Critical Reasoning

Mo2men wrote:Metal rings recently excavated from seventh-century settlements in the western part of Mexico were made using the same metallurgical techniques as those used by Ecuadorian artisans before and during that period. These techniques are sufficiently complex to make their independent development in both areas unlikely. Since the people of these two areas were in cultural contact, archaeologists hypothesize that the metallurgical techniques used to make the rings found
in Mexico were learned by Mexican artisans from Ecuadorian counterparts.

Which of the following would it be most useful to establish in order to evaluate the archaeologists' hypothesis?

(A) Whether metal objects were traded from Ecuador to western Mexico during the seventh century
(B) Whether travel between western Mexico and Ecuador in the seventh century would have been primarily by land or by sea
(C) Whether artisans from western Mexico could have learned complex metallurgical techniques from their Ecuadorian counterparts without actually leaving western Mexico
(D) Whether metal tools were used in the seventhcentury settlements in western Mexico
(E) Whether any of the techniques used in the manufacture of the metal rings found in western Mexico are still practiced among artisans in Ecuador today
OA: A


Why choice C is wrong?

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Verbal Experts,
Can you please share your thoughts why exactly Option D is wrong ? (It seems close to me!)

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Verbal Experts,
Can you please share your thoughts why exactly Option D is wrong ? (It seems close to me!)

We want to determine whether Mexican artisans learned a technique from Ecuadorian artisans.

D is wrong because the question of whether metal tools were used in western Mexico doesn't concern us. It's possible that they were made there and immediately traded to another region. It's possible that the tools were considered beautiful and were purely ornamental. All we care about is how the technique was learned.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Option D simply doesn't help to address what we're looking for -- whether Mexican learned this technique from Ecuadorian ?

This line of reasoning is correct.

Even if D is true, it could well be the case that the Mexican didn't learn this technique from Ecuadorian, rather Ecuadorian made those metal rings which were later imported to Mexico or Ecuadorian went to Mexico to make those metal rings as foreign workers. Point is, we simply don't know what actually happened even if metal tools were used (or NOT used) in the seventh-century settlements in western Mexico.

This explanation to eliminate D should be correct, I think. Right ?