LSAT 156 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q6

LR Question 6 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Anthropologist: During the last ice age, nomadic communities …

QUESTION TYPE: Role in Argument

CONCLUSION: Ice-age nomads were not primarily big-game hunters.

REASONING: Their groups were small, and hunting large animals was dangerous and risky.

ANALYSIS: The argument sets up a contrast. First, it tells you how ice-age nomads are commonly portrayed—as big-game hunters. Then everything that follows pushes against that idea.

The anthropologist gives reasons why that portrayal is unlikely: small group sizes and the dangers of big-game hunting make it implausible that this was their primary food source. So the “commonly portrayed” statement isn’t something the author believes—it’s the position being challenged.

So its role is to introduce a view that the argument is trying to reject.

___________

1. This treats the statement as support, but the argument actually argues against that portrayal, not for it.
2. It’s not clarifying a premise—it’s setting up a view to challenge.
3. It’s not framed as a direct objection; it’s more like a claim being targeted.
4. It’s clearly not the conclusion, since the rest of the argument argues against it.
5. CORRECT. It introduces a commonly held view that the anthropologist is trying to refute.