CAT 2017 Slot 2 — VARC Question 23
Answer the following questions based on the information given below.
Despite their fierce reputation, Vikings may not have always been the plunderers and pillagers popular culture imagines them to be. In fact, they got their start trading in northern European markets, researchers suggest.
Combs carved from animal antlers, as well as comb manufacturing waste and raw antler material has turned up at three archaeological sites in Denmark, including a medieval marketplace in the city of Ribe. A team of researchers from Denmark and U.K.hoped to identify the species of animal to which the antlers once belonged by analyzing collagen proteins in the samples and comparing them across the animal kingdom, Laura Geggel reports for liveScience.
Somewhat surprisingly, molecular analysis of the artifacts revealed that some combs and other material had been carved from reindeer antlers…. Given that reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) don’t live in Denmark, the researchers posit that it arrived on Viking ships from Norway. Antler craftsmanship, in the form of decorative combs, was part of Viking culture. Such combs served as symbols of good health, Geggel writes. The fact that the animals shed their antlers also made them easy to collect from the large herds that inhabited Norway.
Since the artifacts were found in marketplace areas at each site it’s more likely that the Norsemen came to trade rather than pillage. Most of the artifacts also date to the 780s, but some are as old as 725. That predates the beginning of Viking raids on great Britain by about 70 years. (Traditionally, the so-called “Viking Age” began with these raids in 793 and ended with Norman conquest of Great Britain in 1066.) Archaeologists had suspected that the Viking had experience with ling maritime voyages [that] might have preceded their raiding days. Beyond Norway, these combs would have been a popular industry in Scandinavia as well. It’s possible that the antler comb’s represent a larger trade network, where the Norsemen supplied raw material to craftsmen in Denmark and elsewhere.
The evidence- “Most of the artifacts also date to the 780s, but some are as old as 725”- has been used in the passage to argue that:
Answer & solution
- A
the beginning date of the Viking Age should be changed from 793 to 725.
- B
the Viking raids started as early as 725.
- C
some of the antler artifacts found in Denmark and Great Britain could have come from Scandinavia.
the Vikings’ trade relations with Europe pre-dates the Viking raids.
Option 1 is incorrect. The evidence is used not to argue for changing the date of the Viking age but to highlight the fact that Vikings were traders before they were known to be raiders. Eliminate option 1. Option 2 is incorrect. The raids are said to start about 70 years after 725. Eliminate option 2
Option 3 is incorrect. The evidence is cited to show that the Vikings had been traders before they were raiders and not to show that the antler artefacts could have come from Scandinavia. Eliminate option 3.
Option 4 is correct. The evidence is cited in order to show that the Vikings’ trade relations with Europe, predates the Viking raids. The reason for mentioning the evidence is stated right afterwards in the passage – “Most of the artefacts also date to the 780s, but some are as old as 725. That predates the beginning of Viking raids on Great Britain by about 70 years.” Retain option 4.
Hence, the correct answer is option 4.