A recent archaeological find in what was once the ancient kingdom of Macedonia contains the remains of the largest to...

Katherine on December 16, 2018

Hi @GLEE, happy to help. The question says that a recent archaeological find contained “the remains of the largest tomb ever found in the region.” This does not necessarily mean that this particular tomb was the largest tomb in the kingdom of Macedonia. It is possible that another larger tomb exists, but has yet to be found by archeologists. Therefore, it is not safe to assume that the tomb found “must be” the tomb of Alexander the Great.

You are correct that another faulty assumption made in the question is the reasoning that Alexander the Great would necessarily have the largest tomb, just because he was the kingdom’s greatest emperor. However, none of the answer choices address this flaw in the argument.

Additionally, the question stem asks for the reasoning in the argument that is the “most vulnerable” to criticism. The logical progression of the argument first takes for granted that the largest tomb found must be the largest tomb that was built and then it makes a second faulty assumption that the largest tomb must be that of the largest king. The first assumption, found in Answer B, comes before the second assumption and is a greater flaw. Therefore, the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds found in Answer B.