While Most Archaeologists Believe that Primitive European Societies were Patriarchal

Reading Passage Questions

While most archaeologists believe that primitive European societies were patriarchal in both their social and religious structures, a new controversial theory challenges these traditional views. This theory suggests that during the Stone Age there thrived in and around Europe peace-loving, matriarchal communities in which men and women lived together as equals, respected nature, and worshipped a nurturing deity called the Great Goddess.

The people of ―Old Europe—Europe from 7000 B.C. to 3500 B.C.—lived in stable agricultural societies in which women headed clans and men laboured as hunters and builders, but neither sex acted as a dominant force with respect to the other. War was shunned and craftspeople created comfortable dwellings and graceful ceramics instead of weapons. Like the woman-centred social system, the religion of Stone Age Europe focused on women in its veneration of the life-generating Great Goddess and other female deities. Worship was closely linked to the themes of respect for life and regeneration.

Proponents of this theory contend that this peaceful and harmonious society was shattered by waves of Indo-European invaders in about the year 3500 B.C., when marauders from the Russian steppes transformed Europe from a peaceful, agrarian culture to one in which men dominated women and wars raged. Social and sexual egalitarianism were replaced by patriarchy and hierarchy, and warrior gods dethroned the Great Goddess. With the widespread decimation of Old Europe, the goddess-centred religion went underground. However, its symbols have reappeared over the centuries in the forms of the female deities of Greece and Rome, in the Virgin Mary, and in the belief in spiritual forces lurking within the natural world.

The theory of the Great Goddess has been hailed by feminist social critics, artists, and religious thinkers for providing an important alternative to traditional, patriarchal mythologies and paradigms, as well as for providing a new and more positive model for the human relationship to the natural world.

Eminent anthropologist Ashley Montagu calls the theory ―a benchmark in the history of civilization,‖ yet many other investigators into prehistoric Europe consider the theory an unsubstantiated and idealistic version of history. To a number of critics, the chief problem in this radical theory is one of method. Traditional archaeologists, taking issue with unorthodox speculation on ancient belief systems, contend that archaeological evidence may tell us something about what people ate in the small villages of prehistoric Europe, how they built their homes, and what they traded, but cannot tell us much about what the dwellers of the ancient world actually thought. To them, such speculation is illegitimate. The most severe critics warn that, in blurring the distinction between intuition and fact, proponents of the new theory have failed as scientists.

But supporters of the theory of a goddess-worshipping Old Europe counter that such critiques reveal a certain narrow-mindedness on the part of scientists rather than weaknesses on the part of their theory arguing that some degree of speculation is important, perhaps even necessary, for the sake of progress in archaeology and other fields. This element of speculation helps reveal the implications of a theory.

“While most archaeologists believe that primitive European societies were patriarchal” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.
This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. Which of the following would be contrary to what a proponent of the theory of the Great Goddess most likely believes?

1. The available archaeological evidence does not rule out the idea that Old European matriarchal communities existed.
2. The field of archaeology has been dominated in the past by male- oriented scholarship.
3. Matriarchy is conducive to establishing a healthy relationship with the natural world.
4. The decimation of Old European society wiped away all traces of the Great Goddess religion.
5. Most men and women worshipped the Great Goddess

2. Based on the information in the passage, which of the following statements about prehistoric European society would traditional archaeologists most likely consider illegitimate?

1. The people were agrarian and not nomadic.
2. Food was cooked in clay vessels over a fire.
3. Arrows and spears were the most commonly used instruments of warfare.
4. The people were worried about invasion.
5. They had adopted a more patriarchal model

3. Which of the following maxims seems most in agreement with the argument that the supporters of the Great Goddess theory put forth in response to criticism?

1. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
2. A mind is like a parachute in that it only works when open.
3. He who does not understand his opponent‘s arguments does not understand his own.
4. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
5. The early bird gets the worm

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