There is evidence to suggest

Answer choices

1. A

   Unclear Impact7% picked this

   Most flints used by our cave-dwelling ancestors were not

   If anything, maybe this comports well with the author's explanation. If it was rare to have a highly polished flint, maybe that means the polished ones weren't for practical use; they were more for putting on a shelf and admiring. Ultimately, the ratio of highly polished to not highly polished doesn't matter. We're just trying to solve the causal mystery of why some of them were highly polished, regardless of how common or uncommon those were.

   7%
2. B

   Weak Impact7% picked this

   The caves in which the highly polished flints were found are unadorned

   This might be tempting as a plausibility-weakener. "Hey, author — you say that these cave-dwellers had an aesthetic sense and that's why these flints were highly polished? Well then how come these cave-dwellers didn't have cave paintings?" However, this has pretty weak impact. If cave-dwellers do have cave paintings, that's definitely a plausibility-booster to the idea that they have an aesthetic sense. But not-having cave paintings doesn't strongly damage the idea that they had an aesthetic sense. There are lots of different ways to express an aesthetic sense, so it's just not a powerful objection.

   7%
3. C

   Strengthens, if anything18% picked this

   There is evidence that these highly polished flints were used for display

   This feels very appealing at first when we're listening for an Alternate Explanation for why the flints were so polished. However, polishing flints so that they can be used for display in religious ceremonies suggests that they were decorative embellishments to the ceremony. They were there because of their beauty. If they were used for display, they were meant to be looked at, and appreciated ... aesthetically.

   18%
4. D

   Correct65% picked this

   Flints were often used by early humans for everyday chores other

   Why this is right

   This suggests an Alternate Explanation for the Curious Fact, which is the #1 trend when we're doing a Weaken question on an Explain the Curious Fact type argument. The author moved immediately from, "If it's not polished for hunting purposes, then I guess it was just polished for sake of looking polished." This answer is saying, "That's a premature move. Hunting isn't the only use of a flint we should be considering. Remember, they used flints for everyday chores other than hunting. Maybe there was some reason to want a highly-polished flint for one of those chores."

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

   65%
5. E

   No Impact: benefits of aesthetic sense3% picked this

   Any benefits that an aesthetic sense would have given to cave-dwelling humans

   Nothing in this argument would care whether cave-dwellers did or didn't benefit from having an aesthetic sense. We only care if the flints were highly polished for aesthetic reasons, or for some other reason.

   3%