ishag

Hi, You have done a good job. As I have just started my GRE preaparation as well, so won't be able to give any expert suggestions. But I would like to add something here. Argument essays expect us to think through each and every statement critically and come out with all the assumptions that have been made and how do these assumptions strengthen or weaken the argument. Though you have given plausible statements, but it doesn't cover the entire length of the argument and is rather based on the single premise or boats.

Argument : 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. The claims made by the statement that woven baskets with a distinctive pattern were previously found only in the immediate vicinity of the village of Palea. There has been, however, no information provided about the source of this fact and if the archaeological study that published this fact actually covered sites other than those of Palea and its vicinity. As a regression of this, the actual origin of the peculiar basket pattern might have been made a rather different city around Palea or was a distinctive pattern of the region rather than being a patron of Palea village. Moving forward in the argument, the argument states that a basket with the patterns which were assumed to a be a doctrine of Palea was found across the Brim river. As due to the size and magnanimity of the river allows it to be crossed only by boat and no trace of boats were found, the baskets should have been made somewhere on the other side of Brim river. This statement has major loopholes in the assumptions it makes.Firstly,as very evident in the passage itself, absence of archaeological evidence doesn't gurrantee the absence of an item as happened in the case of later discovery of basket in Lithos. Generalizing from specific results doesn't always turn out be a truth as happened in case of Palea village's association with the distinctive pattern. It is quite possible for Paleans to have boats in the prehistoric times which our archaeological geniuses have not been able to discover yet. Secondly, the fact that boats were not found is a recent truth after or during the Lithos site discovery mission or a subsumed fact in the Palea baskets is not clearly stated to understand if the fact is recent enough after the Lithos discovery to be relevant. On a different wavelength, as stated that the discovery of a single such basket in Lithos can be an indicator of the presence of more such basket but doesn't prove it. Drawing the conclusion that presence of one basket marks the existence of basket in the village is rather an extrapolation. This fact can be easily explained by the mention of the Brim river. The basket might have been floated across the river to reach Lithos from the Palean shore. The argument contains multiple assumptions which may weaken or strengthen the argument as has been elaborated above.