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 unique to 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 unique to 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 only have crossed it by boat, but there is no evidence that the Paleans had boats. And boats capable of carrying groups of people and cargo were not developed until thousands of years after the Palean people disappeared. Moreover, Paleans would have had no need to cross the river—the woods around Palea are full of nuts, berries, and small game. It follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not unique to Palea.

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.

It may seem plausible at first glance that the argument, that Palen baskets were not unique to Palea, could be drawn from such information: the baske was also found in Lithos, which was across the Brim river from Palea and only available by boat; yet the boats weren’t capable of carrying people and cargo and Paleans would have no need to cross the river with all the abundant resources they had. However, on second thought, it’s obvious that more evidence is required to in order to evaluate the reasoning above.

The first piece of evidence in need is whether the baskets in Lithos must be imported from Palea. According to our common sense, a distinctive good found in a village but original from another one was most likely to be brought there directly. Nevertheless, there could also be other explanations of the occurrence of the woven basket in Lithos. It could be that another group of people brought the technique to Lithos and later they learned how to make a basket. For example, the technique was brought there through trade or migration of culture through a third group of people, if they are accessible both to Lithos and Palea. In short, more evidence is in need to prove whether there were other ancient people served as media and helped transfer the precious technique to make woven baskets from Palea to Lithos.

The second piece of evidence would be the methods by which Paleans can reach in Lithos, if any, other than crossing the Brim river by boat. It is true that ancient people were likely to abandon their will to cross a deep and broad river especially when their needs were mostly satisfied with the abundant resources, but chances are that they would explore other places in short distance if those places were available when they could circumvent the dangerous river. Paleans may climb several mountains before they could arrive in Lithos, or they could take a roundabout way, though other villages, and finally got to Lithos. In other words, the author fails to consider the possibilities that the Palens may arrive in Lithos by other means of transportation.

Now, even if the river was the only access to Lithos, more evidence should be provided about the record of the river back then. Paleans would be reluctant to cross the river, given the dangerous and challenging condition of the river. However, the only record presented is the observation from nowadays, which means the river could have been in better condition and safe enough for boats, but gradually evolved unsuitable after years of nature forces, such as earth movements. In a word, the author based the argument on the “fresh” evidence discovered contemporarily, but fails to consider the constantly changing nature of our mother Earth.

In conclusion, there are several flaws in the original argument, for short of evidence that can prove that there were no other way to get a basket other than being brought by Paleans in person, and that Palens had to take boats to cross the dangerous Brim river.