PrepTest 147, Section 3, Question 12

Working the answers

• A

  The national museum would use tax revenue to acquire important pieces. That doesn't mean every antiquity must be owned and protected by that museum. A expands a limited acquisition policy into a universal ownership requirement.

• B

  The author reports that some countries restrict exports, then proposes a system that taxes exported objects. That proposal is inconsistent with requiring all antiquities to stay inside the country where they were found.

• C

  The author doesn't reject state ownership because the objects are too valuable. Mali's role as trustee is treated as reasonable; the practical handling of the objects is the concern.

• D
  Correct

  The proposed excavations might be of lower quality and yield less information (paragraph 4) than ones professionally administered by accredited archaeologists. That comparison favors professional excavation when possible, while allowing something less than the ideal when the alternative is destructive looting.

• E

  Registration is a proposed requirement, not a rule that whoever finds an object automatically owns it. Recording a discovery and acquiring title to the artifact are different matters. The author never endorses finders keepers.