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Swartkans use of fire

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Swartkans use of fire

by BlueDragon2010 » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:05 pm
In Swartkans territory, archeologists discovered charred bone fragments dating back one million years. Analysis of the fragments, which came from a variety of animals, showed that they had been heated to temperatures no higher than those produced in experimental campfires made from branches of white stinkwood, the most common tree around Swartkans.

Which of the following, if true, would, together with the information above, provide the best basis for the claim that the charred bone fragments are evidence of the use of fire by early hominids?

(A) The white stinkwood tree is used for building material by the present-day inhabitants of Swartkans.

(B) Forest fires can heat wood to a range of temperatures that occur in campfires.

(C) The bone fragments were fitted together by the archaeologists to form the complete skeletons of several animals.

(D) Apart from the Swartkans discovery, there is reliable evidence that early hominids used fire as many as 500,000 years ago.

(E) The bone fragments were found in several distinct layers of limestone that contained primitive cutting tools known to have been used by early hominids.
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:20 pm
This is a pretty tough question. To solve it, remember that in order to strengthen an argument the right answer does NOT have to prove that it is correct, but only needs to make the argument more convincing. In this case, the right answer should give us additional reason to believe that the charred bone fragments indicate that early hominids used fire.

The answer is E. I go through the question in detail in the full solution below (taken from the GMATFix App).

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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:14 pm
We want an answer that suggests that the bones were charred by campfires (or some similar use of fire) by the Swartkans 1,000,000 years ago. Here's an answer by answer approach.

(A):: We don't care what's happening today, we care about what happened 1,000,000 years ago; out of scope.

(B):: This would actually WEAKEN the argument, if anything: it suggests that the animals may have died in forest fires rather than in campfires started by the Swartkans.

(C):: So what - this would presumably happen if the animals had been burned in a campfire or if they'd been consumed by a forest fire.

(D):: Evidence from 500,000 years ago is nice, but we're dealing with charred bones that are 1,000,000 years old - how do we know that fire was used then?

(E):: This doesn't help much, but it does give us _something_: the suggestion that the Swartkans were able to use cutting tools at the same time that these bones were charred. This suggests that the Swartkans could either have been cutting strips of white stinkwood to use in a fire ... hey, it's something!

This is a great example of a tough CR question: none of the answers are great, so we settle for the least bad answer. (E) gives us something (circumstantial evidence suggesting that the Swartkans could cut down trees for a campfire) and the others give us nothing, so E it is.
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