June 1993 LSAT Section 1 Question 17

Jones: Prehistoric wooden tools found in South America have been dated to 13,000 years ago. Although scientists attri...

FS101 on July 3, 2021

I chose C please explain!

I am confused because I chose C because that was the answer choice discussing the dating issue. I understand that Jones makes a correct argument because Smith is saying that the reason you don't see other tools is because these were found in peat bogs. So the issue is dating since Jones doesn't believe they should be dated from 13,000 y.a. while Smith is saying they are.

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Joy_00 on September 9, 2021

Can someone please explain? I also chose C but it took me longer to reach that answer.

AndrewArabie on March 25, 2023

I'm not an instructor but I'll help. I had to do this one a few times to get it. The reason why C is a popular wrong answer is because we are misunderstanding the conclusion in Jone's argument.

Jones does not question the accuracy of the date scientists ascribe to the tools. The scientists who dated the tools concluded that these tools came from the ancestors of those who first crossed the Russo-Alaskan land bridge--this is what Jones disputes.
Jones argument essentially follows "since there are no known tools dated before 13,000 years ago found between Alaska and South America, these tools cannot be correctly attributed to those who initially crossed the land bridge as the other scientists hypothesize."

Smith responds by saying "wait sec, wooden tools decompose in a few years."

So the issue that these arguments revolve around is the question of whether the scientist's attribution could be correct given the evidence Jones presents. That is why B is our correct answer.