#3 - Bovine remains found in a certain region of Africa date back to a time

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Assumption. The correct answer choice is (A).

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[mkarimi73]

Could I have an explanation as to why (B) and (E) can be safely removed from contention? I picked (A) because it actually connected the premises to the conclusion, and it also had the topic of "domesticated animals," which is not mentioned in any of the premises of the stimulus. Thus, the correct answer has to have this term correct? I also noticed that the question stem says, "Which one of the following is AN assumption on which the argument depends?" (A) doesn't mention the "no longer exclusively hunter-gatherer" aspect of the conclusion. Is this okay to choose then?

[Adam Tyson]

B is incorrect because the author need not assume it in order for their argument to make sense. It's entirely possible that there are other practices that come before the domestication of animals. Negating answer B to say that this is not necessarily one of the first steps does nothing to undermine the claim that these bovines were domesticated.

Same thing with answer E: the size of the animals is not an issue on which the author relies. What if domesticated bovines need just as much water as wild animals of similar size? Or more? This negation does nothing to attack the argument or undermine the conclusion, and so the author need not assume it in order to draw that conclusion.

You're right that the answer doesn't address the other aspect of the conclusion regarding hunter-gatherers, but you are correct that it doesn't need to, as we only need to identify "an" assumption, not "every" assumption. Another perfectly acceptable answer would have been "people with domesticated bovines are not exclusively hunter-gatherers."

[TootyFrooty]

may I know why d is wrong? thanks

[Dana D]

Hey Tooty,

This question is asking us for an answer choice that the argument depends on to work.

Answer choice (D) says "No human culture obtains food both through agriculture and through hunting and gathering" but this can not be the correct answer because it completely contradicts the last sentence of the stimulus, which says that "people living in the region were no longer exclusively hunter-gatherers."