TPO 44 Integrated Writing Task

The reading author lists several reasons confirming the European silver coin founded in 1957 in American archaeological site is a historical fake. Yet the lecturer is convinced that it represents the true history evidence for the communication between native Americans and the Norse with the following reasons.

First, contrary to the reading’s point that the coin was found in the site far away from the Norse’s settlements which suggests it is a fake, the lecturer points out that many other archaeological discoveries were also found with a great distance from the Norse’s, simply because the native Americans travelled from place to place and brought back the stuffs to their settlements. Therefore, the distance of the location is not an important factor.

Second, the lecturer rebuts the reading’s argument that only one coin had been found can fully demonstrate it is a historical fake. He explains that the Norse did not settle permanently, which means when they returned to Europe, they probably take the coins back to their homeland. That’s why the amount of the coin does not necessarily justify the hypothesis.

Third, it is said in the reading that the Norse would not bring the coins to America because they would have known the European coin would be useless here. Conversely, the lecturer argues that the coins were valuable and unusual objects for native Americans then. As a result, the coins would probably be used to trade with Native Americans.