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 current argument is flawed because it does not have the required evidence to support the uniqueness of the baskets made by Palean people.This is supported by the fact that the baskets which were apparently ‘Unique’ to the village of Palea were also found in the Lithos village across the river which shows no signs of Palean Boats.There are many evidence which we might need to come to a conclusion.

First of all there is no mention about the boats of Lithos.It is mentioned that there were no signs of Palean boats but there is nothing conclusive about the boats in Lithos.This will seriously challenge the argument because the presence of the boats in Lithos might indicate that the people of Lithos would cross the deep river to trade/buy these woven baskets.This would seriously weaken the argument because it will give a conclusive evidence that the woven baskets were indeed unique to the village of Palea.

Second evidence which we might need is the presence of equipment and the raw materials required to make these woven baskets which might be present in Lithos. Moreover there should be some proof (book/manuscript) which confirms that the people of Lithos had the skills to make the baskets.If there is clear evidence that the village of Lithos had the tools,the raw materials and labour force with adequate skills to make the basket on their own we might have to agree with the argument that the baskets made by the people of Palea were not exactly unique as they were thought of to be.

Third evidence which we might need is the confirmation that there is no evidence of a bridge or some some kind of way in which people of Palea and Lithos could have had some kind of relation with each other.This might seriously strengthen or weaken the argument because the presence of such a way would mean that the residents of both the village could have traded the baskets.

These are the evidences which we might need to strengthen/weaken the argument.