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655-705 (Hard)|   Strengthen|      
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Gmatsaiyan
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 16 Aug 2020, 21:58
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55% (hard)

Question Stats:

62% (01:45) correct 38% (01:59) wrong based on 334 sessions

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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, and arrows for over 50,000 years, they did not hunt large animals, i.e. animals heavier than 100 lbs, on a widespread scale prior to the discovery of iron. With the advent of iron age came the transition to metal tools, which were sturdier and lasted longer.

Which of the following if true provides the strongest evidence that the two events, advent of iron age and hunting of larger animals were causally related?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.
B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.
C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.
D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.
E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.
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Official Answer
A
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Soumya200011
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 16 Aug 2020, 22:15
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, and arrows for over 50,000 years, they did not hunt large animals, i.e. animals heavier than 100 lbs, on a widespread scale prior to the discovery of iron. With the advent of iron age came the transition to metal tools, which were sturdier and lasted longer.

Which of the following if true provides the strongest evidence that the two events, advent of iron age and hunting of larger animals were causally related?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.
B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.
C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.
D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.
E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.
Show more

Pre-thinking: May be because there were not enough tools or resources to kill large animals.

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.- Comes in line with our pre-thinking. We can keep this.

B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.-Nothing is mentioned about cooking in the argument. Wrong

C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.-The point is about hunting large animals , and not their population descent.

D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.- Okay... it has become a preferred material for hunting...then what about hunting large animals?.Wrong

E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.- "an animal"... again nothing about large animals.
IMO A.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 16 Aug 2020, 22:54
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GmatWizard
Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, and arrows for over 50,000 years, they did not hunt large animals, i.e. animals heavier than 100 lbs, on a widespread scale prior to the discovery of iron. With the advent of iron age came the transition to metal tools, which were sturdier and lasted longer.

Which of the following if true provides the strongest evidence that the two events, advent of iron age and hunting of larger animals were causally related?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.
B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.
C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.
D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.
E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.
Show more

Hello guys!

I doubt this is a 700 level question. It seemed like a 640-660 level question.

But every question adds value to the learning, so why not!

This question helps us to comprehend the relation between usage of orthodox style of tools and modern tools, i.e. Iron tools. One needs to apply logic here; since a sword or arrow is used prior to the old age, and not after the iron age begun, this justifies that tools from the iron age have proved to be useful for the Homo Sapiens. So, we need to find an option which shows a difference between the 2 periods and how it benefited the homo sapiens.

Using Process of Elimination(POE),

Option A is on point. It literally forced me to press the A button. But, make sure that you go through all the options before you get done. Let's search for a better answer.

Eliminate Option B, the discovery of fire is not relevant to our question. So, drop this!

Eliminate Option C, the coincidence of the reduction of larger animals and metal tools can be a scenario, but it doesn't cement our pre-thinking. So, chalk out this one!

Eliminate Option D, totally out of scope. If an element can be modified, then that does not become a preferred element for one. Strike this out without any guilt! :p

Eliminate Option E, the statement is exposed towards refinement of tools that were refined, it doesn't help us towards our approach.

Go for Option A, it gives a perfect relationship in which the weaker animals could be killed using weaker tools, but the strong animals had to be killed using the tools that were more powerful and sturdy!


Official Answer:- Option A

Thank you!

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Raunak Damle :cool:
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 17 Aug 2020, 00:43
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Does the phrase "casually related" changes the meaning of the question?
I thought the question meant to ask for the evidence which supports that the two events are not strongly related to each other.
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KarishmaB
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 20 Feb 2023, 03:43
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Gmatsaiyan
Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, and arrows for over 50,000 years, they did not hunt large animals, i.e. animals heavier than 100 lbs, on a widespread scale prior to the discovery of iron. With the advent of iron age came the transition to metal tools, which were sturdier and lasted longer.

Which of the following if true provides the strongest evidence that the two events, advent of iron age and hunting of larger animals were causally related?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.
B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.
C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.
D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.
E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.
Show more

Homo Sapiens have been making tools for long but they did not hunt large animals till iron came into the picture. Presumably, they had been hunting small animals with wooden tools but started hunting large animals only after iron came. So there must be some quality of iron tools that is needed for hunting large animals specifically.

How do we strengthen that iron was the cause of large animal hunting?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.

Correct. Tells us why large animals needed metal tools.

B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.

Irrelevant. No distinction between small and large animal hunting.

C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.

This is the effect of hunting large animals.

D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.

This tells us why iron is easier to use for making tools.

E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.

This tells us that hunting animals was made easier by iron. It doesn't give us the link between large animals and iron.

Answer (A)
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 22 Apr 2024, 09:37
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KarishmaB

Gmatsaiyan
Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, and arrows for over 50,000 years, they did not hunt large animals, i.e. animals heavier than 100 lbs, on a widespread scale prior to the discovery of iron. With the advent of iron age came the transition to metal tools, which were sturdier and lasted longer.

Which of the following if true provides the strongest evidence that the two events, advent of iron age and hunting of larger animals were causally related?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.
B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.
C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.
D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.
E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.
Homo Sapiens have been making tools for long but they did not hunt large animals till iron came into the picture. Presumably, they had been hunting small animals with wooden tools but started hunting large animals only after iron came. So there must be some quality of iron tools that is needed for hunting large animals specifically.

How do we strengthen that iron was the cause of large animal hunting?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.

Correct. Tells us why large animals needed metal tools.

B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.

Irrelevant. No distinction between small and large animal hunting.

C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.

This is the effect of hunting large animals.

D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.

This tells us why iron is easier to use for making tools.

E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.

This tells us that hunting animals was made easier by iron. It doesn't give us the link between large animals and iron.

Answer (A)
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­
Hi KarishmaB GMATNinja

I have two queries on this question to ensure my reasoning was correct to eliminate options C and E.

1. Is one of the reasons to reject Option E also that we are not sure if "precisely targeting" means "killing"?
2. Did we reject Option C due to the following reasoning? We can’t say it provides evidence that those two events are causally related because the big reduction of animals and the discovery of reserves could happen together due to a natural disaster like an earthquake, asteroid collision, etc.
 
Please let me know if anything is wrong with my thinking here.
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Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, 22 Apr 2024, 23:54
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agrasan

KarishmaB

Gmatsaiyan
Even though Homo Sapiens have been making tools such as swords, bows, and arrows for over 50,000 years, they did not hunt large animals, i.e. animals heavier than 100 lbs, on a widespread scale prior to the discovery of iron. With the advent of iron age came the transition to metal tools, which were sturdier and lasted longer.

Which of the following if true provides the strongest evidence that the two events, advent of iron age and hunting of larger animals were causally related?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.
B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.
C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.
D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.
E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.
Homo Sapiens have been making tools for long but they did not hunt large animals till iron came into the picture. Presumably, they had been hunting small animals with wooden tools but started hunting large animals only after iron came. So there must be some quality of iron tools that is needed for hunting large animals specifically.

How do we strengthen that iron was the cause of large animal hunting?

A) While smaller animals such as rabbits could be killed using wooden tools, killing large animals required exerting a force that only tools made with metal can provide.

Correct. Tells us why large animals needed metal tools.

B) The discovery of fire which was essential to cook animals was made 10,000 years before the advent of iron age.

Irrelevant. No distinction between small and large animal hunting.

C) The discovery of large metal reserves coincided with big reduction in population of large animals.

This is the effect of hunting large animals.

D) Because iron was easier to mold than wood, it quickly became the preferred material for making swords and bows.

This tells us why iron is easier to use for making tools.

E) Because iron could be used to make tools that were more refined, Homo Sapiens ability to precisely target an animal increased significantly in the iron age.

This tells us that hunting animals was made easier by iron. It doesn't give us the link between large animals and iron.

Answer (A)
­
Hi KarishmaB GMATNinja

I have two queries on this question to ensure my reasoning was correct to eliminate options C and E.

1. Is one of the reasons to reject Option E also that we are not sure if "precisely targeting" means "killing"?
2. Did we reject Option C due to the following reasoning? We can’t say it provides evidence that those two events are causally related because the big reduction of animals and the discovery of reserves could happen together due to a natural disaster like an earthquake, asteroid collision, etc.
 
Please let me know if anything is wrong with my thinking here.
Show more
­
"targeting" does imply killing. We reject (E) because it talks about all animals, not about why large animals were more easily targeted by iron tools. Option (A) tells us why it became easier to kill large animals with iron tools. 
If anything, option (E) could actually be a reason for killing smaller animals more easily. You need to "precisely target" a smaller target, not a large one.

Option (C) just says that the two are correlated. It provides no data on causation which is actually the question.  
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