LSAT 135 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q7

LR Question 7 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The ruins of the prehistoric Bolivian city of Tiwanaku…

QUESTION TYPE: Evaluate The Argument

CONCLUSION: Archaeologists think the stones were transported on reed boats.

REASONING: Archaeologists transported a 9 ton stone on a reed boat built from local materials. The ancient stones weighed up to 40 tons.

ANALYSIS: There are several things that would be helpful to know:

• Was it difficult to transport the stones with the boats?
• Could the boats have transported a 40 ton stone?
• Were there other available methods of transport?

The right answer uses information I didn’t think of. It’s definitely relevant to know whether the traditional techniques were available at the time the stones were transported. “Traditional” doesn’t mean the techniques were around forever. A traditional technique could be only 500 years old. Tiwanaku was prehistoric – that’s very old.

___________

1. CORRECT. If the techniques weren’t available when the stones were transported, then maybe the Tiwanakuans couldn’t have transported the stones in reed boats.
2. It doesn’t matter whether the stones were used locally. We only care how people managed to get the stones far away to Tiwanaku. 
3. It doesn’t matter what people do today. We only care what people did at the time the stones were transported.
4. It doesn’t matter if there are bigger stones at the site. Those weren’t transported. We only care how the Tiwanakuans transported the 40 ton stones to their building site.
5. It only matters that the boats were useable long enough to transport the stones.