This piece of pottery must surely date from the late Minoan period.

Question

This piece of pottery must surely date from the late Minoan period. The dress of the female figures, particularly the bare and emphasized breasts, and the activities of the people depicted—note especially the importance of the bull—are both highly suggestive of this period. These factors, when coupled with the black, semi-gloss glaze that results from firing the pot in a sealed kiln at a low temperature, makes the conclusion a virtual certainty.

Which of the following is a basic assumption made by the author of this explanation?

(A)Black, semigloss glazed pottery was made only during the late Minoan period.

(B)The bull is an animal that was important to most ancient cultures.

(C)Throughout the long history of theMinoan people, their artisans decorated pottery with seminude women and bulls.

(D)By analyzing the style and materials of any work of art, an expert can pin-point the date of its creation.

(E)There are key characteristics of works of art that can be shown to be typical of a particular period

Source:  Master GMAT

Alphatango · Answer

Negate E
The conclusion falls flat.

arunavamunshi1988 · Answer

Hi, I have a doubt with the ans.... Suppose we negate the argument -

There are key characteristics of works of art that can  not  be shown to be typical of a particular period....

First of all we don't know from this argument particularly 'What is a work of art?'.... If we typically include pottery with inscribed figure into a work of art,,, then also there could be other works of art(exp - Painting) which can not be shown to be typical of a particular period does not weaken the conclusion.... All I am saying 'works of art' is much broader and may be out of scope of the argument..... Please let me know if I am wrong.....

nks2611 · Answer

hello
 expert, please let me know about OA ,why it is correct , although i reached to the OA through eliminations.

what i have observed about it that- the conclusion is that the piece of pottery surely date from the late minoan period .

option A is too extreme using 'only'
option B is out of scope 
option C does not directly address the conclusion
option D using "any" work of art makes it extreme so out

left with E so i chose it but could not understand it though

please help!

thanks

goforgmat · Answer

Conclusion is "This piece of pottery must surely date from the late Minoan period."

Premises - the characteristics he mentions after. (Not required to dwell into the details here)

The missing key is here : The characteristics he notes as evident from the premises is typical of a period. If we cannot tell the period to which a work of art belongs then the conclusion doesn't hold.
E is the only option that mentions the above point ,hence E is right.

goforgmat · Answer

But the point of the argument is not about work of art but to characterize a piece of pottery to a particular period.

Work of art comprises of many thngs and hence what applies to work of art in general applies to the pottery as well.

vmelgargalan · Answer

Tricky choice between D and E since you can negate both. Thankfully they made the exaggeration too obvious in this question, which eliminates option D.

warriorguy · Answer

Good Question.

There could be a chance that there is a common repository or works were carried out before/after that particular period. In such cases, conclusion falls part.

From the answer choices:

(A)Black, semigloss glazed pottery was made only during the late Minoan period.

Good Contender; however, the argument states that features combined with Black, semigloss glazed pottery makes it peculiar to that period (" These factors, when coupled with the black, semi-gloss glaze that results from firing the pot in a sealed kiln at a low temperature, makes the conclusion a virtual certainty."). Hence, this one feature is not an assumption made by the argument.

(B)The bull is an animal that was important to  most ancient cultures.

The depiction of bull as an important entity suggests that it could be from that period but the statement is extreme and does not confer to the particular period.

(C)Throughout the long history of theMinoan people, their artisans decorated pottery with seminude women and bulls.
 Not relevant. Its not the assumption. Even if we negate this, the argument still holds true.

(D)By analyzing the style and materials of any work of art, an expert can pin-point the date of its creation.
 This is a trap question. Does not mention anything about expert or the exact date.

(E)There are key characteristics of works of art that can be shown to be typical of a particular period
 Correct option. Negating this option, the argument falls apart.

There are  no  key characteristics of works of art that can be shown to be typical of a particular period

If yes, then conclusion is hurt.

Himan2209 · Answer

Conclusion is "This piece of pottery must surely date from the late Minoan period."

Why can't A be the assumption here to reach conclusion, not able to understand. Please help!

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

Hi bro, I picked A too, but after thinking it again, I think E is more fundamental. 
Pls think: if there are NOT key characteristics of works of art, how could we say Black, semigloss glazed pottery are the key characteristics of the art made only during the late Minoan period? Does it make sense?

VerbalBot · Answer

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This piece of pottery must surely date from the late Minoan period.

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This piece of pottery must surely date from the late Minoan period.

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