Self-study
Support A small collection of copper-alloy kitchen implements was found in an abandoned Roman-era well. ███████ ████ ███ █ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the kitchen implements were dropped into the well no earlier than 375 A.D. He supports this by saying that some of the coins found beneath the implements dated to 375 A.D.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the kitchen implements were dropped into the well after the coins, simply because they were found on top of the coins. He assumes that the coins could not have fallen through the kitchen implements and that the well's contents have not been disturbed or displaced over time in a way that would make it difficult to reliably date the implements based on the coins.
13.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
The coins used ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ████████
Irrelevant. Regardless of how long the coins were in circulation, they still dated to 375 A.D., which means that they couldn’t have been dropped into the well earlier than 375.
b
The coins were █████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ ████████
If the coins couldn't have fallen through the kitchen implements, it's much more likely that they were dropped into the well before the implements. If they were, the implements couldn't have been dropped in before 375 A.D.
c
The coins had ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████
Irrelevant. It doesn’t matter whether the coins or the implements were more valuable. The argument is only trying to determine when they were dropped into the well.
d
The items in ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████████
Irrelevant. It doesn’t matter why the items were dropped into the well; the author is only addressing when they were dropped into the well.
e
Items of jewelry █████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████
Irrelevant. The fact that the jewelry was made around 300 A.D. tells us nothing about when it was dropped into the well. Even if it was dropped in then, it would just mean it was dropped before the coins, which makes sense since it's older.