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

The author draws the conclusion that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean by citing the evidence of discovery of this type of baskets in Lithos which Palean people supposed could not get to becouase of the Brim River. To substantiate the conclusion, the author also provides the evidence to prove the inability of Palean to make a boat for cossing the Brim River. This argument seems plausible and convincing, while more comprehensive scrutiny demean the validity of it.

First of all, the author seems hasty to assume that the Palean people could not get to Lithos because of the river. However, we can not know whether this river exists in prehistoric times. If there were not river or perhaps the river is so shallow, people in Palean could get to Lithos even without boats. Lacking any evidence to show the existence of the Brim River, we can not assert that Palean people can not go to Lithos.

Moreover, the fact that so far archaeologists could not find boats made by Palean does not mean inability to make a boats. Perhaps, archeologists will find the ruins or evidence indicating the opposite conclusion. Since the argument does not provide further details, the conclusion is questionable.

Least and not the last, it is possible that this basket was drop into the Brim River accidently by a Palean person. Since we don’t know the number of the baskets found in Lithos, we have no confidence to preclude this conjecture. If the baskets found in Lithos are quite a lot, the author’s conclusion holds; otherwise there is still some ambiguity.

To sum up, the evidence provided by author does not lend credibility on the conclusion he maintains.