From enlargements that are commonly found on the ulna bones of the for

Question

From enlargements that are commonly found on the ulna bones of the forearms of Ice Age human skeletons, anthropologists have drawn the conclusion that the Ice Age humans represented by those skeletons frequently hunted by throwing spears. The bone enlargements, the anthropologists believe, resulted from the stresses of habitual throwing.

Which of the following, if true, would be the LEAST appropriate to use as support for the conclusion drawn by the anthropologists?

A. Humans typically favor one arm over the other when throwing, and most Ice Age human skeletons have enlargements on the ulna bone of only one arm.
B. Such enlargements on the ulna bone do not appear on skeletons from other human cultures of the same time period whose diets are believed to have been mainly vegetarian.
C. Cave paintings dating from approximately the same time period and located not far from where the skeletons were found show hunters carrying and throwing spears.
D. Damaged bones in the skeletons show evidence of diseases that are believed to have afflicted most people living during the Ice Age.
E. Twentieth-century athletes who use a throwing motion similar to that of a hunter throwing a spear often develop enlargements on the ulna bone similar to those detected on the Ice Age skeletons.

ID: 500128
CR02661.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION

KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

Discovery: Ulna bones of the forearms of Ice Age human skeletons have enlargements
Hypothesis/Conclusion : Ice Age humans represented by those skeletons frequently hunted by throwing spears
Explanation: The bone enlargements resulted from the stresses of habitual throwing.

What will not support that these humans frequently hunted by throwing spears?

A. Humans typically favor one arm over the other when throwing, and most Ice Age human skeletons have enlargements on the ulna bone of only one arm.

The enlargement was on one arm only so it was due to something the humans did with that arm repeatedly. It wasn't due to some disease etc. It does further the theory that they hunted by throwing spears by arm.

B. Such enlargements on the ulna bone do not appear on skeletons from other human cultures of the same time period whose diets are believed to have been mainly vegetarian.

Since their diets are vegetarian, they perhaps do not hunt regularly and hence they don't have enlargement. It does support our hypothesis.

C. Cave paintings dating from approximately the same time period and located not far from where the skeletons were found show hunters carrying and throwing spears.

This shows that in that time, it is quite probable that people used to throw spears. That is why painters would have painted it on the walls. It does support our argument.

D. Damaged bones in the skeletons show evidence of diseases that are believed to have afflicted most people living during the Ice Age.

Damaged bones show disease. Well, that brings in the possibility that enlargements could have been caused by diseases. In any case, it doesn't help our spear throwing arm hypothesis.

E. Twentieth-century athletes who use a throwing motion similar to that of a hunter throwing a spear often develop enlargements on the ulna bone similar to those detected on the Ice Age skeletons.

Great! Athletes using spear throwing motion show similar enlargements. This helps our argument.

Answer (D)

m1033512 · Answer

IMO D

close between B and D

I chose D because it has no relevance to the argument .

least support or neutral to conclusion

award kudos if helpful

Posted from my mobile device

Arro44 · Answer

Relatively certain we are looking for D.

All other statements give us further grounds to believe the initial conclusion.
However, statement D only points out general information about people living in the respective time period and is quite irrelevant when it comes to strengthening the argument.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Chris

Skywalker18 · Answer

From enlargements that are commonly found on the ulna bones of the forearms of Ice Age human skeletons, anthropologists have drawn the conclusion that the Ice Age humans represented by those skeletons frequently hunted by throwing spears. The bone enlargements, the anthropologists believe, resulted from the stresses of habitual throwing.

Type- strengthen except
Boil it down- stresses of habitual throwing cause the bone enlargements

A. Humans typically favor one arm over the other when throwing, and most Ice Age human skeletons have enlargements on the ulna bone of only one arm.- incorrect; strengthens our claim since only the dominant arm has enlargements
B. Such enlargements on the ulna bone do not appear on skeletons from other human cultures of the same time period whose diets are believed to have been mainly vegetarian.- incorrect; strengthens- vegetarian folks do not hunt and thus do not have the enlargements
C. Cave paintings dating from approximately the same time period and located not far from where the skeletons were found show hunters carrying and throwing spears.- incorrect; strengthens our claim
D. Damaged bones in the skeletons show evidence of diseases that are believed to have afflicted most people living during the Ice Age.- Correct
E. Twentieth-century athletes who use a throwing motion similar to that of a hunter throwing a spear often develop enlargements on the ulna bone similar to those detected on the Ice Age skeletons.- incorrect; strengthens our claim

Answer D

BhaveshGMAT · Answer

OG explanation :-

Situation  The ulna-bone enlargements often found on forearms of skeletons of Ice Age humans have led anthropologists to conclude that those humans frequently hunted by throwing spears and that this practice caused the bone enlargement.

Reasoning  Which of the additional pieces of information offered provide the weakest (if any) support for the anthropologists’ conclusion? A premise of the anthropologists’ reasoning is that many Ice Age humans developed enlarged ulna bones. Another premise is that the bone enlargements resulted from the stresses of habitual   throwing. The anthropologists’ conclusion is that those Ice Age humans frequently hunted by throwing spears. Several of the five additional pieces of information provide additional support for the anthropologists’ conclusion.

Choice D, if true, tends to weaken the support for the anthropologists’ conclusion. It vaguely suggests that diseases that were endemic in the Ice Age and caused bone damage might adequately explain the enlargement of ulna bones found in the archaeological evidence. If this were correct, then that bone enlargement could no longer be regarded as compelling evidence of spear-throwing.

egmat · Answer

Situation:  The ulna-bone enlargements often found on forearms of skeletons of Ice Age humans have led anthropologists to conclude that those humans frequently hunted by throwing spears and that this practice caused the bone enlargement.
 
Reasoning:  Which of the additional pieces of information offered provide the weakest (if any) support for the anthropologists' conclusion? A premise of the anthropologists' reasoning is that many Ice Age humans developed enlarged ulna bones. Another premise is that the bone enlargements resulted from the stresses of habitual   throwing. The anthropologists' conclusion is that those Ice Age humans frequently hunted by throwing spears. Several of the five additional pieces of information provide additional support for the anthropologists' conclusion.

Answer Choices Analysis

Option A - The information, if true, that the bone enlargement found on Ice Age skeletons is typically found on just one arm provides significant additional support for the argument's conclusion. Ice Age spear-throwing hunters would likely have been left-handed or right-handed and would have habitually used just one of their arms—either left or right—to throw spears.

Option B - This information, if true, provides significant additional support for the anthropologists' conclusion. Ice Age humans with mainly vegetarian diets would have hunted, if at all, only infrequently—and so would not have been habitual spear-throwing hunters. We would expect, then, that if the anthropologists' conclusion is correct, enlarged ulna bones would not be found among the remains of such populations—and that is what the archaeological evidence indicates.

Option C - This information, if true, provides compelling evidence that some Ice Age human populations hunted using spears, and so it provides significant additional support for the anthropologists' conclusion.

Option D - Correct. This information, if true, tends to weaken the support for the anthropologists' conclusion. It vaguely suggests that diseases that were endemic in the Ice Age and caused bone damage might adequately explain the enlargement of ulna bones found in the archaeological evidence. If this were correct, then that bone enlargement could no longer be regarded as compelling evidence of spear-throwing.

Option E - This information, if true, provides additional support for the anthropologists' conclusion. Twentieth-century athletes (perhaps javelin throwers, for example) use a throwing motion like that of spear throwers, and they often develop enlarged ulna bones like those found in the archaeological evidence.

waytowharton · Answer

Doubt - As per my understanding, the conclusion is -Ice Age humans represented by those skeletons frequently hunted by throwing spears. But all option choices show support for explanation for conclusion i.e. the bone enlargements resulted from the stresses of habitual throwing.

Can you please explain this? KarishmaB

Can you please explain this?  KarishmaB

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

Note what the question asks you to do. And not that not ALL of the answer choices show support for that conclusion you noticed.

waytowharton · Answer

ReedArnoldMPREP   KarishmaB  - Is option A correct because in the passage it is given that the  "anthropologists believe"  that the bone enlargements resulted from the stresses of habitual throwing. If it was given as a fact without stating that the anthropologists believe then would Option A be incorrect as well? Because it would be providing support to a fact which doesn't make sense.

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

Option A is incorrect. The correct answer is D.

KarishmaB · Answer

Read the argument again.

The question stem is asking for an option that "LEAST supports" i.e. does not support the conclusion of the anthropologists. "Anthropologists believe..." gives the hypothesis i.e. the conclusion of the anthropologists. So we need an option that does not support "the Ice Age humans represented by those skeletons frequently hunted by throwing spears"
Option (A) DOES support the conclusion and that is why is not the answer.

joe123x · Answer

"would be the LEAST appropriate to use as support" is a really awkward wording, I almost fill into that trap when I thought that what they want is a WEAKEST support claim, do you have any tips on how to not fall into this trap in different wording? Thank you.

Rajatpo · Answer

The answer is E. The information that twentieth-century athletes who use a throwing motion similar to that of a hunter throwing a spear often develop enlargements on the ulna bone similar to those detected on the Ice Age skeletons would be the LEAST appropriate to use as support for the conclusion drawn by the anthropologists. This is because the athletes' bone enlargements might be caused by factors other than throwing a spear, such as the use of modern equipment or different throwing techniques. This information would weaken the conclusion that the Ice Age humans represented by the skeletons frequently hunted by throwing spears, as it suggests that other factors could also have caused the bone enlargements.

VerbalBot · Answer

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From enlargements that are commonly found on the ulna bones of the for

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