Self-study
Museum curator: Support Our ancient Egyptian collection includes an earthenware hippopotamus that resembles a child's toy. ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ █ ██████████████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████ █████ █ ████ ████ ████████████ ███ █ █████████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that a certain ancient Egyptian earthenware hippo was a religious object.
Why?
Because it was discovered in a tomb, upside down, with its legs broken off.
And we know that in ancient Egypt, breaking the legs off a representation of an animals was thought to help a person in the afterlife.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes there’s no other reasonable explanation for why the hippo had its legs broken off besides the religious purpose concerning the afterlife.
2.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████
a
The tomb in █████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ██ █ ██████
Not necessary, because even if it was the tomb of a child, the Egyptians might have thought that the child would benefit in the afterlife from breaking the legs of a hippo figurine.
b
Earthenware figures were █████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████
Not necessary, because even if earthenware figures were sometimes used as children’s toys, the argument concerning this particular figure is based on the specific circumstances of the figure. It was in a tomb, upside down, with its legs broken off. These features can signify that an earthenware figure was a religious object, even if other earthenware figures were toys.
c
The tomb in █████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████████ ██████ ███
Not necessary, because the tomb could have been reentered, perhaps to place the figure to help the deceased person in the afterlife.
d
The hippopotamus' legs ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████
Necessary, because if it were not true — if the hippo’s legs WERE broken through a natural occurence after it was placed in the tomb — then the fact the hippo’s legs were broken would not constitute evidence of a religious purpose for the object.
e
The hippopotamus was ██████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████
Not necessary, because the reasoning is based on the religious significance of a figure with its legs broken off. But whether the figure was placed upside up or upside down originally has no connection to the religious reasons offered for the conclusion.