Passage Summary: An archaeologist argues that looking at old trash pits isn't a great way to know what people owned back then because the trash has rotted or been destroyed by the elements over time.

Conclusion: Rubbish pits alone provide little insight into the possessions of the people who lived there.

Reasoning: Erosion has had destructive effects on the rubbish within the pits over long periods of time.

Analysis: The archaeologist points to erosion as a reason why the trash is misleading. To strengthen this, we need to show that the stuff that did survive isn't a representative sample of what they actually owned. Look for an answer that suggests the most informative items were the most likely to be destroyed by erosion, or that the pits never contained certain types of possessions in the first place. This would bolster the claim that the pits are an incomplete and therefore poor record.