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Zorluk: Çok zorStrengthening Arguments

Archaeologists analyzing late-Bronze Age settlements along the upper Rhine found that around 1200 BCE, local pottery began exhibiting high concentrations of pine resin, an organic sealant used to preserve liquids. Concurrently, environmental soil core samples reveal a sharp spike in regional timber harvests, despite evidence that local population density and building construction remained stable. Scholars conclude that the settlements increased tree-felling primarily to produce pine resin for export containers. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the scholars' argument?

  1. Extracting and processing pine resin in quantities sufficient to line large volumes of export containers required burning substantial amounts of harvested timber to fuel pitch-kilns.Cevap
  2. B
    Lumber cut from pine trees harvested in the region around 1200 BCE shows structural decay caused by fungal blights that made the timber unsuitable for building construction.
  3. C
    Resin-lined ceramic containers produced in the upper Rhine were significantly more effective at preventing liquid leakage than unsealed earthenware jars used in neighboring coastal regions.
  4. D
    Pine resin was also widely utilized by neighboring settlements to waterproof the wooden hulls of river barges used in regional transport networks.
  5. E
    The total number of ceramic vessels manufactured in the upper Rhine settlements declined slightly in the century following 1200 BCE.

Cevap

The argument is most strengthened by establishing that extracting pine resin required burning large quantities of timber in pitch-kilns, directly linking increased tree-felling to resin production.
The correct answer provides the critical missing link in the argument's causal chain. The scholars conclude that tree-felling increased specifically to manufacture pine resin. Showing that resin extraction is a wood-intensive process requiring large amounts of fuel for pitch-kilns directly accounts for the timber harvest spike and strongly reinforces the conclusion.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Deconstruct the argument structure into premises and conclusion
Premises: (1) Pottery showed high pine resin around 1200 BCE. (2) Timber harvests spiked sharply at the same time. (3) Population and building construction did not increase. Conclusion: Tree-felling increased primarily to produce pine resin for export containers.
Identifying the logic gap requires clearly distinguishing the observed evidence from the author's causal claim.
2
Identify the unstated assumption or logical gap
The argument assumes that producing pine resin consumes or requires large amounts of harvested timber, explaining why timber harvests would spike alongside resin production.
Without a clear operational link showing how resin production leads to timber consumption, the correlation between tree-felling and resin presence remains unproven.
3
Evaluate choices to find the one that confirms the operational link
The statement explaining that pitch-kilns consumed massive amounts of timber to extract pine resin supplies the missing operational link.
Connecting timber felling directly to the resin extraction process eliminates missing steps in the causal chain and strongly validates the author's conclusion.

Anahtar Kavram

Strengthening Causal Arguments by Supplying a Missing Operational Mechanism
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Konular

Strengthening Arguments

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