lordw wrote:
Determining the authenticity of purported pre-Columbian artifacts is never easy. Carbon-14 dating of these artifacts is often impossible due to contamination by radioactive palladium (which occurs naturally in the soils of Central and South America). However, historians and anthropologists have evolved two reliable criteria, which, utilized in combination, have proven effective for dating these artifacts. First, because authentic pre-Columbian artifacts characteristically occur in a coarse, granular matrix that is shifted by major earthquakes, they often exhibit the unique scratch patterns known as gridding. In addition, true pre-Columbian artifacts show a darkening in surface color that is caused by centuries of exposure to the minute amounts of magnesium in the soil of the Americas.
The criteria above would be LEAST useful in judging the authenticity of which of the following?
(A) An ax head of black obsidian, unearthed from a kitchen midden
(B) A pottery bowl with a red ocher design, found in the ruins of a temple
(C) A set of gold ear weights, ornamented with jasper pendants
(D) A black feather cape from a king’s burial vault
(E) A multicolored woven sash found near the gravesite of a slave
Combination of two tests are done in this argument,
T 1 : because authentic pre-Columbian artifacts characteristically occur in a coarse, granular matrix that is shifted by major earthquakes, they often exhibit the unique scratch patterns known as gridding.
T 2: true pre-Columbian artifacts show a darkening in surface color that is caused by centuries of exposure to the minute amounts of magnesium in the soil of the Americas.
(A) An ax head of black obsidian, unearthed from a kitchen midden
This can have some gridding and can show a darkening in surface color
(B) A pottery bowl with a red ocher design, found in the ruins of a temple
This can have some gridding and can show a darkening in surface color
(C) A set of gold ear weights, ornamented with jasper pendants
This can have some gridding and can show a darkening in surface color
(D) A black feather cape from a king’s burial vault
Black feather cape -> how will the feather be affected by a the earthquake, wont it be like torn apart, on top of that it is black in color
(E) A multicolored woven sash found near the gravesite of a slave
sash again this was a close one too, sash is again quite soft, but compared with D. it can get some gridding
IMO D