A very different argument comes from Barbara Bender, who argues that before farming, there was competition between local groups to achieve dominance over each other through feasting and the expenditure of resources on ritual and exchange, engaging in a kind of prehistoric arms race. To meet increasing demands for food and other resources, land use was intensified, and the development of food production followed.
This argument clearly emphasizes social factors, rather than environmental or technical factors, and takes a localized, regional approach. It is supported by ethnography (direct and systematic observations of a human culture) concerning competitive exchange activities, such as the potlatch (traditional celebrations in which groups gather and give gifts) of the indigenous inhabitants of the northwest coast of North America. These people were foragers in a rich environment that enabled them to settle in relatively permanent villages without farming or herding. Competition among neighboring groups led to ever-more elaborate forms of competitive exchange, with increasingly large amounts of food and other goods being given away at each subsequent potlatch. As suggestive as Bender's argument is, however, it is difficult to find evidence for competitive feasting in archaeological remains.
According to paragraph 2, the potlatch activities support which of the following ideas?
A. Foragers were able to live in permanent villages without farming.
B. Social factors such as the competitive exchange of food may have led to domestication.
C. Competition among neighboring groups made a foraging way of life preferable to domestication.
D. Increasingly large amounts of food were easily available for competitive exchange.
Can anyone help me figure out this question? I cannot decide between B and D, though D is the answer...
Thanks.
