Archaeologist: The earliest evidence of controlled fire use in

Question

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.

Source: LSAT

ArjunJag1328 · Answer

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 - OOO
(B) The climate in Europe was significantly colder 400,000 years ago than it is today - Irrelevant to the question.
(C) Prior to 400,000 years ago, humans occasionally took advantage of naturally occurring fires. - OOO
(D) Humans would not have mastered fire were it not for the need for heat in a cold climate. - OOO
(E) There were humans inhabiting Europe prior to 400,000 years ago - If we negate this option, there were no humans prior to 400,000 years ago. This will help us to answer the question.

Hence my answer is E

archana89 · Answer

This line indicates that humans were there before : 
mastery of fire was a necessary prerequisite for humans' migration there.

(E) There were humans inhabiting Europe prior to 400,000 years ago. 
Let's falsify this option, then there were no humans in Europe. Then, the conclusion wouldn't suggest mastery of fire to be a necessary prerequisite

shubham1985 · Answer

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.

Thanks !
Please consider giving kudos if my explation helped you in any way !

rahul5657 · Answer

(A) The humans who first mastered fire used it for heat but not for cooking.
This is about how fire was used.
Not relevant to the timing of migration vs. fire mastery.
 Incorrect

(B) The climate in Europe was significantly colder 400,000 years ago than it is today.
This might support the idea that fire was necessary, but it's not required for the archaeologist’s doubt.
If anything, this would support the opposing view that fire was needed.
 Incorrect

(C) Prior to 400,000 years ago, humans occasionally took advantage of naturally occurring fires.
Irrelevant. The argument is about controlled fire, not natural fire.
Doesn’t matter whether natural fire was used occasionally.
  Incorrect

(D) Humans would not have mastered fire were it not for the need for heat in a cold climate.
This supports the common belief that the archaeologist is challenging.
Not something the archaeologist assumes.
 Incorrect

(E) There were humans inhabiting Europe prior to 400,000 years ago.
 Yes ! This is essential to the argument.
If there were no humans in Europe before 400,000 years ago, then fire could still have been a prerequisite.
The archaeologist's doubt depends on the idea that humans were already in Europe before fire mastery.

Archaeologist: The earliest evidence of controlled fire use in

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Archaeologist: The earliest evidence of controlled fire use in

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