Self-study
Support The cumbersome spears that were the principal weapons used by certain tribes in the early Bronze Age precluded widespread casualties during intertribal conflicts. ███ ███ █████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ██████████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The archaeologists conclude that the cause behind the comparatively high number of warrior tombs in the late Bronze Age, and thus the inferred high casualty rate in battle, was the development of new methods of warfare able to inflict more casualties than early Bronze Age spears.
Notable Assumptions
The main assumption here is that there weren't other causes driving the higher casualty rate -- perhaps factors like malnutrition or disease weakened these warriors and made them more likely to die in battle.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████████ ██████
a
A royal tomb ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ███████
This answer choice doesn't give us any information we don't have. We know spears existed in the early Bronze Age. What we want is evidence for different methods of warfare in the late Bronze Age.
b
There is evidence ████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ ███████
The suggestion here is that many prisoners of war were taken in the late Bronze Age. If anything, this might marginally weaken the argument that the late Bronze Age saw new methods of warfare designed to inflict higher casualties, or it could coexist with the argument. It doesn't strengthen the argument.
c
Scenes of violent ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ █████████
Evidence of warfare in the early Bronze Age doesn't help support the claim that new methods of warfare were developed in the late Bronze Age.
d
Some tombs of ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████████████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████
This doesn't support the claim that new methods of warfare were developed. It's possible armor and trophies of war were taken in the early Bronze Age, too, and the weapons could just be the same kind of spear.
e
The marks on ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████████
This strengthens the argument. It suggests that one factor driving the higher casualty rate in the late Bronze Age was the use of arrows, a new kind of weapon that is different from the spears primarily used in the early Bronze Age.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.