ACT Practice Test 2 pptx

ACT Practice Test 2
READING
Passage V
SOCIAL SCIENCE: The following passage is
excerpted from a popular journal of archeology.
About fifty miles west of Stonehenge,
buried in the peat bogs of the Somerset flat-
lands in southwestern England, lies the old-
est road known to humanity. Dubbed the
“Sweet Track” after its discoverer, Raymond [5]
Sweet, this painstakingly constructed 1800-
meter road dates back to the early Neolithic
period, some 6,000 years ago. Thanks pri-
marily to the overlying layer of acidic peat,
which has kept the wood moist, inhibited [10]
the growth of decay bacteria, and discour-
aged the curiosity of animal life, the road is
remarkably well-preserved. Examination of
its remains has provided extensive informa-
tion about the people who constructed it. [15]
The design of the Sweet Track indicates
that its builders possessed extraordinary
engineering skills. In constructing the road,
they first hammered pegs into the soil in the
form of upright Xs. Single rails were slid [20]
beneath the pegs so that the rails rested
firmly on the soft surface of the bog. Then
planks were placed in the V-shaped space
formed by the upper arms of the pegs. This
method of construction—allowing the [25]
underlying rail to distribute the weight of

the plank above and thereby prevent the
pegs from sinking into the marsh—is
remarkably sophisticated, testifying to a sur-
prisingly advanced level of technology. [30]
Furthermore, in order to procure the
materials for the road, several different
species of tree had to be felled, debarked,
and split. This suggests that the builders
possessed high quality tools and that they [35]
knew the differing properties of various
roundwoods. It appears also that the
builders were privy to the finer points of
lumbering, maximizing the amount of
wood extracted from a given tree by slicing [40]
logs of large diameter radially and logs of
small diameter tangentially.
Studies of the Sweet Track further indi-
cate a high level of social organization
among its builders. This is supported by the [45]
observation that the road seems to have
been completed in a very short time; tree-
ring analysis confirms that the components
of the Sweet Track were probably all felled
within a single year. Moreover, the fact that [50]
such an involved engineering effort could be
orchestrated in the first place hints at a
complex social structure.
Finally, excavation of the Sweet Track
has provided evidence that the people who [55]
built it comprised a community devoted to

land cultivation. It appears that the road was
built to serve as a footpath linking two
islands—islands that provided a source of
timber, cropland, and pastures for the com- [60]
munity that settled the hills to the south.
Furthermore, the quality of the pegs
indicates that the workers knew enough to
fell trees in such a way as to encourage the
rapid growth of long, straight, rod-like [65]
shoots from the remaining stumps, to be
used as pegs. This method, called coppicing,
is the earliest known example of woodland
management.
Undoubtedly, the discovery of the [70]
Sweet Track in 1970 added much to our
knowledge of Neolithic technology. But
while study of the remains has revealed
unexpectedly high levels of engineering and
social organization, it must be remembered [75]
that the Sweet Track represents the work of
a single isolated community. One must be
careful not to extrapolate sweeping general-
izations from the achievements of such a
small sample of Neolithic humanity. [80]
31. It is most likely that the author refers to the peat bog as “acidic” (line 9) in order to:
A. indicate the importance of protecting ancient ruins from the effects of modern
pollution.
B. distinguish between the effects of acidic and basic conditions on ancient ruins.
C. suggest that acidic conditions were important in inhibiting decay.
D. prove the relevance of knowledge of chemical properties to archaeological

concerns.
32. The primary focus of the passage is:
F. the high degree of social organization exhibited by earlier cultures.
G. the complex construction and composition of the Sweet Track.
H. an explanation for the survival of the Sweet Track for over 6,000 years.
J. an exploration of the ways in which the Sweet Track reveals aspects of a
particular Neolithic society.
33. In the passage, the author mentions ring analysis as evidence that:
A. the road is at least 6,000 years old.
B. the Sweet Track was constructed quickly.
C. the techniques used in building the road were quite sophisticated.
D. the builders knew enough to split thick trees radially and thin trees tangentially.
34. As it is explained in the passage, “woodland management” (lines 78-79) is best
described as a system in which trees are:
F. lumbered in controlled quantities.
G. planted only among trees of their own species.
H. cultivated in specialized ways for specific purposes.
J. felled only as they are needed.
35. According to the passage, which of the following was primarily responsible for the
preservation of the Sweet Track until modern times?
A. It was located in an area containing very few animals.
B. Its components were buried beneath the peat bog.
C. Local authorities prohibited development in the surrounding area.
D. It was protected from excessive humidity.
36. The last paragraph suggests that the author believes that the Sweet Track:
F. is not as technologically advanced as is generally believed.
G. should not necessarily be regarded as representative of its time.
H. has not been studied extensively enough to support generalized conclusions.
J. will force historians to reevaluate their assumptions about the Neolithic
technology.

Passage VI
SOCIAL SCIENCE: The passage below is
excerpted from “The Stereotype Trap” by
Sharon Begley (© 2000 Newsweek, Inc.). The
passage explains recent research on the effects
of stereotypes on performance.
The students had no idea of the real
purpose of the study they had volunteered
for…. So when 40 black and 40 white
Princeton undergraduates volunteered to
play mini-golf, the psychologists dissembled [5]
a bit. This is a test of “natural ability,” Jeff
Stone and his colleagues informed some of
the kids. This is a test of “the ability to think
strategically,” they told others. Then the stu-
dents—non-golfers all—played the course, [10]
one at a time. Among those told the test
measured natural ability, black students
scored, on average, more than four strokes
better than whites. In the group told the test
gauged strategic savvy, the white kids scored [15]
four strokes better, the researchers reported
last year. “When people are reminded of a
negative stereotype about themselves—
‘white men can’t jump’ or ‘black men can’t
think’—it can adversely affect perform- [20]
ance,” says Stone, now at the University of
Arizona.
Another group of students, 46 Asian
American female undergrads at Harvard,

thought they were taking a tough, 12-ques- [25]
tion math test. Before one group attacked
the advanced algebra, they answered written
questions emphasizing ethnicity (“How
many generations of your family have lived
in America?”). Another group’s question- [30]
naire subtly reminded them of their gender
(“Do you live on a co-ed or single-sex dorm
floor?”). Women who took the math test
after being reminded of their Asian her-
itage—and thus, it seems, the stereotype [35]
that Asians excel at math—scored highest,
getting 54 percent right. The women whose
questionnaire implicitly reminded them of
the stereotype that, for girls, “math is hard,”
as Barbie infamously said, scored lowest, [40]
answering 43 percent correctly.
The power of stereotypes, scientists had
long figured, lay in their ability to change
the behavior of the person holding the
stereotype…. But five years ago Stanford [45]
University psychologist Claude Steele
showed something else: it is the targets of a
stereotype whose behavior is most power-
fully affected by it. A stereotype that per-
vades the culture the way “ditzy blondes” [50]
and “forgetful seniors” do makes people
painfully aware of how society views
them—so painfully aware, in fact, that
knowledge of the stereotype can affect how

well they do on intellectual and other [55]
tasks….
In their seminal 1995 study, Steele and
Joshua Aronson, now at New York Univer-
sity, focused on how the threat posed by
stereotypes affects African Americans. [60]
They reasoned that whenever black stu-
dents take on an intellectual task, like an
SAT, they face the prospect of confirming
widely held suspicions about their brain-
power. This threat, the psychologists sus- [65]
pected, might interfere with performance.
To test this hunch, Steele and Aronson gave
44 Stanford undergrads questions from the
verbal part of the tough Graduate Record
Exam. One group was asked, right before [70]
the test, to indicate their year in school, age,
major, and other information. The other
group answered all that, as well as one final
question: what is your race? The results
were sobering. “Just listing their race [75]
undermined the black students’ perform-
ance,” says Steele, making them score sig-
nificantly worse than blacks who did not
note their race, and significantly worse
than all whites. But the performance of [80]
black Stanfordites who were not explicitly
reminded of their race equaled that of
whites, found the scientists.
You do not even have to believe a neg-

ative stereotype to be hurt by it, psycholo- [85]
gists find. As long as you care about the
ability you’re being tested on, such as golf-
ing or math, and are familiar with the
stereotype (“girls can’t do higher math”), it
can sink you. What seems to happen is that [90]
as soon as you reach a tough par three or a
difficult trig problem, the possibility of
confirming, and being personally reduced
to, a painful stereotype causes enough dis-
tress to impair performance. “If you are a [95]
white male and you find yourself having
difficulty, you may begin to worry about
failing the test,” says psychologist Paul
Davies of Stanford in an upcoming paper.
But “if you are a black male…you begin to [100]
worry…about failing your race by con-
firming a negative stereotype.”
You don’t outgrow it, either. Becca
Levy of Yale showed over-60 volunteers
subliminal messages (through words flashed [105]
quickly on a monitor) and then tested
them on memory. Seniors who saw words
like “Alzheimer’s,” “senile” and “old” always
scored worse than seniors who saw words
like “wise” and “sage”—in some tests, by 64 [110]
percent. Does it matter? In a follow-up,
Levy used the same subliminal priming.
But this time she asked the volunteers
whether they would accept life-prolonging

medical intervention. Those seniors primed [115]
with positive stereotypes usually said yes;
those reminded of senility and frailty said
no. “What’s so frightening,” says Levy, “is
that the stereotype, at least in the short run,
overwhelms long-held beliefs.” [120]
37. According to the passage, simply specifying one’s race before a test:
A. has a more marked effect than specifying one’s gender.
B. is too inconsequential to have any significant influence.
C. can affect one’s performance on that test.
D. is less likely to have influence than seeing subliminal messages flashed quickly
on a monitor.
38. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
F. A person must believe that a stereotype is true in order to be affected by that
stereotype.
G. Stereotypes about race, age, and gender have all been demonstrated to affect the
performance of test subjects.
H. Though the influence of stereotypes on their subjects has only been investigated
relatively recently, the influence of stereotypes on those who believe them has
long been accepted.
J. Stereotypes can continue to have an influence on people throughout their lives.
39. It can be inferred from the description of the experiment in the first paragraph (lines
1-22) that many of the students involved:
I. -were aware of racial stereotypes about inherent physical and mental
abilities.
II. -felt pressure to disprove the hypothesis of the experiment.
III. -likely scored differently because of educational disparities.
A. I only
B. II only
C. I and II only

D. I and III only
40. The author most likely mentions “a difficult trig” problem in lines 91-92 to:
F. emphasize that most stereotypes involve mental abilities.
G. provide an example of a task with which stereotypes can interfere.
H. imply that gender stereotypes, like those about mathematical ability, have more
influence than stereotypes about age or race.
J. explain the existence of prevalent gender stereotypes about mathematical
reasoning.
41. Based on the passage, the author would most likely agree with which of the
following?
A. By understanding the origins of stereotypes, we can work towards a world in
which fewer and fewer people believe such ideas.
B. Although stereotypes about race and age are still prevalent, gender stereotypes
are increasingly less widespread.
C. It is possible to be severely affected by a stereotype which you believe to be
untrue.
D. As people grow older, they are likely to be less directly affected by stereotypes.
42. The primary intent of the author of the passage was most likely to:
F. trace the history of the effect of stereotypes on test performance.
G. explain the sociological mechanisms by which stereotypes develop and spread.
H. summarize a number of scientific investigations into the influence of stereotypes
on those about whom the stereotypes are held.
J. investigate the extent to which racial stereotypes affect students’ performance on
college entrance exams.
43. As used in line 5, the word dissembled most closely means:
A. took apart.
B. hid their true purpose.
C. talked extensively.
D. communicated in an unfamiliar way.
44. Which of the following characteristics is NOT the subject of a stereotype cited in the

passage?
F. Age
G. Gender
H. Religion
J. Race
45. Based on the final paragraph, it is reasonable to infer that the author believes which
of the following?
A. People can be influenced by stereotypes while making important life decisions.
B. People are unlikely to change long-held beliefs based on exposure to stereotypes.
C. “Subliminal priming” provides too brief an exposure to adequately assess the
impact of stereotypes.
D. Exposure to negative stereotypes is the primary cause of frailty and senility in
seniors.
46. What was the conclusion of the “seminal 1995 study” cited in line 57?
F. Stereotypes about “natural ability” often have more impact than those about
mental abilities.
G. Because of a need to disprove negative stereotypes, many African Americans
perform better when aware of those stereotypes.
H. For the undergraduates studied, stereotypes about the mathematical ability of
Asian Americans had more impact than stereotypes about the same ability in
African Americans.
J. For many African Americans, an awareness of negative stereotypes about
intellectual ability can impair test performance.
Passage VII
SOCIAL SCIENCE: The following passage is
an adapted excerpt from “The Return of the
Big Cats” by Mac Margolis (copyright © 2000
Newsweek, Inc.). The passage compares the
benefits and costs of Brazil’s growing jaguar
population.

Marcos Nunes is not likely to forget his
first holiday in Brazil’s Pantanal wilderness.
One afternoon last October he was coaxing
his horse through a lonely tuft of woods
when he suddenly found himself staring [5]
down a fully grown spotted jaguar. He held
his breath while the painted cat and her cub
paraded silkily through the grove, not 10
meters away…. “Thank you,” he wrote later
in a hotel visitor’s log, “for the wonderful [10]
fright!”
As Nunes and other ecotourists are dis-
covering, these big, beautiful animals, once
at the brink of extinction, are now staging a
comeback. Exactly how dramatic a come- [15]
back is difficult to say because jaguars—
Panthera onca, the largest feline in the New
World—are solitary, secretive, nocturnal
predators. Each cat needs to prowl at least 35
square kilometers by itself. Brazil’s Pantanal, [20]
vast wetlands that spill over a 140,000-
square-kilometer swath of South America
the size of Germany, gives them plenty of
room to roam. Nevertheless, scientists who
have been tagging jaguars with radio trans- [25]
mitters for two decades have in recent years
been reporting a big increase in sightings.
Hotels, campgrounds, and bed-and-break-
fasts have sprung up to accommodate the
half-million tourists a year (twice the num- [30]

ber five years ago) bent on sampling the
Pantanal’s wildlife, of which the great cats
must be the most magnificent example.
Most sightings come from local cattle
herders—but their jaguar stories have a very [35]
different ring. One day last September,
ranch hand Abel Monteiro was tending cat-
tle near the Rio Vermelho, in the southern
Pantanal, when, he says, a snarling jaguar
leaped from the scrub and killed his two [40]
bloodhounds. Monteiro barely had time to
grab his .38 revolver and kill the angry cat.
Leonelson Ramos da Silva says last May he
and a group of field hands had to throw
flaming sticks all night to keep a prowling [45]
jaguar from invading their forest camp….
The Brazilian interior, famous for its gener-
ous spirit and cowboy bonhomie, is now the
scene of a political cat fight between the sci-
entists, environmentalists, and ecotourists [50]
who want to protect the jaguars and the
embattled ranchers who want to protect
themselves and their livelihood.
The ranchers, to be sure, have enough
headaches coping with the harsh, sodden [55]
landscape without jaguars attacking their
herds and threatening their livelihoods.
Hard data on cattle losses due to jaguars in
the Pantanal are nonexistent, but there are
stories. In 1995, Joo Julio Dittmar bought a [60]

6,200-hectare strip of ideal breeding ground,
only to lose 152 of his 600 calves to jaguars,
he claims. Ranchers chafe at laws that for-
bid them to kill the jaguars. “This is a ques-
tion of democracy,” says Dittmar. “We [65]
ranchers ought to be allowed to control our
own environment.”
Man and jaguar have been sparring
for territory ever since 18th-century set-
tlers, traders, and herdsmen began to move [70]
into this sparsely populated serto, or back
lands. By the 1960s, the Pantanal was a vast,
soggy canvas, white with gleaming herds of
Nelore cattle. Game hunters were bagging
15,000 jaguars a year in the nearby Amazon [75]
Basin (no figures exist on the Pantanal) as
the worldwide trade in pelts reached $30
million a year. As the jaguars grew scarce,
their chief food staple, the capybaras—a
meter-long rodent, the world’s largest— [80]
overran farmers’ fields and spread tri-
chomoniasis, a livestock disease that ren-
ders cows sterile.
Then in 1967, Brazil outlawed jaguar
hunting, and a world ban on selling pelts [85]
followed in 1973. Weather patterns also
shifted radically—due most likely to global
warming—and drove annual floods to
near-Biblical proportions. The waters are
only now retreating from some inundated [90]

pasturelands. As the Pantanal herds shrank
from 6 million to about 3.5 million head,
the jaguars advanced. Along the way they
developed a taste for the bovine intruders.
The ranchers’ fear of the big cats is [95]
partly cultural. The ancient Inca and Maya
believed that jaguars possessed supernatu-
ral powers. In Brazil, the most treacherous
enemy is said to be o amigo da onca, a
friend to the jaguar…. [100]
Some people believe there may be a
way for ranchers and jaguars to coexist.
Sports hunters on “green safaris” might
shoot jaguars with immobilizing drugs,
allowing scientists to fit the cats with radio [105]
collars. Fees would help sustain jaguar
research and compensate ranchers for
livestock losses. (Many environmentalists,
though, fear fraudulent claims.) Scientists
are setting up workshops to teach ranchers [110]
how to protect their herds with modern
husbandry, pasture management, and such
gadgets as blinking lights and electric
fences.
Like many rural folk, however, the [115]
wetland ranchers tend to bristle at bureau-
crats and foreigners telling them what to
do. When the scholars go home and the
greens log off, the pantaneiros will still be
there—left on their own to deal with the [120]

jaguars as they see fit.
47. As it is used in the passage, canvas (line 73) most closely means:
A. a survey of public opinion.
B. a background of events.
C. a coarse cotton fabric.
D. a painting.
48. According to the passage, one result of the decline of the jaguar population during
the 1960s was:
F. the increase in the population of the settlers.
G. an increase in Brazil’s ecotourist business.
H. an increase in the price of a jaguar pelt.
J. an increase in the population of their most common source of food, the
capybaras.
49. According to the passage, it is difficult to determine the extent of the jaguar’s
comeback because:
A. the area they inhabit is so large.
B. the stories that the local ranchers tell about jaguars contradict the conclusions
reached by scientists.
C. jaguars are solitary, nocturnal animals that can have a territory of 35 square
kilometers.
D. scientists have only used radio transmitters to track the movements of the jaguar
population.
50. The information about ecotourism in the first and second paragraphs of the passage
(lines 1-33) suggests that:
F. the jaguars are seen as a threat to the safety of tourists.
G. the jaguars are important to the success of Brazil’s growing ecotourism industry.
H. the growth of the ecotourism industry is threatening the habitat of the jaguars.
J. it is common for ecotourists to spot one or more jaguars.
51. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT a method for protecting
cattle herds that scientists are teaching ranchers?

A. “Green safaris”
B. Pasture management
C. The use of blinking lights and electric fences
D. Modern husbandry
52. It is most likely that the author of the passage included the jaguar stories of three
ranchers (lines 34-67) in order to:
F. express more sympathy toward the ranchers than toward the environmentalists
and scientists.
G. illustrate the dangers and economic losses that the jaguars currently pose to
ranchers.
H. show the violent nature of the ranchers.
J. provide a complete picture of the Pantanal landscape.
53. From information in the passage, it is most reasonable to infer that the cattle herds
“shrank from 6 million to about 3.5 million head” (lines 91-92) because:
A. the jaguars had killed so many cattle.
B. environmentalists and scientists worked to convert pastureland into refuges for
the jaguars.
C. many cows had become sterile from trichomoniasis and annual floods
submerged much of the pastureland used by ranchers.
D. the cattle could not tolerate the increase in the average temperature caused by
global warming.
54. The main conclusion reached about the future of the relationship between the people
and the jaguars in the Pantanal is that:
F. the increase in ecotourism will ensure the continued growth in the jaguar
population.
G. the ranchers themselves will ultimately determine how they will cope with the
jaguars.
H. the jaguar population will continue to fluctuate with the number of tourists
coming into Pantanal.
J. the scientists’ new ranching methods will make it easy for the ranchers and

jaguars to coexist.
55. According to the passage, which of the following groups want to protect the jaguar?
I. -Ecotourists
II. -Environmentalists
III. -Scientists
A. I and II only
B. I and III only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
56. According to the passage, there is no accurate data available on:
F. the number of cattle killed by jaguars.
G. the number of ranchers attacked by jaguars.
H. the growth rate of ecotourism in Brazil.
J. the percentage of the Pantanal wetlands inhabited by jaguars.
Passage VIII
HUMANITIES: This passage is excerpted
from the catalogue of a museum exhibition
on arms and armor. The passage provides
examples of the connections between art
and weaponry throughout the ages.
From the beginning, arms and art were
essential and interrelated elements in the life
of mankind. Weapons for the hunt, such as
spears, throwing clubs, and bows and
arrows, were necessary tools in the daily [5]
struggle for survival. Art, meanwhile, seems
to have begun primarily as hunting magic.
By painting images of game animals on cave
walls and carving them on spear-throwers
and arrow straighteners, hunters attempted [10]

to use supernatural means to secure an
abundant supply of meat and hides for food
and clothing.
Since arms were literally a matter of life
and death, either as weapons designed to kill [15]
or as armor designed to protect from harm,
it was crucial that they be constructed for
maximum effect and with the greatest tech-
nical efficiency; in many cases this process
resulted in functional beauty. To further [20]
enhance the aesthetic and ideological values
of arms—and not least to emphasize their
significance as status symbols for their own-
ers—arms of all periods were embellished
with a wide range of designs and in every [25]
technique known to the decorative arts.
In classical antiquity, too, there was a
close relationship between art and arms.
The patron deity of the arts in ancient
Greece, for instance, was Pallas Athena, who [30]
was represented as helmeted, armored, and
carrying a shield and a spear. Athena’s
weapons were of supernatural origin: she
was born fully armed from the brow of
Zeus. [35]
Significantly, there was also one among
the Olympian gods who worked with his
hands at a human craft, the divine smith
Hephaestos—known as Vulcan to the
Romans—who not only created dazzling [40]

jewelry for the goddesses but also manufac-
tured impenetrable and splendidly decorat-
ed armor for the god of war Ares, or Mars,
as well as for the mortal hero Achilles.
Evidence of the artistry brought to [45]
weapons in ancient times is abundant. In
The Iliad, Homer describes the shield of
Achilles as a mirror of the world “in imper-
ishable bronze, some tin, and precious gold
and silver.” When Mycenae was excavated in [50]
1875 by Heinrich Schliemann, he found
swords and daggers decorated with superb
multicolored inlays in the technique vividly
described by Homer. They were of such
artistic finesse that they would have met [55]
with the approval even of Hephaestos.
Under the influence of Christianity,
during the so-called Dark Ages, the idea of
the divine craftsman was transformed into a
human figure: the legendary Wayland the [60]
Smith. Wayland worked in gold as well as in
steel, fashioning jewels so temptingly beau-
tiful as to sway the virtue of princesses and
forging sword blades painstakingly wrought
from interwoven strands of iron and steel. [65]
The craft of the smith was believed to hold a
powerful magic, and the prestige of even the
greatest of Celtic or Germanic heroes was
enhanced if they were apprenticed to smiths.
For centuries master craftsmen [70]

remained nameless, but when awakening
artistic self-esteem in the Renaissance let
artists step out of the shadows of anonymi-
ty, the greatest names, such as Leonardo da
Vinci, Hans Holbein, Albrecht Durer, and [75]
Benvenuto Cellini, were found quite matter-
of-factly among those of designers and
manufacturers of arms.
57. It is most likely that the author mentions Pallas Athena (line 30) and Hephaestos
(line 39) in order to demonstrate:
A. the close association between war and the arts.
B. the difference between human and divine arts.
C. the classical ideals of beauty and craftsmanship.
D. the notion of artists as divinely inspired.
58. The central purpose of the passage is to:
F. compare the relative importance of art and of arms-making in various eras.
G. describe the high level of artistry brought to arms-making throughout history.
H. show how the influence of Christianity affected the practice of arms-making.
J. analyze the interplay between Renaissance ideals of beauty and function in the
design of arms.
59. Which of the following is NOT used in the passage as an example of the interplay
between artistry and weaponry?
A. Carving images of game animals into spear-throwers
B. Homer’s description of Achilles’ shield
C. The work of Heinrich Schliemann
D. The work of Wayland the Smith
60. As it is used in line 11, secure most nearly means:
F. create.
G. make safe.
H. obtain.

J. guard.
61. In lines 14-26, the author implies that arms were decorated as a way of:
A. lending legitimacy to the causes for which wars were fought.
B. distinguishing them from purely ceremonial objects.
C. enhancing their effectiveness in battle.
D. suggesting the importance of those who possessed them.
62. Information in the passage suggests that the author regards Wayland the Smith as:
F. a figure whose work stands in stark contrast to that of the divine craftsmen of
ancient lore.
G. a legendary character who embodied the ideal of skilled craftsmanship.
H. an exception to the rule of the armorer as a creator of useful yet decorative
objects.
J. a figure who was symbolic of the decline in status of arms-making in the Dark
Ages.