TPO 5 integrated writing

In this set of materials, the reading part discusses the usages of the massive stone buildings, which have hundred rooms in the New Mexico, and provides three uses. And the listening section refutes the information presented in the article and argues that none of the evidence in the reading part is convincing.

First, the passage posits that from one point of view the building were used as residence for lots of families. However, the talk makes the point that maybe from outside they look like houses for hundred families but in the inside there are not enough facilities for this amount of families, for example in one of the building there are fire places for only ten families, whereas the rooms are at least for hundred families.

Second, the text asserts that Chaco buildings were used as storage for food supplies. The big size of the rooms makes it suitable for this purpose. On the contrary the lecturer believes that even though storing grain maize sounds plausible, the excavations do not reveal any clue such as maize containers for this claim.

Third, according to the article, archaeologists found a mound formed by old materials, the excavations show that this mound is deposit of large number of broken pots which were used in special ceremonies, the people ate meals and then discarded the pots, such ceremonies also have been documented in other cultures. The professor disagrees with this point, and postulates that this mound contains lots of other materials as well, constructing materials such as sand, stone and other tools, therefore this mound was a trash of constructing materials and these pots were left from construction workers.