Please rate my argument task. Thanks for your help!

[hell_abhi]

Question

 

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.

 

Response

The argument does not provide enough evidence to solidly reach the conclusion that Lithos' baskets were not of Palean origin, by ignoring the facts like changing geography, the presence of alternate routes etc.

The argument simply believes that the geography of a region remains constant over the course of years, but that is not the case as proved by a lot of studies. For example, Sahara, the largest desert of the world, used to be green and lush. Movement of tectonic plates, climatic variance, volcanic eruptions etc can change the geography of any region. So if the Brim River is very deep and broad currently, that may not be the case centuries ago. It is even possible that it may not have existed during that period. Have the argument given us some proof regarding the condition of Brim river in pre-historic time, even then we can't be sure that baskets found in Lithos is not of Palean origin.

It is quite possible that the idea of Palean baskets could have traveled across any land route by some tribes who keep traveling constantly. There could have been existence of some trade routes between the city of Palea and Lithos. History is full of examples of trade between the various region which lead to exchange of items, ideas, and even culture. If the argument has shed some light over this that it would have been clearer and easier to reach any conclusion.

Even if we assume that the idea of Palean baskets could not have traveled through land. Then also we can't be sure of the fact that baskets were not of Palean origin. It is quite possible that by keep searching we may get some source which proves that the city of Palea used to have means of traveling across water bodies. It is often the case in archaeology when some major discoveries are missed. For example, a lot of Egyptian Pyramids were found by chance through the pics of satellites.

To conclude, I will like to state that we can't directly come to the conclusion that baskets of Lithos were not of Palean origin. The discoveries related to trade routes, some source which proves of Palean boats etc could sway the direction of the argument.