Personal ornaments such as rings, necklaces, and earrings are widespread features in cultures throughout the world. They can be used to signal status, taste, and social identity. Recent archaeological discoveries offer insights into when human first began to wear personal ornaments.
Led by El Mehdi Sehasseh, a team of archaeologists excavated a Middle Stone Age cave located high above the Atlantic coast of Morocco. They unearthed a number of seashells that show signs of intentional modification to form beads that could have been part of the first human necklaces.
So far so good! But wait, SAT test writers are also interested in this topic. The purpose of the passage was not to help students learn more about a fascinating archaeological discovery. Instead, the test writers used the topic as a way to ask students to determine whether HETEROGENEITY or UBIQUITY is best word to describe the Middle Stone Age shells discovered by El Mehdi Schasseh.
HOMOGENEITY means the quality of being diverse in character or content. While there might be variation among the beads, the passage focuses on the fact that the beads were found in “many sites across western North Africa. This key phrase supports UBIQUITY because it precisely describes the widespread presence of beads.
UBIQUITY – widespread; very common; appearing everywhere
HETEROGENEITY – diverse in content or character