Although most anthropologists believe humans first arrived in New Zeal

     Although most anthropologists believe humans first arrived in New Zealand in the late thirteenth century, others have dated the arrival to much earlier—around 200 BC. The earlier arrival date was based on 1996 research that carbon-dated bones of rats, which are thought to have been brought to New Zealand by humans. With no evidence of human settlements that early, critics suggested that the carbon dates were due to lab errors in preparing the bones.
     
     Now, a team led by Janet Wilmshurst has applied an improved preparation technique to other rat bones collected from excavation sites where the oldest New Zealand rat remains were found. The new rat-bone dates are all more recent than AD 1280. The Wilmshurst team’s carbon dating of bones from the previous study indicated that these, too, were more recent than AD 1280. They also carbon-dated seeds from the oldest rat-bone sites. Some of the seeds were nearly four thousand years old, but none of those with distinctive rat-gnaw marks was older than about AD 1290.

     Wilmshurst’s findings provide convincing evidence that neither rats nor people reached New Zealand before the thirteenth century AD. So the devastating ecological impact of humans on New Zealand, such as deforestation and the extinction of animal species (the rats themselves wiped out several species, including some birds and frogs), took only about six hundred years, rather than over two thousand years.

1. The passage most strongly suggests that which of the following statements is true of the critics mentioned in the first paragraph (see highlighting)?

A. Their skepticism regarding the 200-BC carbon dating of the rat bones was based on the results of the research project that is described in the second paragraph.

B. Their position regarding the 200-BC carbon dating of the rat bones was motivated by the fact that the 1996 research did not date any rat-gnawed seeds from the excavation sites.

C. They questioned the assumption that rats first arrived in New Zealand at the same time as humans.

D. They were skeptical of the claim that humans’ importation of rats had a devastating impact on New Zealand’s ecosystems.

E. Their belief that humans first arrived in New Zealand much later than 200 BC did not depend on any of the carbon-dating of rat-bones mentioned in the passage.



2. The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. describe how some research has attempted to answer a long-standing question that was not addressed by similar previous research
B. describe the evidence that some research has provided against a purported finding of some previous research
C. demonstrate that a popular opinion regarding a particular issue has been based on faulty research
D. compare and contrast two research methods aimed at solving a particular problem
E. examine the implications that a certain body of research is likely to have for a proposed course of action



3. The final paragraph serves primarily to

A. provide additional evidence to help support the conclusions drawn from Wilmshurst’s research
B. call for additional research to explore the implications of Wilmshurst’s research
C. illustrate how disagreements within the scientific community can affect those outside that community
D. suggest a way in which the rats’ arrival date is relevant to another issue regarding New Zealand history
E. demonstrate that the procedures used by the researchers in the 1996 study were flawed