Self-study
Mysterious ancient tracks cut into limestone have recently been found on the island of Malta. ███ ██████ ███████ █████████ ████████████ █████ ██████ ███████████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ █████████████ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The archaeologist hypothesizes that the mysterious tracks were made by animal-drawn carts in roughly 1000 B.C. Why? Because of the tracks’ appearance and surroundings.
Notable Assumptions
The archaeologist assumes that the tracks’ origin and date can be deduced by their physical appearance and surroundings. The archaeologist also assumes that the physical appearance and surroundings of the tracks in question match those made by animal-drawn carts.
1.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████████ ██████████ █████████ ██████
a
Areas near the ██████ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████████████ ████ ████
Animals were clearly in the area of the tracks around 1000 B.C. This lends support to both the notion that animal-drawn carts made these tracks, and that these tracks were made in 1000 B.C.
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.
b
Some of the ██████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██████
We don’t care what the tracks connect. We care how they were created in the first place.
c
Some terrain on ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████
We have no idea if that terrain is the terrain around the tracks. And even if that terrain is more easily traversed on foot, carts may still have passed over it.
d
Historically, inhabitants of ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████████████ ███████████
We have no idea if animal-drawn carts constitute “innovation.” Besides, the Maltese could’ve received this technology from elsewhere.
e
Around 1000 B.C., ████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████
We care about the tracks. We don’t care what happened to certain settlements, especially because we don't know whether those settlements were related to the tracks.