Read this excerpt from The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin.Between the time Champollion's books appeared and the end of the nineteenth century, thousands of rolls of papyrus and copies of temple and tomb inscriptions were brought to Europe and America. There scholars, using the deciphering methods Champollion had pioneered, traced the entire history of writing in Egypt. They discovered it had begun about 3100 B.C. when images of important people were first accompanied by hieroglyphs of their names or titles. By 2500 B.C. complete sentences began to appear on tomb inscriptions, along with lists of offerings to the Egyptian gods.Which statement best expresses an inference that can be supported by information in the excerpt?
Answer
A
Ancient Egyptian writing became more complex over time.
B
The only writing discovered from ancient Egypt was written on tombs.
C
Only wealthy people had tomb inscriptions in ancient Egypt.
D
Most of the Egyptian writing that scholars translated was about Egyptian gods.
Explanation
The excerpt describes an increase in what Egyptian writing could express: around 3100 B.C., hieroglyphs accompanied images to give people’s names or titles, while by 2500 B.C. inscriptions included complete sentences and lists of offerings. This supports the inference that ancient Egyptian writing became more complex over time. The excerpt does not say that all writing was found on tombs, that only wealthy people had tomb inscriptions, or that most translated writing concerned the gods.
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