LSAT 123 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q25

RC Question 25 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The specific words “documentary record” are in line 37. But, the first paragraph is actually a better place to look for the meaning of the term. It has the most extended discussion of documents.

Line 3 mentions “historical documents”. That means “old documents”. Line 7 talks about “relevant documents from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries”.

So, the documentary record refers to: documents produced at the time, which tells us about landscapes at the time. E.g. A letter from the year 1700 which describes a farmer’s field at that time.

___________

1. See the analysis above. The documentary record refers to things written in the past. Pollen analysis is done in the present.
2. If I say “bring me the documentary record!” and you bring me a bunch of muddy plant fossils, I’m not going to be very happy with your work.
   Documentary record refers to documents!
3. Close, but this answer talks about things written by current historians. Whereas the documentary record in the passage refers to historical documents written in the past. See the analysis above for more details.
4. CORRECT. See the analysis above. These are exactly the sort of historical documents historians regularly refer to when studying the past.
    
   “Historical document” means something from the past. So, the US constitution is a historical document. If I write an analysis of the constitution, I have instead created a contemporary document.
5. Same as C. “The documentary record” refers to documents created at the time.
    
   It’s true that a book listing all available evidence would include historical documents. But it would also include things that weren’t documents, such as modern photos taken of old farming tools. So this answer refers to the wrong time period, and is also too broad.