Archaeologist: After the last ice age

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct75% picked this

   The Clovis points found in Siberia are older than any of those that have been

   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%
2. B

   Unclear Impact20% picked this

   The Bering land bridge disappeared before any of the Clovis points found to

   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%
3. C

   Out of Scope0% picked this

   Clovis points were more effective hunting weapons than earlier spear points

   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%
4. D

   Out of Scope3% picked this

   Archaeologists have discovered in Siberia artifacts that date from after the time

   Without knowing more about the people to whom these artifacts belonged this does not have an impact on the argument’s reasoning.

   3%
5. E

   Weaken2% picked this

   Some paleohuman groups that migrated from Siberia to North America via the Bering land bridge

   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%