From an analysis of broken pottery and statuary, archaeologists have estimated that an ancient settlement in southwestern Arabia was established around 1000 . ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ █ █████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████
The argument discusses an Arabian settlement estimated to date from about 1000 B.C. But the argument concludes that the settlement is likely even older, based on new evidence. That new evidence is a piece of timber which seems to be older than the evidence previously used to date the site.
The argument hypothesizes that the timber dates from the same time as the settlement. To weaken this claim, we can present an alternative explanation for why the timber is older than the other evidence. Perhaps it came from an earlier settlement built on the same site, for example.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████████
The building timber ████ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████
In other words, the timber may be older than the settlement. This undermines the link between the age of the timber and the age of the settlement itself, effectively weakening the argument. If the timber came from an earlier settlement, then the pottery and statuary are still the best indicators of this settlement's age.
The pieces of ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████
Where these artifacts come from within the site doesn't establish that they're more reliable evidence than the timber. (B) doesn't change how we weigh the new versus old evidence, so it doesn't weaken the argument's hypothesis.
The tests used ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ███████
But are the more recent tests more reliable? We don't know. Perhaps the older tests are more reliable, because they've been perfected over time. Unless we make a baseless assumption about which tests are better, (C) doesn't affect the argument either way.
The site has ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████
Does the quantity of evidence affect its reliability? (D) only weakens if we make a baseless assumption that the age of the site is best determined by the most plentiful artifacts.
The type of ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████
This only strengthens the argument by providing corroborating evidence for the conclusion that the site is older than initially thought. But we're trying to undermine that hypothesis, which (E) doesn't help with.
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