Recently discovered prehistoric rock paintings

Answer choices

1. A

   Weakens8% picked this

   Once on these islands, the cave painters hunted and ate

   If, once on the islands, the painters hunted and ate land animals, then their current diet (the diet during the time they were painting) didn't feature sea creatures. The diet theory says paintings reflect the current diet — and a current diet of land animals is consistent with paintings of land animals and no paintings of sea creatures. The author's argument against the theory is weakened. (This answer does weaken, so it's NOT the correct answer to the EXCEPT question.)

   8%
2. B

   Weakens17% picked this

   Parts of the cave paintings on the islands did not survive

   If parts of the cave paintings did not survive the centuries, then sea-creature paintings might have once existed and been lost. The author's "no paintings unambiguously depict sea creatures" claim is about the surviving record — and the surviving record may not represent what was originally painted. This weakens the argument against the theory. Not the EXCEPT answer.

   17%
3. C

   Correct49% picked this

   The cave paintings that were discovered on the islands depicted many

   Why this is right

   This answer does not weaken the argument against the theory. The author's argument hinges on the absence of unambiguous sea-creature depictions. Saying the paintings depicted many land animals is fully consistent with that absence — having lots of land-animal paintings doesn't fill in any sea-creature paintings. The author's key claim ("no paintings unambiguously depict such creatures") survives intact. Since this doesn't weaken, it's the correct answer to the EXCEPT question.

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   49%
4. D

   Weakens18% picked this

   Those who did the cave paintings that were discovered on the islands had unusually advanced

   If the painters had advanced techniques for preserving meats, they could have brought enough preserved land-animal meat for the journey and not needed to eat sea creatures along the way. That breaks the author's premise that they "must have needed to eat the sea animals." Weakens the argument against the theory. Not the EXCEPT answer.

   18%
5. E

   Weakens8% picked this

   The cave paintings on the islands were done by the original inhabitants of the islands who ate the

   If the paintings were done by the islands' original inhabitants — who ate land animals — then those particular painters never made the long sea journey and never needed to eat sea creatures. Their current diet was land-based, and the absence of sea-creature paintings is what the diet theory predicts. The author's journey-based argument doesn't apply. Weakens the argument against the theory. Not the EXCEPT answer.

   8%