Public Perceptions of Archaeology

            Indiana Jones is a romanticized archaeology professor who is secretly a treasure hunter that finds strange artifacts to bring back to the museum and the university for which he works. Indiana Jones is hardly an archaeologist. He tends to stray from traditional procedure and behave much in the way an antiquarian would. Even in the movie his superior at the university makes a joke about the artifacts that are brought back as being within the International Treaty for the Protection of Antiquities. Jones’s acquisition of the many artifacts he brings back to the museum possess no legal documentation and therefore the museum could never prove that the artifacts were purchased legally. Though technically an antiquarian, the character Indiana Jones is still heavily associated with Archaeology in pop culture. From the movies stems several archaeology-related stereotypes that skew the reality of how an archaeologist operates concerning lifestyle, fieldwork, and the research process involving discovering artifacts, therefore a number of misconceptions about what the job of an archaeologist is exist among public perception.

            The Raiders of the Lost Ark is set in 1935. Scientific archaeology did not exist yet and was still in the classification period of its life. People had yet to start asking why. The Third Reich was still in its first years and the Second World War had not yet begun. Hitler was obsessed with artifacts and art. His obsession is more closely addressed in the recounts of the monuments men when his obsession grew fierce. Of course, this is not the only reason the Nazis played excellent villains alongside Dr. Jones. The Nazi name is immediately associated with negative connotations. Also, the Nazis were intent on gather artifacts and works of art in order to alter the interpretation of early Germanic tribes being labeled as barbaric. They wished to be considered civilized like the Greeks or the Romans. Thus, both the Nazi party’s archaeologist, Belloq, backed by the support of the Nazi regime, and Dr. Jones, who employs the help of friends and colleagues, search for the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. Indiana appears to have good intentions when collecting the various artifacts and returning to England with them, however, he is in all accounts an antiquarian. He cares more for the preservation of knowledge and the artifacts themselves, but appears to do little when interfacing with the places they are located. He ignores a rather impressive golden sun on his way to the idol and goes about desecrating the temple right at the beginning of the movie. His attitude may have much to do with his views on what archaeology actually is, but this does not supersede the fact that his actions are considered illegal.

            The character of Indiana Jones is one of excitement and danger. He is known for braving traps in ancient temples and facing off with Nazis. He is handsome and cunning and tends to not follow the letter of the law. He appears to have no qualms about killing people if they are considered to be “bad guys” and his attractive young lover/ex-lover, Marian, provides sexual tension throughout the movie. He is rugged, probably to make him seem more daring, and Jones is quite knowledgeable about history and where things came from. This is why he is considered romanticized. He is almost meant to be the focus of someone’s wet dream instead of shining a light on the study of archaeology in pop culture. Every time he comes close to death he is saved and this gives him an almost invincible like demeanor. If anything, Indiana Jones more closely relates to a superhero in some Western than an archaeologist. He would know at least a little about what is part of archaeology as he was explaining the methodology of excavating a site in his classroom at the university. When Indiana Jones searches for sites, he is often seen using historical documents such as maps or artifacts. To find the idol he uses an old map, and to find the location of the ark, he uses the medallion. Archaeological survey was also conducted by the Nazis while the search for the ark progressed. He conducts fieldwork during the movie much the way an antiquarian would. While he can be seen acting in the way a proper archaeologist would in the classroom as he explains the features of how to uncover a tomb and the difficulties faced due to looters over the years, this is not shown in his behavior when obtaining artefacts for the museum. He affectively steals items from temples and carries them “home” to the university and museum illegally, which is pointed out jokingly by his superior at the university. The university and museum treat the artifacts as business ventures and are more interested in their monetary value than the historical value of the artifacts.

            The archaeological research process is also inadequately represented. The archaeological research process involves a significant amount of planning and consideration of a site due to the fact that excavations of sites tend to destroy them further. The process first involves the formation of a research question and this may also involve and hypothesis to test. The research question may involve locating a site initially and change once the site is or is not discovered. Once a site has been identified for research, the second step is the collection and recording of evidence. It is important to be aware of where everything is deposited in order to draw the most accurate conclusions possible from the site in question as well as be aware of previous research that has been done on the site if any exists. This is the fieldwork part of the research process and the part of Indiana Jones’s method that is ignored completely. Typically with Dr. Jones the process of investigation does not involve data from researchers, but rumor and surveillance. There is no effort put in place to preserve the site in question and the site is rarely treated with respect as a historical site. Indiana Jones therefore does not even enter into the next three steps of the research process. The third step is processing and analysis of the information collected, which is typically done in a lab. The fourth step is to draw conclusions from the data and form an interpretation based on the available information gathered from the site. The final step is dissemination where the information is made public and available to other researchers. Indiana Jones would never participate in this final step in interest of not wanting his illegal activities to be brought to light. For the most part, Indian a Jones does not follow the archaeological research process at all. This is even considering the circumstances that lead him to steal most artefacts he comes in contact with—that and his ideologies about where historical artefacts should ultimately end up.

            There are a number of inaccurate archaeological moments during the film, perhaps the most outstanding one being the treatment of the Well of Souls. Indiana’s charade involves significant desecration of the site as well as significant structural damage. He also attempts to set the snakes on fire and shoo them away using torches. In an actual archaeological excavation of the site, the initial step would likely be removal of the snakes and transportation to an alternate location. Then an intricate mapping of the site would occur and priority would go to recording the current placement of any and all artifacts found before removal of anything. The Ark of the Covenant would not have been so readily removed from its resting place. The believed lethality of the Ark would likely be taken into account as well, especially since the Ark is constructed in the same fashion as a capacitor (conductor/ insulator/ conductor). Anyone who touched it would allow discharge of the stored energy and would be electrocuted by the golden chest. The Ark would also not be the only thing of interest. The presence of the characters R2D2 and C3PO would likely spark an intense debate about the presence of ancestral space travelers and give weight to the claims of pseudoscience as is known today. Photos and sketches would be made of the art and writings on the walls and linguists would likely be brought in to attempt to decipher anything written on the walls and extract a possible meaning. Great care would be taken in order to see that the architecture would be left intact and it would be very likely that reburial of the site would occur after excavation in order to maintain its state of preservation. There would likely be a number of political actions to follow the discovery of the Ark and it would be a long battle to determine where the Ark should ultimately end up. The results of the excavation of the Well of Souls would likely have given insight into the beliefs and rituals of Egypt in biblical times and would probably play a major role in determining the actuality of the believed truth of the historical record as written in the bible.

            The largest inconvenience for the archaeological community is the misconceptions delivered to the public via the media. The influence of pop culture can affect how people behave concerning certain issues. For example, exorcism had all but become an extinct practice until the movie The Exorcist in 1973. After the movie had become well known, reports of possessions and exorcisms became far more common. The same occurred with the interest surrounding archaeology due to the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The act of calling Indiana Jones an archaeologist skewed the public understanding of what an archaeologist is like. Those who decided they wanted to become archaeologists due to the movie were likely met with unexpected realizations when exposed to the actual profession. This can also prove to be a beneficial side effect of the popularity of the movie and get more people interested in exploring archaeology as a potential career path in the future. Indiana Jones is an excellent lure into the world of archaeology, albeit an inaccurate one.