Is Indiana Jones bad for archaeology?

No

7 of 22

by Ethel Smith

• 

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

Archaeology is potentially exciting when you think about the endless discoveries and history it may lead to. Finding some long lost treasure which is worth a fortune could be a dream come true. However, on the whole, archaeology is portrayed as a boring, middle class and vague sort of subject. As such it can only benefit from the likes of Indiana Jones providing, adventure, animal magnetism, sexual chemistry, excitement and much more.

When I worked in my local museums I found that all archaeologists actually looked and sounded very similar. They never made a firm commitment to identifying any object but rather would always use terms such as 'Possibly', 'Maybe', and 'Perhaps'. This indecisiveness made them all seem a trifle bumbling and unsure. Add to this the fact that they had no dress sense, were all a little scruffy and had never heard of style and I guess you can picture what I mean. Not so with the fictional Mr Jones. He is always so definite about any finds, has style and has such a positive air surrounding him.

Indiana Jones is never seen on his hands and knees painstakingly brushing carefully away at a mountain of rubble, only to be rewarded with a tiny fragment of what may have been an ancient urn. None of this tedium for our Indiana. Instead he travels the world, mingles with beautiful women and exciting people and is rewarded with untold discoveries.

Indiana Jones is a double edged character who spends half of his time teaching at the university and leading an ordinary existence whilst spending the other time fighting off ruthless villains whose one desire is to steal the world's most precious artefacts. He is one of the good guys in this corrupt world.

To my mind archaeology should be as exciting as it is in any of the Indiana Jones films, but it is not. Archaeology is probably too slow for this modern world with only minor finds as a reward for everyone's hard work. The adventure, challenges, enemies, world travel and fast pace of the world of Indiana Jones's archaeology offers a taste of how it should be. Of course the positive also is that no-one ever really comes to any harm and, no matter how incongruous the situation, good and our hero will prevail.

I guess Indiana Jones has brought a sense of fun to archaeology also and has brought it to the attention of many who otherwise would have never even heard any of the terminology. Considering all of this I just cannot see how anyone can see the character of Indiana Jones as bad for archaeology. On the contrary it promotes what can be a rather stuffy science and in doing so generates interest.

Learn more about this author, Ethel Smith.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.