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.

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.

At first glance at the recommendation, it seems true that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean due to the discovery of the baskets in Lithos. However, the recommendation relies on a series of logical flaws, which make it unconvincing. Before drawing the conclusion, more credible and reliable information should be offered.

The recommendation assumes that the Brim River existed in the ancient Palea. However, there is no obvious evidence to support this assumption. The geology may have changed with the time passing by.  The Brim River may not exist in the ancient area, so there was no need of boats for some Palean people to transport the Palean baskets to the Lithos. Allowing the Brim River existed, the Brim River might not be as deep and broad as the recent Brim River. The individuals might get across the river by foot, thus the so-called Palean baskets could get carried by the locals. It means that we need more ancient geology information about Lithos and Palea.

Another unwarranted assumption is that no Palean boats have been found. Allowing the Brim River is as deep and broad as the recent one, still it could be an incorrect assumption, because the boat might be made of woods. As all we known, the woods could not remain forever and the woods could get eroded. Besides, the boat which consisted of woods might get flushed and squash into thousand pieces, which is a problem for archeologists to find the boats. Thus, there might be no Palean boats having been found. We need further research on the existence of the Palean boats so that we could have a more prudent conclusion.

There is another question needs to be answered. Is the Lithos and Palea geologically separated as today? Perhaps, the Lithos and Palea were the same village but different places and there were a lot of commercial activities between them, thus the so-called Palean basket could be transport to the Lithos. It is another reason for finding no boats. Unless we have more geological information about the ancient area, we may not have a more prudent conclusion about the Palean basket.

In short, the recommendation is not well supported by those claims. To make the recommendation more convincing, more question need to be answered and more reliable information should be given. We would not have a prudent conclusion without further evidences provided.