hard · Gre Verbal

Which of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox of a collapse during a time of plenty?

1. The massive surplus of grain led to a breakdown of the social hierarchy as the elite lost their control over food distribution.
2. A neighboring tribe living in the nearby mountains suffered from a severe famine during the very same ten-year period.
3. The civilization had developed a remarkably advanced irrigation system that let them farm land far from the riverbanks.
4. Paleoclimate data suggests that the record crop yields were followed almost immediately by a full century of extreme drought.
5. The civilization traded much of its enormous surplus grain for precious metals and exotic luxury goods from distant lands across the sea.

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