hard · LSAT Logical Reasoning
The pottery shards from the site's lowest excavated level bear decorative motifs identical to those of a culture known to have flourished five hundred miles to the south. In that era, goods rarely traveled such distances without passing through intermediaries. Therefore the two regions must have been connected by a chain of trading settlements. The long-standing view that the northern site developed in isolation thus cannot be maintained.
The claim that the two regions must have been connected by a chain of trading settlements plays which one of the following roles?
- It is a general principle from which the rarity of long-distance goods movement is deduced, applicable to commerce throughout the wider region and historical period.
- It is an intermediate conclusion drawn from the shards and trade practice, then used to reject the isolation view.
- It is the historian's opposing position, introduced only to be rejected by the author.
- It is the final conclusion and receives no further argumentative use.
- It is an observation offered to establish that the decorative motifs are identical.
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More LSAT Logical Reasoning practice
- Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?
- Which one of the following can be properly inferred from these statements?
- The question type just described is best identified as which one of the following?
- The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument
- The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the relationship the statement establ
- Which one of the following can be validly inferred from the two conditionals above?
- Which one of the following must be true given the statement above?