Passage
In September 1940, near the tiny village of Montignac in the southwest region of France, a band of four youths and a dog accidentally stumbled upon the opening to a series of underground caverns whose walls were covered with prehistoric paintings. Their monumental discovery unleashed a mystery that has continued to puzzle scholars: What function did these magnificent caves perform for the society that painted them? One plausible theory, yet unproven, is that they constituted a kind of sacred space, perhaps a site for religious ceremonies.Decades of work recording and analyzing the contents of this labyrinthine underworld, which came to be called Lascaux, have yielded some clues. Pollen testing, carbon-14 dating, and the examination of flint and bone tools within the caves have been used to calculate the time period during which these subterranean reaches were painted and served their function. The paintings date from between 17,000 and 12,000 BCE, which places them within the Upper Paleolithic era. More specifically, they belong to the Magdalenian period of the last ice age that preceded the dawn of the current geological epoch and the invention of agriculture.More than 2,000 paintings and symbols cover the insides of the caverns. Approximately 900 of these depict horses, bison, stags, large felines, and hares, clearly reflecting a society of hunter-gatherers. Various pigments, mainly red, yellow, and brown, were used. By employing a novel method that took advantage of the edges and curvatures of the cave walls, the artists were able to give lifelike dimensions to these images and endow them with a sense of motion. Nevertheless, the cave art of Lascaux suggests a purpose that goes beyond artistic expression.It is likely these chambers served as a sanctuary within which the paintings would have corresponded to the iconography of a temple. Moreover, countless footprints shown to have belonged to adolescent males suggest that the caves may have hosted initiation rituals marking a boy's passage from childhood to maturity. At this critical juncture, the youths would have traditionally been separated from their families by the adult males and put through frightening ordeals. The boys might have been tattooed, confined, or presented with physical challenges. The purpose of such traumas was to prepare the adolescent for the physical and psychological rigors of the hunt, the brutalities of warfare, and the inevitable trials of adulthood. Theologian Karen Armstrong describes such experiences as triggering "a regressive disorganization of the personality" followed by "a constructive reorganization" of the individual's faculties. In other words, the rites were meant to force the youth to call upon inner resources of which he was not yet aware, thereby inducing a kind of psychological death and rebirth.Lying deep within the earth, the caves would have provided the perfect container for these traumatic rites-a fact that became evident when Lascaux was opened to the public in 1948. As mythologist Joseph Campbell recalled of his visit there, when the lights were out, all normal orientation and sense of time were suspended and "you were never in darker darkness in your life." In primitive societies, descending into the darkness of the caves must have seemed like immersing oneself in what religious historian Mircea Eliade has termed "sacred time," a kind of dissociative state conducive to the deeply transformative experience of the initiate. When illuminated against the blackness, the realistic murals would have become a moving spectacle that simulated the hunt, the wonder and gravity of which was forever imprinted upon the boys' psyches.
-The author of the passage is primarily attempting to explain the:

Question

Passage
In September 1940, near the tiny village of Montignac in the southwest region of France, a band of four youths and a dog accidentally stumbled upon the opening to a series of underground caverns whose walls were covered with prehistoric paintings.  Their monumental discovery unleashed a mystery that has continued to puzzle scholars: What function did these magnificent caves perform for the society that painted them?  One plausible theory, yet unproven, is that they constituted a kind of sacred space, perhaps a site for religious ceremonies.Decades of work recording and analyzing the contents of this labyrinthine underworld, which came to be called Lascaux, have yielded some clues.  Pollen testing, carbon-14 dating, and the examination of flint and bone tools within the caves have been used to calculate the time period during which these subterranean reaches were painted and served their function.  The paintings date from between 17,000 and 12,000 BCE, which places them within the Upper Paleolithic era.  More specifically, they belong to the Magdalenian period of the last ice age that preceded the dawn of the current geological epoch and the invention of agriculture.More than 2,000 paintings and symbols cover the insides of the caverns.  Approximately 900 of these depict horses, bison, stags, large felines, and hares, clearly reflecting a society of hunter-gatherers.  Various pigments, mainly red, yellow, and brown, were used.  By employing a novel method that took advantage of the edges and curvatures of the cave walls, the artists were able to give lifelike dimensions to these images and endow them with a sense of motion.  Nevertheless, the cave art of Lascaux suggests a purpose that goes beyond artistic expression.It is likely these chambers served as a sanctuary within which the paintings would have corresponded to the iconography of a temple.  Moreover, countless footprints shown to have belonged to adolescent males suggest that the caves may have hosted initiation rituals marking a boy's passage from childhood to maturity.  At this critical juncture, the youths would have traditionally been separated from their families by the adult males and put through frightening ordeals.  The boys might have been tattooed, confined, or presented with physical challenges.  The purpose of such traumas was to prepare the adolescent for the physical and psychological rigors of the hunt, the brutalities of warfare, and the inevitable trials of adulthood.  Theologian Karen Armstrong describes such experiences as triggering "a regressive disorganization of the personality" followed by "a constructive reorganization" of the individual's faculties.  In other words, the rites were meant to force the youth to call upon inner resources of which he was not yet aware, thereby inducing a kind of psychological death and rebirth.Lying deep within the earth, the caves would have provided the perfect container for these traumatic rites-a fact that became evident when Lascaux was opened to the public in 1948.  As mythologist Joseph Campbell recalled of his visit there, when the lights were out, all normal orientation and sense of time were suspended and "you were never in darker darkness in your life."  In primitive societies, descending into the darkness of the caves must have seemed like immersing oneself in what religious historian Mircea Eliade has termed "sacred time," a kind of dissociative state conducive to the deeply transformative experience of the initiate.  When illuminated against the blackness, the realistic murals would have become a moving spectacle that simulated the hunt, the wonder and gravity of which was forever imprinted upon the boys' psyches.
-The author of the passage is primarily attempting to explain the:

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In asking, "What function did these magnificent caves perform for the society that painted them?" (Paragraph 1), the author establishes an anthropological viewpoint, one that looks at a human culture and its practices. The author then speculates about the "mystery" of these caves as it relates to the practices of this society, which would have flourished somewhere "between 17,000 to 12,000 BCE" (Paragraph 2). For instance, Paragraph 3 says "the cave art of Lascaux suggests a purpose that goes beyond artistic expression." Paragraph 4 adds that "[i]t is likely these chambers served as a sanctuary…[and] countless footprints shown to have belonged to adolescent males suggest that the caves may have hosted initiation rituals." Accordingly, the passage author is primarily attempting to explain the practices of a prehistoric culture (ie, society) from an anthropological viewpoint. (Choice A) Paragraph 4 presents the initiation rites as "triggering 'a regressive disorganization of the personality' followed by 'a constructive reorganization' of the individual's faculties…meant to force the youth to call upon inner resources…thereby inducing a kind of psychological death and rebirth." However, the passage author does not focus primarily on attempting to explain the transition from adolescence to maturity from a psychological viewpoint (one that considers mental and emotional states), but rather on explaining the possible purpose of the Lascaux caves. (Choice B) Paragraph 5 states that "descending into the darkness of the caves must have seemed like immersing oneself in what religious historian Mircea Eliade has termed 'sacred time,' a kind of dissociative (detached) state conducive (favorable) to the deeply transformative experience of the initiate." However, although the passage author suggests that the initiates may have experienced "sacred time," he or she never attempts to explain the essential meaning of the initiation rites from a religious viewpoint (one involving the sacred or divine). (Choice C) The Lascaux caves displayed paintings of "horses, bison, stags, large felines, and hares" (Paragraph 3), which became "a moving spectacle that simulated the hunt, the wonder and gravity of which was forever imprinted upon the boys' psyches" (Paragraph 5). Although this evidence indicates a relationship between humans and animals in the society, and mythologist Joseph Campbell's visit to Lascaux is mentioned, the author never attempts to explain this relationship from a mythological viewpoint (one based on traditional stories or myths).

Passage in September 1940, near the Tiny Village of Montignac in in the Southwest