Self-study
Archaeologist: The people who lived in this area deposited their rubbish in pits near their dwellings. ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ █████ █████ ████████████ █████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████
Summarize Argument
The archaeologist concludes that the rubbish found in pits near old dwellings reveals little about the possessions of the people who once lived there. She supports by saying that the pits have been eroded over time, damaging the rubbish inside.
Notable Assumptions
The archaeologist assumes that the erosion has damaged the rubbish in the pits so much that it no longer provides much information about the possessions of the people who lived there. She also assumes that any rubbish that didn't decay or erode is either gone or else is not enough on its own to reveal much about the people’s possessions.
16.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
The pits contain ███████ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ █████ ████████████ ██████████
This weakens the argument because, if the pits contain tools found nowhere else in the dwellings, then they do provide some great insight into the possessions that the people had.
b
Scavengers routinely salvaged ███ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ █████
This addresses the assumption that items less affected by erosion are either gone or else don't provide much insight. If scavengers took the most durable items and only the most eroded ones are left, it makes sense that the pits may not reveal much about the people's possessions.
c
The soil surrounding ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████
This is irrelevant because we don’t know if removing the soil around the pits would have had an effect on the rubbish inside the pits.
d
The pits in █████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████
The argument only focuses on the pits being used for rubbish and what that rubbish shows about the people's possessions. Previous uses of the pits are not relevant because we don't know how, if at all, they would have affected the rubbish.
e
Certain types of █████ ████ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███████
The argument only addresses what the items that are in the rubbish pits reveal about the people’s possessions. While there are likely many other items that are not in the pits that also provide information, they are not relevant to the argument.