Question

Directions for questions 107 to 111: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

The Celts may be taken as a starting point for a study of the long series of people whose arrival and settlement in Britain have contributed to its history. They provide a link between the prehistoric period, at the end of which they had emerged ...

(Passage of 230 words, from "The Celts" by Nora Chadwick, Penguin edition.)

What did the findings of the archaeologists reveal?

• A. Writing came later on.
• B. The Celts were an illiterate race.
• C. The writings of the Celts were destroyed by those who came after them.
• D. The Celts did not believe in keeping records of their exploits.

Hint:

Archaeology proves what is found and dated, not beliefs or destroyed material.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

This question checks what conclusion the archaeological evidence supports about the Celts, as opposed to a guess or an assumption not backed by that evidence.

1. Writing came later on: Archaeological findings connected with early Britain show that widespread writing and inscriptions appear only from a later period, once contact with literate cultures such as the Romans increased. This matches an evidence based finding rather than a sweeping claim about the Celts as a whole people.
2. The Celts were an illiterate race: This is too absolute a claim to be a safe conclusion from archaeological findings. Absence of widespread early writing does not prove that no Celt anywhere could read or write, only that writing was not yet in common use, so this overstates what the evidence shows.
3. The writings of the Celts were destroyed by those who came after them: This is a speculative claim with no direct archaeological support. Archaeology tells us what has been found and when writing appears, not what was destroyed and by whom, so this cannot be the finding the archaeologists actually reported.
4. The Celts did not believe in keeping records of their exploits: This describes a belief or cultural attitude, which physical, archaeological evidence cannot directly establish. It reads more like a guess about intent than a reported finding.

Out of the four, only "writing came later on" is the kind of conclusion that physical archaeological evidence, such as the dating of the earliest inscriptions, can actually support.

Let's summarize:

• Archaeological evidence supports factual, dateable conclusions, not claims about belief or intent.
• "Writing came later on" is the only option phrased as an evidence based finding.

So the correct answer is that writing came later on.