Archaeologist: Our team discovered

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: no value1% picked this

   had no trade value 5,000 years

   Why does the author have to assume these rad copper tools had zero trade value. If they had some trade value, would that be an objection? No.

   1%
2. B

   Correct55% picked this

   were present in the region 5,000

   Why this is right

   If we negated this and said, "Hey author, these tools weren't even in this region 5,000 years ago", then that would badly weaken his case that these tools show that the Aboriginal people were making birchbark canoes 5,000 years ago. In most LSAT arguments involving some found piece of archeological evidence, some artifact, the author tries to learn something about the local inhabitants from this found object. Those authors are always assuming that the found object is actually a local object, not some object that was brought from a different region and just dropped there.

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

   55%
3. C

   Too Strong: only4% picked this

   were designed to be used on material from birch, cedar, and

   The author only needs to assume that these tools were relevant / useful to making birchbark canoes. She doesn't need to assume that the tools only had that use. Just because birch, cedar, and spruce were the only trees mentioned in relation to raw materials for building birchbark canoes, that doesn't mean the tools were only good for those trees. This is a common trap answer: Only Ones Mentioned → The Only Ones

   4%
4. D

   Too Strong: only12% picked this

   were the only kind of tool that would have been used for canoe making

   The author needs to assume that these copper tools could have been used to make canoes 5,000 years ago, and she's concluding that they were used. But these doesn't need to believe that no other tools were ever used in the canoe building process. If I found evidence that a certain civilization had spatulas, maple syrup, and flour, I can speculatively conclude that "This civilization knew how to make pancakes!" without committing myself to believing that all you need to make pancakes is a spatula, maple syrup, and flour.

   12%
5. E

   Out of Scope27% picked this

   are not known to have been used by the region’s Aboriginal people for any task

   Out of Scope: other than canoe making This is yet another Only Thing Mentioned → The Only Thing trap answer. Most of the trap answers on this problem are using this same trap, and making answers that are too extreme. The author thinks that these tools were used at some point to gather some raw materials from some local trees and turn them into a birchbark canoe. (C) they only gathered raw materials from those 3 trees mentioned. (D) they were the only tools used to make the canoe. (E) they were used to make only canoes.

   27%