Woven baskets charecterized 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 archaeol

In the given passage, the author concludes that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. The author has given several premises to strengthen the argument, but lack of specific evidence makes the logic of argument weak.

Primarily, the author states that the archaeologists discovered such a ‘Palean’ basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim river from Palea. Here, the author has not specified the reason for finding such basket in Lithos. It might be true that people while travelling from Palea to Lithos would have left it there. It is also possible that such a basket would have been carried over to Lithos from Palea by some flood or any similar natural disaster. So the author should have stated about any natural calamities might have occurred around the region.

Secondly, the author states that the Brim River is very deep and broad and Paleans could have crossed it only by boat. Here, the author has stated the present condition of river and not the condition in which it used to be in ancient time. It is possible that temperature would have been too low in those days and the river would have frozen enabling the Paleans to cross it without the help of a boat. In contrast, it is possible that the temperature would not have been higher than present days resulting into evaporation of most of water making the Brim River too shallow to use a boat to cross it. So the author should have mentioned the condition of river in those days.

Lastly, the author states that the archaeologists did not find any Palean boat bolstering the fact that they would not have possibly reached Lithos in any way. Here, the author has not stated about different ways of reaching Lithos for Paleans apart from having their own boats. It might be possible that there would be ferries which could carry passengers from Palea to Lithos. It might also be true that in those days, Paleans would have possessed boats but the boats would have got destroyed by any natural calamities or bad quality of material used in their construction. So the author should have mentioned about any claim about finding tools for making boats.

To conclude, the author has failed to mention about any calamities in those days and about the condition of Brim River in those days and about finding tools for making boats. If author had given above mentioned specific evidence, then his argument would have been more convincing.