to plant crops or by hunter-gatherers to hunt more easily. And most plant remains like seeds and fruits don’t preserve well in swampy grounds. You know, New Guinea has a very humid environment, so really the proof was limited.
    But recently a group of archaeologists have come up with some pretty convincing support from a site that had been previously examined: Kuk swamp. As its name implies, it is located on a wetland margin, in the upper Wahgi Valley of the New Guinea highlands. According to their findings, they identified a succession of phases of agriculture development in the wetland, and it actually predated the earliest known agricultural influence from Southeast Asia. By using a modern archaeological method, they were able to analyze the sediment samples from each layer of the earth at the site in Kuk. From the oldest soil layer, dating back 9,000 years, they found some features such as pits, postholes and irrigation draining ditches, which provide evidence for very early phase of agriculture. That is, these all indicate that crops were being planted.
    From a higher layer of soil, the second phase, they identified regularly distributed mounds. Mounds were constructed in order to plant crops that don’t grow well in wet soil, such as bananas, because, remember, Kuk is a swampy wetland, and bananas can’t tolerate the conditions there. And in the layer from Kuk’s third phase, an extensive network of ditches and drainage channels have been found. They were excellent examples of transformation of agricultural practices. Since the archaeologists had more advanced techniques than were available from earlier researchers, the archaeologists also were able to identify microfossils in the soil from banana plants, and also grains of starch from taro date from about 10,000 years ago. lt was really significant to find taro remains because it meant that it must have been planted there, brought from the low areas, because taro doesn’t ordinarily grow in the high lands.
    When it comes to bananas, in sediment samples dating from about 7,000 years ago, researchers also found a high percentage of fossils from banana plants. This proved that bananas were deliberately planted, because where bananas grow naturally, the concentration of the plant fossil is lower. Bananas don’t naturally grow so densely. In fact, recent genetic comparison research suggests that the type of banana grown in New Guinea was domesticated there; it was then brought to Southeast Asia.
    Well, usually, we expect to see certain social changes brought about by the development of agriculture, structural changes in the society like rapid population surges and different social classes. But New Guinea? It’s largely unchanged. It remained an egalitarian society. So what does that tell us about the usual presumption?

选项 A、The presence of regularly distributed mounds
B、Indications that Kuk was not a swampy wetland until approximately 7,000 years ago
C、High concentrations of fossil remains of bananas
D、The discovery of stone tools evidence designed to harvest bananas
E、Genetic analyses of banana remains in New Guinea and Southeast Asia

答案A,C,E

解析 细节题。之前观点一直认为在3500年前农作物从东南亚传到该地区,但香蕉树遗存的发现推翻了之前的认定,教授提到:When it comes to bananas,in sediment samples dating from about 7,000 years ago,researchers also found a high percentage of fossils from banana plants.即最新研究发现7000年前香蕉树的分布比重高,因此C选项是正确答案。此外,研究人员进行了进一步的研究:In fact,recent genetic comparison research suggests that the type of banana grown in New Guinea was domesticated there…即将东南亚和新几内亚的香蕉进行基因比对,发现新几内亚的香蕉先于东南亚,因此E选项是正确答案。而土堆的分布也恰好说明这一点:From a higher layer of soil,the second phase,they identified regularly distributed mounds.Mounds were constructed in order to plant crops that don’t grow well in wet soil,such as bananas…即香蕉不能生长在沼泽地里,所以建造了土堆来种植香蕉,因此A选项是正确答案。该部分未提到沼泽湿地存在变化,因此B选项不正确。该部分未提到石质工具的发现,因此D选项不正确。
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