Museum curator: Our ancient Egyptian collection includes an earthenwar

Question

Museum curator: Our ancient Egyptian collection includes an earthenware hippopotamus that resembles a child's toy. It was discovered in a tomb, upside down, with its legs broken off. We know that the ancient Egyptians believed the dead had to wage eternal war with beasts. Breaking the legs off a representation of an animal was thought to help a deceased person in this war. We conclude that, far from being a toy, this hippopotamus was a religious object.

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

(A)  The tomb in which the hippopotamus was found was not the tomb of a child.

(B)  Earthenware figures were never used as children's toys in ancient Egypt.

(C)  The tomb in which the hippopotamus was found was not reentered from the time of burial until archaeologists opened it.

(D)  The hippopotamus' legs were not broken through some natural occurrence after it was placed in the tomb.

(E)  The hippopotamus was originally placed upside down in the tomb.

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

The author concludes that the "hippopotamus was a religious object," not a toy.

To reach this conclusion, he/she cites several facts:

The hippo was found in a tomb 
 It had its legs broken off. (Poor hippo!) 
 Ancient Egyptians believed that "the dead had to wage eternal war with beasts." (Poor dead people?) 
 Finally, "Breaking the legs off a representation of an animal was thought to help a deceased person in this war."

From the above, the author thinks that the hippo was placed in the tomb to aid the dead person in their eternal war, instead of just as a non-religious toy.

The question asks us to find an assumption " required " by the argument. In other words, which answer choice absolutely MUST be true in order for the author to reach his/her conclusion?
 
From the passage, we know that the ancient Egyptians believed that " the dead " had to fight against beasts. This implies that ALL dead people, including children, had to wage this war. So even if the tomb held a child, it's possible that the hippo was placed there to help the child fight against beasts.

Because the argument holds up regardless of whether the tomb was that of a child, (A) is not an assumption required by the argument.

Eliminate (A).

To conclude that this  particular  earthenware figure was not a toy, we don't need to know that earthenware figures were NEVER children's toys in ancient Egypt. Maybe kids played with earthenware toys all the time, but this particular hippo was a religious object.

The argument holds up even if OTHER earthenware figures were toys, so we don't need to assume (B).

Someone can "enter" a tomb without disturbing the contents of that tomb. So, perhaps the tomb WAS reentered before the archaeologists opened it, but the hippo was left exactly as it was found.

This wouldn't wreck the author's argument, so (C) is not a required assumption. (C) is out.

Here we go -- we know that "breaking off the legs of an animal was thought to help a deceased person" fight against beasts. Because the hippo's legs were broken, the author concludes that it was a religious object, not a toy.

For this to make any sense at all,  we NEED to know that the hippos legs were intentionally broken off.  If the legs were just broken through some "natural occurrence"  after  it was placed in the tomb, then the crippled hippo wasn't  intentionally  left in the tomb to help the dead person fight beasts.

We absolutely MUST assume (D) for the argument to hold up, so (D) is looking good.

We know two things about how the hippo was found: its legs were broken, and it was upside down.

Only ONE of those things is actually cited as evidence to support the conclusion -- the broken legs have a specific implication, but there's no discussion about what it means for a figure to be upside down.

So, while we DO need to know that the legs were broken intentionally, the fact that the figure was upside down doesn't really impact the chain of logic in the argument.

The author's conclusion holds up whether the figure was originally upside down or rightside up, so we don't need to assume (E).

(D) is the correct answer.

I hope that helps!

sumi747 · Answer

The reason why we choose D and not E is because it is not enough to check the position of the hippopotamus. We also need to know if the legs were broken before or after being placed there, only this can help with the conclusion the author drives at.

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celo700 · Answer

Conclusion: This hippopotamus was a religious object not a toy.
Prethinking: What made the curator think that it was a religious object eventhough when he knows that its legs were broken and this is a representation of their ancient ritual. There is something the author is not telling us. May be its legs were broken accidentally. Then it would'nt mean representing an ancient ritual. That's why he is saying that it is a religious object.

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

ok its not a child's tomb. so what? how is it helping us to reach the conclusion that it is a religious toy. Discard.

ok they are never used. So, may be its not a toy. This statement is neither proving that it is a religious object nor disproving that its a representation of an ancient ritual.

It does not matter whether the tomb was reentered or not because this is not telling us anything about the conclusion.

Negate the statement: The hippopotamus legs were broken through some natural occurence. That means, the Egyptian people did not do it as a part of ritual. Therefore, it must be a religious object.

Does not affect the conclusion

aniket16c · Answer

Question analysis:
Archeologists found a representation of hippopotamus that represents a child's toy.
The archeologists know of a practice in which the legs of a representation are broken in a religious quest
The legs of the representation are broken --> this means that the representation was a religious object

Question type: Assumption

Option analysis:
A - The argument does not insist that a child had to wage a war against the beast. Hence, the fact that the tomb was of child is immaterial
B - The argument says the hippopotamus looked SIMILAR to a child's toy. It does not mention that it was a child's toy. Hence, the material used for a child's toy does not make a difference
C - We could say that the hippopotamus was placed later. Thus in this process the legs were broken. However, we could also say that some other archeologists entered before them to examine the tomb. Hence, this option also is not a correct assumption
D - Negate this - hippopotamus legs were broken because of natural calamity - thus they wre certainly not broken for religious purposes - correct answer
E - Orientation is immaterial to the argument

Thank you!

nikitamaheshwari · Answer

@VeritasKarishma,  GMATNinja  - Can you please explain this?

unraveled · Answer

Museum curator: Our ancient Egyptian collection includes an earthenware hippopotamus that resembles a child's toy. It was discovered in a tomb, upside down, with its legs broken off. We know that the ancient Egyptians believed the dead had to wage eternal war with beasts.  Breaking the legs off a representation of an animal was thought to help a deceased person in this war . We conclude that, far from being a toy, this hippopotamus was a religious object.

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

Three important aspects are:
1. Tomb - child's or adults
2. Figure - Child's toy or religious object
3. Time - when that figure's leg got broken, either with deceased or after.

(A)  The tomb in which the hippopotamus was found was not the  tomb of a child . - WRONG. Resemblance of a child's toy doesn't necessary mean it is child's toy. Let's say it was a child's tomb. Does this fact fact change anything? No!! It still could have been possible that the figure is a toy or a religious object. Point 2 and 3 still remain open i.e. four possibilities.

(B)  Earthenware figures were  never  used as children's toys in ancient Egypt. - WRONG. Irrelevant at best.All the three points remain open - 8 possibilities.

(C)  The tomb in which the hippopotamus was found was not reentered from the time of burial until archaeologists opened it. - WRONG. Great point but when that leg got broke. The timing is not clear.

(D)  The hippopotamus' legs were not  broken through some natural occurrence after  it was placed in the tomb. - CORRECT. Whether it's a child's tomb or adult's OR whether the figure is a toy or religious object, we are not at all bothered since we are only concerned about the highlighted text. This option clears the air around the 3rd point.

(E)  The hippopotamus was originally  placed upside down  in the tomb. - WRONG. Irrelevant at best. 8 possibilities exist.

Answer D.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Museum curator: Our ancient Egyptian collection includes an earthenwar

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Museum curator: Our ancient Egyptian collection includes an earthenwar

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