my first attempt at writing the argument essay

[blu_skyee]

Hi! this is my first attempt at writing the argument task for the gre. Please check it out and critique it if you can. Any advice is appreciated

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.

Before deriving conclusions, it is important to make sure that the supporting evidencing is strong enough to support the argument. The argument that the woven baskets found by archeologists could not have been solely Palean is flawed because it is not supported by the evidence and, it doesn’t acknowledge the limits of archeology.

The first assumption is that the baskets were made by Palean people because the baskets were found in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea. This piece of information is not strong enough to support such a claim. If the archeologists were to add that there is no evidence of other people living anywhere near the area or that the Palean people did not interact with other groups then that argument becomes stronger. For all we know, the baskets weren’t made by the Paleans at all.

The architects also found another basket in Lithos and assumed that the Paleans couldn’t have made it because boats haven’t been found. This assumption doesn’t acknowledge the limits or archeology. Just because something has not been found does not mean it didn’t exist. The Paleans could have had boats, or they could have swam across the river. There are any number of possibilities. For this to be a stronger argument the archeologists could provide evidence that the river was just as deep and broad then as it is now. For all we know they could have walked across the land that is now a river

It is also important to take into consideration the possibility that the Palean people were not in fact the only ones to weave the baskets, and the Lithos people wove them as well. This is merely a possibility among many. The archeologists could make a stronger argument by saying that the baskets were found in other places aside from Palea and Lithos. In that same way, it could be that the baskets were a gift to the Paleans, or that the Paleans used them to trade. The important thing is, that whatever claim the archeologists make needs to be supported by the evidence.

In Conclusion, there are many weak assumption in this argument that could be made stronger if there were more information. The argument provided above is not supported by the evidence that accompanies it. Saying that the baskets were not uniquely Palean is not an assumption to make with the weak supporting evidence provided.