求教GWD-8-Q17：A of B which表达which的指代问题

haileywang

GWD-8-Q17:
Fossils of a whale that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have been recovered by paleontologists.
A.that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and was subsequently butchered by hominids have
B.that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and then was subsequently butchered by hominids has
C.that beached on an African shore more than a million years ago, which was subsequently butchered by hominids, has
D.having been beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and subsequently butchered by hominids, have                     
E.having beached on an African shore more than a million years ago and then subsequently were butchered by hominids have
正确答案是A，我选了D。
A中的that是用来指代whale，从后面的was subsequently butchered可以看出来。想问的就是whale不是介词of的宾语么？为什么that指代的是whale而不是fossils？
看GWD-13-11:a group of New World tropical birds that includes more than 230 species and is这里that指代的是group。

rudder86

当初是这样想的，觉得如果用that的话既可以指代fossil也尅指代whale，那么这样就容易引起歧义。用having呢做后置定语是直接修饰whale的，这样就不会出现修饰歧义的问题了。
但是再看看发现如果been beached on是用来修饰whale的话又是说不通的，所以就提出that到底应该如何指代的问题了。

DayDreamings

据目前出现的题目而言， that 和 which 既可以修饰离其最近的名词，也可以向前跳跃修饰；而且没有明显的规则显示说什么情况下该怎么修饰。

个人觉得遇到这样的题，从其他方面入手，譬如has和have的区别； 譬如awkward 的 having；