elegan wrote:
Excavations in the summer of 2008 at the sites of Hohle Fels and Vogelherd revealed nearly a complete paleolithic ivory bone flute. This flute is by far the most complete of all of the musical instruments thus far recovered from the caves of Swabia. These finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe, more than 35,000 calendar years ago.
Because the discovered ivory bone flute has 5 holes in it, enough to play 5 notes from the 7-note diatonic scale, musicologists believe that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it became popular during the Renaissance period in Western Europe.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?
(A)
Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Swabian cavemen.
(B)
The mammoth tusk bone used to make the Swabian flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale.
(C)
No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found in the Swabian cave.
(D)
Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.
(E)
The flute was made from a mammoth bone and the site at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of wooly mammoths.
--------------
Your thoughts please on this question.
Thanks.
The argument talks about 2 things in the premise:
1. The bone belonging to a certain period 35k yrs
2. The bone having 5 holes in it which are sufficient enough to play the 5 notes of a diatonic scale
On the basis of these 2 facts the author draws the conclusion that the diatonic scale indeed is 35k years old. To strengthen this conclusion think what information can you provide to solidify the fact that the diatonic scale belonged to the same period.
Prethinking: The only loophole in the argument is the fact that we do not know for sure if the bone discovered was indeed part of a diatonic scale. May be the scale did not play without all 7 holes. So, if we can provide evidence to strengthen the fact that the bone indeed was a diatonic scale then the gaps in the logic will be plugged.
A. We are not concerned if Swabians made other instruments or not.
B. Exactly what we need
C. Even if no instrument using a diatonic scale has been found doesn't mean that the bone discovered in the cave is a diaton ic scale and hence 35k yrs older.
D. Irrelevant
E. Proves only that the flute was made from mammoths bone and I can over assume that the age of the flute will be the same as the age of mammoth. However provides no support if the flute was indeed a diatonic scale.