Hero or Zero?

Let's talk. You might want to sit down. Why? Well I'm going to do something a bit painful. . . not that many people haven't done this to you before. . . but. . . still I feel bad about it.  Partially because (even though I am an archaeologist) I myself still cannot truly bring myself to accept the facts. It's a lot like telling a small child about Santa or the Tooth Fairy. But here goes nothing. So, I am sure you've heard of him.  Perhaps you also love him. . . everyone's favorite archaeologist. . . Indiana Jones! Well.  He's not really an archaeologist.
WHAT!?? How could I say that you ask? Well, it's out. . . Now time to do damage control.

How is he not a real archaeologist? Why is that a problem? Why are people so offended either way? Do I hate Indiana Jones? Am I a heartless soulless human being?  Yes I know those are all questions you are really dying to know the answer to. And is there a bit of doubt pulling at you? Wondering if perhaps the ground that has opened up under your favorite archaeological hero is just some booby trap that he will outsmart? . . . Well I'll give it my best shot, but if you are anything like me, you'll be left with a fedora on the ground and the question still lingering, has he truly left?


Well for one thing (as so many archaeologists have noted) Indiana Jones is much more of a treasure hunter than a archaeologist.  The only times he gets close to being like an archaeologist are when he goes on "digs" or when he is teaching in his classroom. When he gets out on those "digs" he tends to go straight for things like golden idols or the Holy Grail, a specific artifact, completely ignoring the other important archaeological data. He ignores the buildings that he bursts through. . . until they start to collapse on him or until he loses the trail to the illusive key artifact and then uses the data around him to tell him not anything about the history or culture or to pass that data onto posterity but to FIND the artifact. Again another reason why they call him a treasure hunter. . . However you have to admit, when he's being faced with the Nazi's getting their hands on the artifact. . . can you blame him? 

Perhaps we don't actually see the legitimate excavations Mr. Jones goes on, perhaps we only see his attempts to "save" artifacts.  While that doesn't exactly make up for his complete destruction of a lovely South American Temple (The Lost Ark), the Pankot Palace (The Temple of Doom), the lost tomb of the Knights Templar, the actual resting place of the Holy Grail (The Holy Grail), and countless other sites destroyed. . . He does have a certain aura to him. A vitality and excitement that sitting in libraries doing research lacks (and which most archaeologists offer instead of our beloved adventurer). So where does that leave us? A library or a slow moving event-less excavation where all the rules or followed, or adventure, fights and broken history? Is it really a lose lose situation?


No. I don't believe this to be the case. So I say to you, go.  Step forward, don't be afraid. Pick up that fedora, knock off the dust and put it on. Adventure is still out there, archaeology too, dangers await. . . but just be careful when avoiding those bad guys that you don't destroy your research, okay? Don't go stealing those gold things and make the structurally unstable ruins crumble around you as you make your getaway. . . Remember these and then maybe, just maybe we can get what we all wanted all along. A real Indiana Jones.