Question

the following passage is about ancient settlements in south america. select the best evidence to support the statement that studying huaricanga changed what historians thought about early american civilization. for generations... historians believed that the first american civilization, or advanced way of life, arose in mesoamerica, the region that includes mexico and central america. the idea was that ancient mesoamericans must have visited peru, and the peruvians must have borrowed skills, customs, and beliefs from them. but huaricanga dates from 3500 bce, which made it older than any mesoamerican culture. this proved that civilization arose independently in peru. during the 1,000 years after the founding of huaricanga, the people of the norte chico built more cities. archaeologists have discovered about 25 of them so far. none of them was close to the size of cities in sumer, the birthplace of civilization in the middle east, but taken all together, they were bigger than sumer. from charles c. mann, before columbus: the americas of 1491. copyright 2009 by holt mcdougal

Explanation:

To support the statement, we need evidence showing Huaricanga changed historians' views. The key part is "Huaricanga dates from 3500 BCE, which made it older than any Mesoamerican culture. This proved that civilization arose independently in Peru." Before, historians thought civilization started in Mesoamerica and Peru borrowed from them. Huaricanga's older date showed Peru's civilization was independent, changing that view. The other part about Norte Chico cities' size compared to Sumer doesn't relate to changing thoughts on early American civilization's origin.

Answer:

Huaricanga dates from 3500 BCE, which made it older than any Mesoamerican culture. This proved that civilization arose independently in Peru.