Critical Reasoning

An ongoing archeological controversy surrounds the question of the date of the abandonment of the old city of Jericho. In the 1930s the site was excavated by the archaeologist John Garstang, who discovered the remains of a network of collapsed walls, which he dated at about 1400 BC, the time he believed the Israelites were on their conquest, leading him to conclude that the city had fallen in war. In 1950, another archeologist, Kathleen Kenyon, dated the most recent of Jericho's walls at 2300 BC. Kenyon found no evidence of defensive structures that could confirm Garstang's claims that Jericho had been destroyed by the Israelites in the 15th century BC. In fact, she concluded that Jericho had lain in ruins for centuries before the Israelites arrived.

Which of the following, if true, provides the best additional support for Garstang's theory about the date of the abandonment of Jericho?

A.The oldest walls found at the site, along with a number of houses and courtyards, had been constructed over 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic age.
B.An abundance of pottery located at the site coincides with other local pottery common to the 15 th century BC.
C.The walls of Jericho had been repaired and rebuilt at least seventeen times, probably following damage caused by earthquakes.
D.Carbon-14 testing of a sample of charcoal found on the site indicated a date of 1800 BC.
E.Earlier archeologists who hoped to confirm the biblical story of the Israelites' conquest of Jericho concluded that the city had been unoccupied at the time such conquest would have occurred.

OA B