The word egalitarian in the passage is closest in meaning to:

The transition from nomadic foraging to settled agricultural production during the Neolithic Revolution inaugurated irreversible transformations in human social organization. For hundreds of millennia, mobile hunter-gatherer bands maintained small, egalitarian groups whose demographics were constrained by seasonal caloric availability and the energetic costs of mobility. With the selective domestication of cereal grasses such as emmer wheat and barley in the Fertile Crescent around 10,000 BCE, communities anchored themselves in permanent sedentary villages. The generation of non-perishable grain surpluses enabled significant demographic expansion while simultaneously introducing social stratification. Surplus ownership necessitated architectural storage, protective defense, and specialized labor divisions, encouraging artisans, warriors, and administrative elites divorced from primary food procurement.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. asserting equal social status

  1. Step 1: Examine the meaning of "egalitarian" in the anthropological context of hunter-gatherer societies.
  2. Step 2: An "egalitarian" social group is one based on the principle of social equality and equal rights, without rigid hierarchies or caste distinctions, which means "asserting equal social status".
Answer
asserting equal social status.

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