Calendar Causes

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In early civilizations, the development of the first calendar system often coincided with the advancement of mathematics and astronomy. Granted, the practice of studying celestial bodies also gave rise to astrology and religion, which often had the effect of slowing the progress of the former two areas. Nevertheless, it's by no means impossible that these partly contradictory human pursuits had a common cause, or at least a common contributing cause. Therefore, in all likelihood, the advancement of agrarian science, which motivated the development of measuring seasons and time, led to improved understanding of mathematics and astronomy in early civilizations.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?