Aakanksha68

Argument Task for GRE Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument. Argument Response According to the information given in the argument it is mentioned that Woven baskets of distinct pattern have previously been found only in “Palea” but according to the new discovery they can find some of the baskets in Lithos which is an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. As mentioned in the argument, Brim river is deep and broad, so the possibility of moving from Palea to Lithos is only via boat. Now as there is no evidence of Palean boats, it is stated that so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. Now there are few loopholes in the argument made. First of all evidence of Palean boats is not found but there is no mentioning of Lithos boat which is quite surprising as Lithos people can also cross the river through their boats. There is one more possibility of exchanging gifts on occasions or festivals between Lithos people and Palean people. This weakens the argument conclusion that Palean baskets are not uniquely Palean. We can also think of other possibility that maybe due to some natural disaster like flood the baskets due to their lightweight nature flew across the river or maybe on certain occasions Palean people offer baskets to the river as it is a tradition followed in earlier times. So the argument is weakened when considered the possibilities mentioned above. It would have been strong enough if the word “Palean” before the boats is not mentioned in the argument because that would eliminate the possibility of any means of transport available to both of them. In the argument there is no mention of time means the gap between the discoveries made in Palean and Lithos. It may occur that the time gap is huge which allows transportation of baskets from Palean to Lithos via natural or unnatural means. Unnatural means include marriage between Palean female and Lithos male. It may happen that she brought that basket from her native to Lithos as a token of remembrance. So considering all the parameters, the argument mentioned is not strong enough to conclude that Palean baskets are not uniquely Palean.