Sentence Correction

Pottery existed before the rise of stone buildings and urban architecture and has represented traces of cultural evolution from early village life dating back to at least 1600 BC in the southern Maya region up to the abandonment of urban centers at the time of Spanish conquest.

The correct answer is :-

represents traces of cultural evolution from early village life dating back to at least 1600 BC in the southern Maya region up to the


Q: When would it be okay to use the perfect verb tense, "...has represented..." ?

It would not be correct to use the Present Perfect in this context. The sentence would have to be changed significantly if we wanted to use this tense. The Present Perfect is used when there is no clear past time reference and when time is of no importance. Instead we focus on the action that has happened.
e.g. I have lost my key (not important when - what counts is the result - I can't open the door NOW).

is that right to say that Pottery existed and represents? past + present