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Zorluk: OrtaNecessary Assumption

Archaeologist: Radiocarbon dating of domesticated emmer wheat grains excavated at the Tel Marwa site places their earliest appearance at approximately 9,500 years ago. Because wild emmer wheat exhibits brittle rachises that shatter upon maturity to disperse seeds, it can be gathered without cutting tools, whereas domesticated emmer retains tough rachises that require harvesting with specialized blades, leaving distinct microscopic sickle-gloss wear on stone implements. Stone blades exhibiting sickle-gloss wear were found at Tel Marwa exclusively in soil strata dating to 9,500 years ago and later, with none appearing in earlier strata. Therefore, the inhabitants of Tel Marwa did not engage in the cultivation of cereals prior to 9,500 years ago.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the archaeologist's argument depends?

  1. A
    The inhabitants of Tel Marwa did not gather or consume wild emmer wheat after 9,500 years ago.
  2. B
    Prehistoric communities that harvested cereals developed distinct sickle-gloss wear on all of their stone cutting tools.
  3. Cereal cultivation at Tel Marwa prior to 9,500 years ago would have involved harvesting methods that produce sickle-gloss wear on stone blades.Cevap
  4. D
    If an archaeological site contains stone blades with sickle-gloss wear, the inhabitants of that site must have cultivated domesticated rather than wild grains.
  5. E
    The discovery of stone blades exhibiting sickle-gloss wear is sufficient by itself to establish the exact decade when agricultural practices began.

Cevap

Cereal cultivation at Tel Marwa prior to 9,500 years ago would have involved harvesting methods that produce sickle-gloss wear on stone blades.
The conclusion asserts that no cereal cultivation took place before 9,500 years ago based solely on the absence of stone blades with sickle-gloss wear in earlier archaeological strata. For this inference to hold, it must be true that any early cereal cultivation would have produced these specific sickle-gloss tools. If early cereal cultivation could have occurred without producing sickle-gloss wear on stone blades (for instance, via manual uprooting or beating seeds into baskets), then the absence of glossy stone blades is entirely compatible with early cultivation, causing the author's conclusion to collapse.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Analyze the argument's structure and identify the premises and main conclusion.
Premises: Domesticated emmer requires harvesting tools that produce sickle-gloss wear; blades with sickle-gloss wear are absent in strata older than 9,500 years. Conclusion: Inhabitants did not cultivate cereals before 9,500 years ago.
Deconstructing the core argument exposes the unstated gap between the absence of a specific physical artifact (sickle-gloss blades) and the absence of an entire activity (cereal cultivation).
2
Identify the unstated assumption linking the physical evidence to the general conclusion.
The author presumes that any cereal cultivation prior to 9,500 years ago would necessarily leave behind stone blades with sickle-gloss wear.
If prehistoric inhabitants cultivated cereals using techniques that did not leave sickle-gloss wear (such as uprooting plants or using non-lithic tools), cultivation could have occurred despite the absence of glossy stone blades.
3
Apply the Negation Test to confirm necessity.
Negating the statement gives: 'Cereal cultivation prior to 9,500 years ago would NOT have involved harvesting methods producing sickle-gloss wear.'
If early cultivation did not produce sickle gloss on stone blades, the lack of such blades in early strata fails to prove that cultivation did not take place, completely undermining the conclusion.

Anahtar Kavram

Necessary Assumption (Negation Test)
Tahmini Süre:1m 20s
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Konular

Necessary Assumption

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