NandishSS wrote:Metal rings recently excavated form 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 seventh-century 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
This is an
Evaluate/Assess the argument question type. As
discussed here, in an
Evaluate question, we are looking for a question, which when answered either way would either
Strengthen or
Weaken the argument. Therefore, a good way to approach this sort of a question is to treat it as either a Strengthen or a Weaken question type, based on whichever your strong(er) suit is.
Let us break the argument into its constituent premises and conclusion.
Premise 1: Metal rings recently excavated form 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
Premise 2: The peoples from western part of Mexico and Ecuador were in cultural contact with each other
Conclusion/Hypothesis: Since the metallurgical techniques are so complex that they couldn't have been developed independently, the Mexican people must have learnt the techniques from their Ecuadorian counterparts.
One of the fundamental things to do in any CR question is to identify the assumptions made by the author. Let us think about the basic assumptions inherent in this argument. One of the primary assumptions made by the archaeologists is that the Mexican people couldn't have learnt the techniques from people of
OTHER cultures. The correct answer choice would address this assumption.
A:
Whether metal objects were traded from Ecuador to western Mexico during the seventh century - A '
No' to this question shatters the hypothesis that Mexicans learnt the metallurgical techniques from their Ecuadorian counterparts. If no trade of metallic objects occurred between the two cultures, then it is probably the case that the Mexicans learnt the techniques themselves or picked it up from some OTHER culture. Similarly, a '
Yes' answer would lend extra credibility to the idea that the Mexicans picked up the techniques through the objects traded between the two cultures. This is the
CORRECT answer.
B:
Whether travel between western Mexico and Ecuador in the seventh century would have been primarily by land or by sea - The mode (say by land) via which the Mexicans traveled is irrelevant. We are concerned with whether they learnt the above-mentioned techniques from their Ecuadorian counterparts
INCORRECT
C:
Whether artisans from western Mexico could have learned complex metallurgical techniques from their Ecuadorian counterparts without actually leaving western Mexico - Even if the Mexicans
could have learnt the techniques from the Ecuadorians without leaving western Mexico, it doesn't mean that they
did. Words such as '
could', '
may', '
might', '
possibly', '
some', '
few' are very
weak quantifiers, and hence should be avoided in
Strengthen/
Weaken questions.
INCORRECT
D:
Whether metal tools were used in the seventh-century settlements in western Mexico - An answer to this question doesn't address the question of
where the Mexicans learnt the techniques from. This is
INCORRECT
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 - Let us say that some of such techniques are still practiced today - can we conclude that the Mexicans learnt
all such techniques in the
seventh-century from their Ecuadorian counterparts? Not really. Likewise, if some of these techniques are outdated in Ecuador today, it doesn't answer
where the Mexicans learnt the metallurgical techniques from.
INCORRECT
Hence,
A is the best answer.
Please let me know in case anything doesn't make sense.
