Traces of cultivated emmer wheat have been found among the earliest

We have two kinds of wheat mentioned in the premises above:
1. wild emmer wheat
2. cultivated emmer wheat
---> Conclusion: wild wheat was cultivated first in the strip (the scope to follow)
(A): irrelevant as the premise is talking about "emmer wheat" not "another wild wheat, einkon"
(B): irrelevant as the fact that wild emmer wheat easily yield like traditionally domestic wheat does not prove anything that wild emmer wheat was first domesticated in the place. (B) might also weaken the argument by saying that this kind of wheat is very easy to cultivated so it can be done in anywhere not only. What if the very strong storm wind the wild wheat seat to further area and was cultivated in the place rather than the strip (just my imagination but hope you can understand my point)
(C) irrelevant as "the most nutrious of all the varieties of grain" wont affect the conclusion above.
(D): might be correct because it related to the unchanged conditions where emmer wheat "since before the development of agriculture." We can assure this answer by negate the answer by saying that "climatic conditions have not changed very little". If so, there's alot of negative effects which can affect the cultivation of the wheat
(E): weaken the argument as it possibly misunderstood emmer wheat with other kinds of wheat --> how we can assure that the emmer wheat was first cultivated there if we even hardly distinguise wheat?? By saying addtiontionally "without genetic testing" also wont work here as it makes irrelevant to support when and where the wheat was domesticated.



I just brief some of my thoughts. Hope it can help and please correct me if i've made mistake somewhere.

Karisma, I appreciate your reply. But can you show the assumption which D increases the belief in. Kaplan classic method said that a strengthener is an assumption or new information which increases the belief in an assumption. that is the way a strengthener increases the belief in conclusion.

Pls chetan2u, HKD1710, VeritasPrepKarishma, OptimusPrepJanielle, and Manhattan GMAT guys in this forum.
Help me explain what's going on in this question.
The experts in this forum help me to even understand the link between option D and the stimulus.
I've understood the toughest questions in Mgmat test bank, but this one is strange.
If the Climate has changed very little since then, how does that strengthen the conclusion or the premise?

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Wait a little chetan2u
I'm still grappling at the fact of the blue part in your post.
"so as the oldest CULTIVATED remains and
presently growing WILD EW are from same place
so these two things add up to tell that these wild
were initially cultivated on this strip and later
transported to other location

Just wait..
Where did the bold part come from pls?

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So after the twisted assumption corktail then we add just a little more assumption that A CLIMATE CHANGE MIGHT HAVE ENSURED THEY DIDN'T SURVIVE.
Then it happens in D that there was little climate change.

So it's like "No wonder! that godblest constant climate ensured we still see these EW.
But what's the argument again...
**depressing question**

Traces of cultivated emmer wheat have been found among the earliest agricultural remains of many archeological sites in Europe and Asia. The only place where the wild form of emmer wheat has been found growing is a relatively narrow strip of southwest Asia. Since the oldest remains of cultivated emmer wheat yet found are from village sites in the same narrow strip, it is clear that emmer wheat was first domesticated somewhere in that strip.

(A) The present-day distribution of another wild wheat, einkon, which was also domesticated early in the development of agriculture, covers a much larger area of southwest Asia.

(B) Modern experiments show that wild emmer wheat can easily be domesticated so as to yield nearly as well as traditionally domestic strains (a particular type of plant).

(C) At the time when emmer wheat was first cultivated, it was the most nutritious of all the varieties of grain that were then cultivated.

(D) In the region containing the strip where wild emmer wheat has been found, climatic conditions have changed very little since before the development of agriculture.

(E) It is very difficult, without genetic testing, to differentiate the wild form of emmer wheat from a closely related wild wheat that also grows in southwest Asia.

I agree with all the above posters so won't go too much into detail breaking down the answer choices, but for FQ-- the argument is laid out this way:

Cult. EW traces found all over Europe/Asia
Wild EW found only in narrow strip of Asia (note the shift here from traces of PAST EW to what is CURRENTLY found growing--this is a huge jump to make)
Oldest EW traces in same strip
Therefore, EW first cult in same strip

FQ, the reason why D strengthens the argument is that it controls for a condition that could vary dramatically. What if wild emmer wheat is only found now in that narrow strip because 10 years ago a volcano erupted there and wild emmer wheat really likes to grow in volcanic ash? (That's a silly and extreme example, but I hope it illustrates my point). If the climate has been the same ever since wild wheat became domesticated, then it's less likely that the wild emmer wheat--which we only have evidence of in the *present moment*--came here later. It's like the control condition in a scientific experiment---control as much as you can so you can isolate the variable you're looking closely at.

If you didn't have a "gut" reaction like MC did, you can still use the scope of the argument, as mads did, to quickly eliminate A, B, and C. Choice D makes the conditions around the argument more precise, choice E makes the conditions muddier (and therefore weakens).

You are right. You have explained perfectly why B is not the answer. Let me give you the reason why D IS the answer.
D says: "In the region containing the strip where wild emmer wheat has been found, climatic conditions have changed very little since before the development of agriculture."
and we know that wild emmer wheat is still flourishing in that strip. If the climatic conditions were the same before the development of agriculture, it increases the possibility that wild emmer wheat flourished at that time too. Hence the people of that strip could have domesticated it. Therefore, (D) strengthens the argument. (Remember, it doesn't prove that emmer was first domesticated in that strip, it only increases the probability. That is what a strengthen option does.)