Logical Reasoning

PT129 · S2 · Q22 Archaeologist: After the last ice age

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Archaeologist: After the last ice age, groups of paleohumans left Siberia and crossed the Bering land bridge, which no longer exists, into North America.

Evidence

After the last ice age, groups of paleohumans left Siberia and crossed the Bering land bridge, which no longer exists, into North America.

Archaeologists have discovered in Siberia a cache of Clovis points—the distinctive stone spear points made by paleohumans.

Conclusion

This shows that, contrary to previous belief, the Clovis point was not invented in North America.

Evaluate

The archaeologist’s conclusion is about where the first Clovis point was made. Since it is possible that the cache of Clovis points discovered in Siberia were made by people who had traveled back to Siberia from North America, it could be that the Clovis point was invented in North America even though Clovis points were found in Siberia.

22.

Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the archaeologist's argument?

Correct
The Clovis points found in
Why this is right
Since determining where Clovis points were invented involves identifying the world’s oldest Clovis point, if the cache of Clovis points discovered in Siberia were not as old as the one’s discovered in North America, then they couldn’t serve as evidence for where Clovis points were invented.
Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
75% picked this
The Bering land bridge disappeared
Unclear Impact
This answer is hard to interpret. But it's important that we realize that there definitely ARE Clovis points in North America. That's not really well-established by this stimulus, other than telling us that paleohumans lived in North America / their signature tool was the clovis point / it is a common belief that they were INVENTED in North America. If we know that there are clovis points in North America AND in Siberia, the fact that the bridge disappeared before the Siberian ones were made is confusing. That suggests that the Siberian ones and the North American ones had nothing to do with each other? Paleohumans made it to North America before the bridge disappeared. We have no idea at what point they started making clovis points in North America. It might have been before the bridge disappeared, or after. We know the Siberian ones were made after the bridge disappeared. Were they just independently invented in both places? Were they invented in one place and then traveled by boat to the other place? We have no idea. Meanwhile, the correct answer implies a clear time sequence in terms of the Siberian clovis points being made earlier than ALL the clovis points in North America.
20% picked this
Clovis points were more effective
Out of Scope
Without further information about the conditions in which the Clovis point was used to hunt, the effectiveness of Clovis points is not relevant to where they were invented.
0% picked this
Archaeologists have discovered in Siberia
Out of Scope
Without knowing more about the people to whom these artifacts belonged this does not have an impact on the argument’s reasoning.
2% picked this
Some paleohuman groups that migrated
Weaken
This makes it possible that the Clovis points found in Siberia belonged to people who invented them in North America and then returned back to Siberia.
2% picked this

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