Question ID:PT14 S4 Q25 Passage:In Peru, ancient disturbances in the dark surface material of a desert show up as light-colored lines that are the width of a footpath and stretch for long distances. One group of lines branching out like rays from a single point crosses over curved lines that form a very large bird figure. Interpreting the lines in the desert as landing strips for spaceship-traveling aliens, an investigator argues that they could hardly have been Inca roads, asking, “What use to the Inca would have been closely spaced roads that ran parallel? That intersected in a sunburst pattern? That came abruptly to an end in the middle of an uninhabited plain?” Stem:For someone who interprets the lines as referring to astronomical phenomena, which one of the following, if true, most effectively counters an objection that the crossing of the straight-line pattern over the bird figure shows that the two kinds of line pattern served unrelated purposes? Correct Answer Choice:BChoice A:In areas that were inhabited by ancient native North American peoples, arrangements of stones have been found that mark places where sunlight falls precisely on the spring solstice, an astronomically determined date. Choice B:The straight lines are consistent with sight lines to points on the horizon where particular astronomical events could have been observed at certain plausible dates, and the figure could represent a constellation. Choice C:The straight-line pattern is part of a large connected complex of patterns of straight-line rays connecting certain points with one another. Choice D:Native Central American cultures, such as that of the Maya, left behind elaborate astronomical calendars that were engraved on rocks. Choice E:There is evidence that the bird figure was made well before the straight-line pattern.