Native Hawaiian temples on the island of Maui may have been built much more quickly than within the 250-year span previously supposed by scientists, significantly altering scientists’ estimates of the pace of sociopolitical change within Pacific Island cultures. Native Hawaiian oral histories hold that sometime around 1600, a ruler named Pi’ilani united two opposing chiefdoms on Maui into a peaceful religious state. But archaeologists had been unable to scientifically confirm the event, in part because of limitations with radiocarbon dating.
Recently, however, knowing that coral takes in uranium-238 from seawater, researchers used a different radiometric technique to date bits of branch coral collected from living reefs and incorporated ornamentally into the walls of several temples during construction. The technique measures both uranium-238 and thorium230, into which the uranium decays at a known rate. Dates on the samples that best reflect when they were harvested—those from the coral branch tips—ranged from 1608 to 1638, suggesting there was intensive temple building during that time. Because, the researchers contend, temples served as centers for control of production and the collection of surplus goods, it is likely that the construction boom accompanied a profound shift in sociopolitical structure. The events described by local oral histories agree with these new dates, and the temples provide tangible archaeological evidence that this sociopolitical shift happened in the span of a single generation of Hawaiians.
1.Which of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?
A. New evidence found by researchers demonstrates that the sociopolitical reforms in a particular region were short lived.
B. Recent scientific research supports oral histories and has improved scientists’ understanding of human history in a particular region.
C. Oral histories in a particular region have prompted researchers to question previous research into the sociopolitical history of the region.
D. Researchers searching for new evidence regarding the history of social change in a particular region have turned to oral histories from the region.
E. Researchers are using an innovative dating technique to study the social history of a particular region.
2.The passage provides information to answer each of the following questions EXCEPT:
A. What does the radiometric technique that was used on the branch coral samples measure?
B. What evidence suggests that the state ruled by Pi’ilani was religious?
C. Why did scientists originally suppose that the temples were built over a 250-year span?
D. What was one purpose for the incorporation of branch coral into the temples?
E. What has prompted researchers to hold that there was a profound sociopolitical shift on Maui?
3.Which of the following can most reasonably be inferred from the passage?
A. The coral in the temple walls did not take in thorium-230 after being harvested from the sea.
B. Coral was used in the building of the temples partly to make the temples more structurally sound.
C. The coral incorporated into the temple walls is made up primarily of branch tips.
D. Researchers have identified which reefs supplied the coral incorporated into the temples.
E. Only the tips of the branch coral take in uranium-238 from seawater.
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