UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — After a decade of disruption, Pattanam needs a renewed vision

Q1. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Large hoards of Roman coins, mainly of early emperors, have been found in peninsular India.
  2. Rome paid for much of its trade with India in gold, rather than balancing it with an equivalent flow of Roman goods.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q2. With reference to radiocarbon dating as used at early historic sites, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The fraction of carbon-14 remaining shrinks with age, which is why the method stops being useful beyond roughly 50,000 years.
  2. After an organism dies, its carbon-14 keeps being replenished from the atmosphere, so the amount in it stays constant.
  3. A raw radiocarbon age has to be calibrated before it can be read as a calendar date.
  4. A sample about 2,000 years old would retain less than half of its original carbon-14.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 4 only
  • C. 1, 2, 3 and 4
  • D. 1, 3 and 4 only