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, archa

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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 states in the argument provided that the woven baskets that were characterized by a certain distinctive pattern were a property of the Palean people. But recent discoveries show that the same patterns have been found in Lithos, an ancient nearby village of Palea. So, the baskets were not uniquely Palean. The argument is not logically convincing due to certain gaps and flaws in the information provided. Further reasoning is required to reach a proper conclusion.

Firstly, it is stated that Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim river could only be reached by boat. It is given that the river is very deep and broad. But, is it a perennial case or we can say the case since the centuries. There might have been circumstances when the water level in the river could have reduced or the flow of the river or rather the course of the river could have changed. Another possibility is that a drought might have occurred at some period of time resulting in a path connecting both the villages. So, the natives of the two villages could get an opportunity to communicate or rather the people could swim and reach the other village. So, in these cases or circumstances , no boat is required for their effective communication.

Furthermore, it is stated that the patterns used in woving were very unique and a particular pattern was used. It is possible that the pattern might have been inspired by nature. As, the environment around the people is same, they could get influenced from mother nature. So, it could be a co incidence that the natives of both the villages follow that same unique pattern. Like a bird’s nest is a very common occurring in nature. So, a particular bird’s nest pattern could be followed by the people of Palea and Lithos.

Moreover, it might be a possibility that the villagers of Palea and Lithos are the generations of the same ancestors who shared these unique patterns and passed them on to their generations. Then they formed different communities and started living at different places thus forming these different villages. This partition could also be the result of some natural phenomenon or occurring forcing these people to segregate.

Due to the above mentioned gaps in the information provided in the argument, a satisfactory conclusion cannot be drawn. If some information regarding the conditions of the Brim river and the background of these villagers is provided, then we can reach at an appropriate conclusion.

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Average: 7 (2 votes)
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Comments

flaws:
The reason 2 and reason 3 are not convincing.

Our arguments:

1. The author fails to consider the possibility that the Paleans may arrived in Lithos through other means.

2. The Palean basket could arrive other place through many possible methods such as trade, or boats possessed by other culture.

3. In Palean times, the Brim River may not be as deep and broad as it is currently.

4. The fact that there are abundant resources currently does not indicate that those resources also existed in Palean times.

5. Other reasons other than food shortages may well result in the migration of a culture.

Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 23 15
No. of Words: 416 350
No. of Characters: 2006 1500
No. of Different Words: 180 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.516 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.822 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.712 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 143 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 100 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 73 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 50 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.087 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.365 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.565 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.284 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.496 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.073 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5