Please review my Argument essay

[sanmks]

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.

 

The author's claim of questioning the unique ability of the prehistoric Palean people to produce the distinctive woven baskets is based on dubious assumptions and requires further evidence to support such claim. Only when a concrete evidence is established correlating the baskets to any one civilisation can such remarks be made.

 

The Brim river has been described as being very deep and broad . But no timeline is attached to this fact. Maybe during the prehistoric times there was no river at all. The requirement of boats by the Palean people is thus nullified by considering such line of reasoning. 

 

The archaeological expeditions are a time bound process, with time new discoveries are made that challenge the previous one. Failure of finding a boat doesn't undermine the fact that there can be boats. Maybe boats will be found later in further excavations just as the woven baskets were found recently near Lithos. 

 

The assumption of transfer of baskets by only Palean boats is not acceptable. If there was trade between people of Palea & Lithos, it could have take place with the help of Lithos people's boat also. So requirement of Palean people's boat is unnecessary. Also trade could be a factor responsible for the finding of the baskets near Lithos.

 

When further evidence such as finding the same intricate pattern as found on woven baskets is found on other items of Palean people can we make a claim that they were unique to them. If these patterns for example are also found on the houses of Palean people we can confirm it's uniqueness to people of Palea. The author should take into consideration all these before mentioned evidences in order to make to a better decision regarding the source of the woven baskets.

Edited July 28, 2015 by sanmks