CAT 2023 Slot 3 — VARC Question 16
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
In 2006, the Met [art museum in the US] agreed to return the Euphronios krater, a masterpiece Greek urn that had been a museum draw since 1972. In 2007, the Getty [art museum in the US] agreed to return 40 objects to Italy, including a marble Aphrodite, in the midst of looting scandals. And in December, Sotheby’s and a private owner agreed to return an ancient Khmer statue of a warrior, pulled from auction two years before, to Cambodia.
Cultural property, or patrimony, laws limit the transfer of cultural property outside the source country’s territory, including outright export prohibitions and national ownership laws. Most art historians, archaeologists, museum officials and policymakers portray cultural property laws in general as invaluable tools for counteracting the ugly legacy of Western cultural imperialism.
During the late 19th and early 20th century — an era former Met director Thomas Hoving called “the age of piracy” — American and European art museums acquired antiquities by hook or by crook, from grave robbers or souvenir collectors, bounty from digs and ancient sites in impoverished but art-rich source countries. Patrimony laws were intended to protect future archaeological discoveries against Western imperialist designs. . . .
I surveyed 90 countries with one or more archaeological sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list, and my study shows that in most cases the number of discovered sites diminishes sharply after a country passes a cultural property law. There are 222 archaeological sites listed for those 90 countries. When you look into the history of the sites, you see that all but 21 were discovered before the passage of cultural property laws. . . .
Strict cultural patrimony laws are popular in most countries. But the downside may be that they reduce incentives for foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations and educational institutions to invest in overseas exploration because their efforts will not necessarily be rewarded by opportunities to hold, display and study what is uncovered. To the extent that source countries can fund their own archaeological projects, artifacts and sites may still be discovered. . . . The survey has far-reaching implications. It suggests that source countries, particularly in the developing world, should narrow their cultural property laws so that they can reap the benefits of new archaeological discoveries, which typically increase tourism and enhance cultural pride. This does not mean these nations should abolish restrictions on foreign excavation and foreign claims to artifacts.
China provides an interesting alternative approach for source nations eager for foreign archaeological investment. From 1935 to 2003, China had a restrictive cultural property law that prohibited foreign ownership of Chinese cultural artifacts. In those years, China’s most significant archaeological discovery occurred by chance, in 1974, when peasant farmers accidentally uncovered ranks of buried terra cotta warriors, which are part of Emperor Qin’s spectacular tomb system.
In 2003, the Chinese government switched course, dropping its cultural property law and embracing collaborative international archaeological research. Since then, China has nominated 11 archaeological sites for inclusion in the World Heritage Site list, including eight in 2013, the most ever for China.
From the passage we can infer that the author is likely to advise poor, but archaeologically-rich source countries to do all of the following, EXCEPT:
Answer & solution
- A
allow foreign countries to analyse and exhibit the archaeological finds made in the source country.
- B
to find ways to motivate other countries to finance archaeological explorations in their country.
- C
adopt China’s strategy of dropping its cultural property laws and carrying out archaeological research through international collaboration.
fund institutes in other countries to undertake archaeological exploration in the source country reaping the benefits of cutting-edge techniques.
Easy
An EXCEPT question: three options are advice the author would give poor source countries; one is not. The author wants these countries to attract foreign investment in exploration — so the odd one out reverses the money flow.
Let foreign countries analyse and exhibit finds. The author says narrowing (not abolishing) laws should let foreign bodies "hold, display and study what is uncovered" — this is sound advice. Author would say it.
Motivate other countries to finance exploration. The whole point is to restore "incentives for foreign governments... to invest in overseas exploration." Author would say it.
Adopt China's approach of dropping the law for international collaboration. China is offered as "an interesting alternative approach for source nations." Author would say it.
Fund institutes in other countries to excavate in the source country. This has the poor source country paying outsiders — the exact opposite of attracting foreign money. The author wants others to fund work in these poor nations, not the reverse. Author would NOT advise this — correct answer for EXCEPT.
Option D — it reverses the desired flow of funding (poor country pays foreign institutes), so it is the one piece of advice the author would not give.