READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27 which are based on Reading Passage 2
���

'·."'� THE NAPliJRE

,,-
"

AND AIMS OF
'

;".':� ... ..."."'1,; ... 1 .

... , .,.-.:'-;;;/·).
.r,i·,::::: i
'.
�..
. -- . -� -....·,.
,, ��- -,.,;.,�.:•

ARCHAEOLOGY
,, '.�� • •;. . .

%\ �f ::' . ,t<
:,.:...�·· ���·
.'·. . !� �'.\ :'' :(· .. · ..

Archaeology is partly the discovery of the treasures of the past, partly the careful wor1< of the sci­
entific analyst, partly the exercise of the creative imagination. It is toiling in the sun on an excava­
tion in the Middle East, it is working with living Inuit in the snows of Alaska, and it is investigating
the sewers of Roman Britain. But it is also the painstaking task of interpretation, so that we come
to understand what these things mean for the human story. And it is the conservation of the
world's cultural heritage against looting and careless harm.

Archaeology, then, is both a physical activity out in the field, and an intellectual pursuit in the study
or laboratory. That is part of its great attraction. The rich mixture of danger and detective wor1< has
also made it the perfect vehicle for fiction writers and film-makers, from Agatha Christie with
Murder in Mesopotamia to Stephen Spielberg with Indiana Jones. However far from reality such
portrayals are, they capture the essential truth that archaeology is an exciting quest - the quest for
knowledge about ourselves and our past.

But how does archaeology relate to disciplines such as anthropology and history, that are also
concerned with the human story? Is archaeology itself a science? And what are the responsibili­
ties of the archaeologist in today's world?

AnthropologY, at its broadest, is the study of humanity - our physical characteristics as animals
and our unique non-biological characteristics that we call culture. Culture in this sense includes
what the anthropologist, Edward Tylor, summarised in 1871 as 'knowledge, belief, art, morals,
custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society'.
Anthropologists also use the term 'culture· in a more restricted sense when they refer to. the
·culture' of a particular society, meaning the non-biological characteristics unique to that society,
which distinguish it from other societies. Anthropology is thus a broad discipline - so broad that
it is generally broken down into three smaller disciplines: physical anthropology, cultural anthro­
pology and archaeology.

92
 Physical anthropology, or biological anthropology as it is also called, concerns the study of human
biological or physical characteristics and how they evolved. Cultural anthropology - or social
anthropology- analyses human culture and society. Two of its pranches are ethnography (the
study at first hand of indMdual IMng cultures) and ethnology (vvhich sets out to compare cultures
using ethnographic evidence to derive general principles about human society).

Archaeology is the 'past tense of cultural anthropology'. Whereas cultural anthropologists will
often base their conclusions on the experience of living within contemporary communities,
archaeologists study past societies primarily through their material remains - the buildings, tools,
and other artefacts that constitute what is known as the material culture left over from former soci­
eties.

Nevertheless, one of the most important tasks for tJie archaeologist today is to know how to inter­
pret material culture in human terms. How were those pots used? Why are some dvvellings round
and others square? Here the methods of archaeology and ethnography overlap. Archaeologists
in recent decades have developed 'ethnoarchaeology', where, like ethnographers, they live
among contemporary communities, but with the specific purpose of learning how such societies
use material culture - how they make their tools and weapons, vvhy they build their settlements
where they do, and so on. Moreover, archaeology has an active role to play in the field of con­
seNation. Heritage studies constitutes a developing field, where it is realised that the world's cul­
tural heritage is a diminishing resource vvhich holds different meanings for different people.

If, then, archaeology deals with the past, in vvhat way does it differ from history? In the broadest
sense, just as archaeology is an aspect of anthropologY, so too is it a part of history - vvhere we
mean the vvhole history of humankind from its beginnings over three million years ago. Indeed,
for more than ninety-nine per cent of that huge span of time, archaeology- the study of past mate­
rial culture - is the only significant source of information. Conventional historical sources begin
only with the introduction of written records around 3000 BC in western Asia, and much later in
most other parts of the world.

A commonly drawn distinction is between pre-histOIY, i.e. the period before written records -
and history in the narrow sense, meaning the study of the past using written evidence. To archae­
ology, vvhich studies all cultures and periods, whether with 6r without writing, the distinction
between history and pre-history is ·a convenient dMdi.ng line that recognises the importance of
the written word, but in no way lessens the importance of the useful information contained in oral
histories.

Since the aim of archaeology is the understanding of humankind, it is a humanistic studY, and since
it deals with the human past, it is a historical discipline. But it differs from the study of written
history in a fundamental way. The material the archaeologist finds does not tell us directly vvhat to
think. Historical records make statements, offer opinions and pass judgements. The objects the
archaeologists discover, on the other hand, tell us nothing directly in themselves. In this respect,
the practice of the archaeologist is rather like that of the scientist, who collects data, conducts
experiments, formulates a hypothesis, tests the hypothesis against more data, and then, in con­
clusion, devises a model that seems best to summarise the pattern observed in the data. The
archaeologist has to develop a picture of the past, just as the scientist has to develop a coherent
view of the natural world.

93
Questions 14-19
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet write

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
14 Archaeology involves creativity as well as careful investigative work.

15 Archaeologists must be able to translate texts from ancient languages.

16 Movies give a realistic picture of the work of archaeologists.

17 Anthropologists define culture in more than one way.

18 Archaeology is a more demanding field of study than anthropology.

19 The history of Europe has been doc.umented since 3000 BC.

Questions 20 and 21

Choose TWO letters A-E.

Write your answers in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet.

The list below gives some statements about anthropology.

Which 1WO statements are mentioned by the writer of the text?

A It is important for government planners.

B It is a continually growing field of study.
C It often involves long periods of fieldwork.
D It is subdivided for study purposes.
E It studies human evolutionary patterns.

94
Questions 22 and 23
Choose TWO letters A-E.

Write your answers in boxes 22 and 23 on your answer sheet.

The list below gives some of the tasks of an archaeologist.

Which TWO of these tasks are mentioned by the writer of the text?

A examining ancient waste sites to investigate diet

B studying cave art to determine its significance
C deducing reasons for the shape of domestic buildings
D investigating the way different cultures make and use objects
E examining evidence for past climate changes

Questions 24-27
Complete the summary of the last two paragraphs of Reading Passage 2.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet.

Much of the work of archaeologists can be done using written records but they find 24 ......
equally valuable. The writer describes archaeology as both a 25 ...... and a 26 ...... . However,
as archaeologists do not try to influence human behaviour, the writer compares their style of
working to that of a 27 ......

95
 READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3-·
on the following pages.

Questions 28-31
Reading Passage 3 has five sections A-E.

Choose the correct heading for sections A and C-E from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 28-31 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i The connection between health-care and
other human rights
ii The development of market-based health
systems
iii The role of the state in health-care
iv A problem shared by every economically
developed country
v The impact of recent change
vi The views of the medical establishment
vii The end of an illusion
viii Sustainable economic development

28 Section A

I
Example Answer
Section B viii

29 Section C

30 Section D

31 Section E

96