Archaeologist: The earliest evidence of controlled fire use in

5. Archaeologist: The earliest evidence of controlled fire use in Europe dates to just 400,000 years ago.
This casts doubt on the commonly held view that, because of Europe's cold winter climate, mastery of fire was a necessary prerequisite
for humans' migration there.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

(A) The humans who first mastered fire used it for heat but not for cooking.
(B) The climate in Europe was significantly colder 400,000 years ago than it is today.
(C) Prior to 400,000 years ago, humans occasionally took advantage of naturally occurring fires.
(D) Humans would not have mastered fire were it not for the need for heat in a cold climate.
(E) There were humans inhabiting Europe prior to 400,000 years ago.

Explanation : Let us first look at the conclusion of the argument presented. The general view of the people is that for people to
migrate to Europe, they had to master the use of fire because the winters were very cold in Europe. The evidence presented is that the earliest use of
fire use dates to just about 400,000 years ago. The argument says that based on this evidence,the general view of the people is probably not correct.
Now, if you think for 15-20 sec, then the general view will not be correct only if people migrated to Europe more than 400,000 years back.
Let us look at the answer choices now.

A) This choice talks something in general
B) This choice compares the weather 400,000 years ago and the weather today. Again, talks something in general.
C) An attractive choice but are we really talking about the naturally occuring fires in the argument. Strike it out.
D) This choice talks something in general but does not link the conclusion and the evidence
E) Here comes the answer. If there were humans inhabiting Europe prior to 400,000 years ago then the general view of the people that mastery of fire was
a prerequisite does not hold true considering the evidence that fire use dates to just 400,000 years ago.

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