[[http://www.cracked.com/funny-138-archaeology/ http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archaeolgicalmethod.jpg]]
-> ''"Lara Croft - world's worst archaeologist. When she's not putting her foot through inestimably valuable samples of ancient pottery, she's stealing every slightly shiny thing that was ever buried with some royal dead guy and hoarding them in her basement."''
-->--'''Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw''', ''ZeroPunctuation: TombRaider Underworld''.

--> ''If adventure has a name, it has to be Indiana Jones"''
-->--{{tagline}} for ''IndianaJones and the Temple of Doom''

-> ''"Moreover, no one on the committee can identify who or what instilled Dr. Jones with the belief that an archaeologist's tool kit should consist solely of a bullwhip and a revolver."''
-->--'''Andy F. Bryan''', "Back From Yet Another Globetrotting Adventure, Indiana Jones Checks His Mail and Discovers His Bid for Tenure Has Been Denied," ''[=McSweeney's=]''

In RealLife, archeology is ''not'' the most fast paced of careers. It can involve a lot of research, dirt, and going over small details like diet and theorizing on them. A real archaeologist can make his career by the meticulous analysis of the contents of a garbage dump — and indeed, they would ''prefer'' to find the dump rather than a king's tomb, since the dump can tell them far more about the way ordinary people lived.

Not so in fiction-land. Since most of the world has [[{{Gotterdammerung}} the ruins of ancient and powerful civilizations]] littered under the surface, archeology is a career that brings one constantly face to face with LostTechnology, [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned evils]], and {{MacGuffin}}s. Lots of {{MacGuffin}}s. If it takes place on Earth and the writers don't make one up, it'll usually be something like an Egyptian tomb (expect a {{mummy}} to haunt our hero) or the [[PublicDomainArtifact Holy Grail]].

{{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s are capable of dressing up very well for more intellectual appearances, but forays into studying usually occur off-screen, and it's never implied to take very long. (Compare {{Badass Bookworm}}.)

An AdventurerArchaeologist has an interesting morality. Ruins are rarely really "abandoned" as the descendants of the {{Precursors}}, or their ghosts, or even their mystically preserved selves are [[ChasedByAngryNatives very upset]] when outsiders intrude, and especially when they take the focal points of their culture with them.

Most people call this "theft," and in ''[[IndianaJones Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]],'' it's noted that the title character has been called a [[GraveRobbing "grave robber."]] However, to an AdventurerArchaeologist, it's okay as long as it goes into a museum. To keep the audience rooting for the AdventurerArchaeologist, he or she is often pitted against an EvilCounterpart who wants the same treasure for themselves, or to give it to the bad guys/sell to the highest bidder, use it to TakeOverTheWorld, etc.

Some of this may be a remnant of the early days of archeology, when archaeologists tended to be more concerned about their own glory and getting museum trinkets that looked good for their TrophyRoom than actually discovering things about old civilizations. As a result, no one knows how much historical evidence will never be known to us through the carelessness of 19th and early 20th century archaeologists.

This trope is OlderThanRadio, an accomplishment when considering that archeology is a profession less than two centuries old. Antiquarians, historians, and intellectual grave robbers were a staple of 19th Century gothic horror and ghost stories. They appeared regularly in film adventures dating back to the dawn of talking pictures, including the universal {{mummy}} movies and the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films.

It should be noted, however, that this Trope and its origins arguably do come from [[TruthInTelevision Truth in err.... Literature]]. Early archaeology was often simply done for profit or glory and was often as horribly done by modern standards as the examples below.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* The Diggers sisters in Fred Perry's ''Series/GoldDigger''.
* This was the SecretIdentity of the GoldenAge Hawkman, who has returned as the current Hawkman.
* Archaeology is second only to research scientist on the list of "most origin-prone professions".
** TheDCU's GoldenAge BlueBeetle Dan Garrett found the scarab that gave him his powers while looking through an ancient tomb.
**This actually represents a backdating of the Silver Age version to the Golden Age. The actual Golden Age Blue Beetle stories from fox had him as a policeman.
** Metamorpho.
** The original Doctor Fate's father. Lot of superpowers in them tombs . . .
* Mariah from ''TheWarlord'' is an archaeologist who becomes a sword-swinging heroine upon her transport to the LostWorld of Skartaris.
* Arizona Goof from the Disney comics is a spoof of this trope.
* TheJuggernaut from Comicbook/{{XMen}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* If IndianaJones did not invent the trope, he at least popularized it.
** This is probably why [[http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/10/10bryan.html he was denied tenure]].
* The O'Connell Family from ''[[TheMummyTrilogy The Mummy]]'' movies and cartoon.
* Classic early appearance: in the opening scene of the original Boris Karloff version of ''The Mummy'', a graduate student is studying a scroll at a table when the {{mummy}}'s bandaged hand reaches past him to touch the parchment. As the {{mummy}} walks away, the man starts laughing hysterically, later saying to his mentor "He went for a little walk!" One of them notes in a later scene: "He was still laughing when when he died two years later." Yep, life is tough on graduate students and archaeologists in general.
* Charlton Heston appeared as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_the_Incas Harry Steele]] in ''Secret of the Incas''. Costume designers credit this film as being the inspiration for Indy's getup.
*Benjamin Gates (played by Nicholas Cage) from Disney's ''{{NationalTreasure}}'' franchise.
* Most of the main characters in the original ''The Adventures of {{Captain Marvel}}'' movie serial from 1941. Interestingly, the main exception to this is Billy Batson himself, who is chosen by the wizard Shazam to become Captain Marvel because he's the only person on the expedition except the native guide Tal Chotali who suggests maybe smashing one's way through tombs and grabbing whatever is in there isn't such a good idea. Later, Batson is entrusted with the scroll which explains how the serial's MacGuffin, the Scorpion, works because he "is probably the only one among us who can't translate it."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* Professor Bernice Summerfield, in the ''DoctorWho'' ExpandedUniverse.
* MortalEngines has two of these: the cowardly, TedBaxter-esque Nimrod Pennyroyal is more of a subversion, while the driven, hard-edged Thaddeus Valentine plays it deadly straight.
* AmeliaPeabody and her husband, Radcliffe Emerson, Victorian Egyptologists in a series of mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. These two go out of their way to subvert several aspects of the trope: they regard their adventures as interruptions, most of the time, and are always itching to get back to The Dig; and they are stridently clear about Egyptian artifacts belonging to the Egyptians, not, for instance, the British Museum, and make frequent derogatory remarks about the treasure-hunting approach of their predecessors and some of their contemporaries.
* An anthropologist and zoologist rather than an archaeologist, but Professor George Edward Challenger from ''TheLostWorld'' and its sequels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle otherwise fits the bill to a T.
* Averted with professional archaeologist Jacob Ramsey in Christie Golden's [[{{Starcraft}} Dark Templar trilogy]]. Though described as a "maverick" by his peers, he points out that archaeology is not all adventures and being chased by boulders and he doesn't go about trying to manhandle his way into the Xel'Naga "temple".
* Miss Alice Band, a "stealth archeologist" who also teaches traps and climbing at the Guild of Assassins, in ''{{Discworld}}''. Any similarity to Lara Croft is entirely coincidental.
* ''HandOfMercy'' features Helen Hawthorn. Technically Helen is an antiques dealer, but that doesn't stop her rifling through ancient artifacts, not to mention theft and trespass at Isham house.
*Doc Savage
* This trope is [[OlderThanDirt much, much older then you think]]: a two thousand years old piece of Egyptian literature, ''Setna-Khaemuas and Na-Nefer-Ka-Ptah'' tells the story of the titular protagonist, Setna, a prince of Egypt and a powerful wizard searching necropolises for the magical Book of Thoth which grants the reader great power. It does not end very well for him.
* ''The Takers'' by Jerry Ahern, though it's actually the BigBad who's the archaeologist. The protagonists are an action-adventure novelist, and his girlfriend who writes books on UFO's, Atlantis and the occult.
* ''[[TheLordsOfCreation In the Courts of the Crimson Kings]]'', a sci-fi novel by S.M. Stirling set on JohnCarterOfMars-type world made plausible with BioPunk technology. The archaeologist protagonist jokes about the differences between himself and the tomb raiders of the movies. "I don't even have a bullwhip!" His colleague points out that (due to the dangerous Martian environment and culture) he ''is'' carrying a gun and a sword.
* Aemelia Harsh in Stephen Hunt's ''The Kingdom Beyond the Waves''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* In the show ''RelicHunter'', Sydney Fox (played by Tia Carerre).
* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', Daniel Jackson is a "purer" example in flashbacks, but modifies the way he works once he joins the SG team.
* In a few ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' stories, Captain Picard gets to air out his AdventurerArchaeologist side.
* [[http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Vash Vash]] in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Love interest of Jean-Luc Picard, partner of Q.
* ''The Librarian: Quest for the Spear'' and ''The Librarian 2: Return to King Solomon's Mines'' (both starring Noah Wyle) are [[DeconstructorFleet knowing and ironic retreads]] of this territory, or maybe simply ''bad'' retreads.
* In ''PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'', the mentor of the team/father of the Red Ranger is one of these. Consequently, the Rangers themselves spend the bulk of the season generally following in his footsteps. This unique combination of BigDamnHeroes and AdventurerArchaeologist tends to result in a ''lot'' of property damage to ancient temples/exotic locales, not just their CityOfAdventure.
* ''{{Bonekickers}}''
* Professor George Edward Challenger from ''[=~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World~=]''.
* Charlotte from ''{{Lost}}'' may fit. She's been identified as an anthropologist rather than an archaeologist, but in her first scene, she was butting in on a dig to [[spoiler:unearth a Dharma polar bear in Tunisia]] and the show runners even addressed the archaeologist/anthropologist/Indiana Jones issue in a podcast. She also appears to be something of an ActionGirl.
* ''DoctorWho'': Professor River Song in ''Silence in the Library''.
-->'''The Doctor:''' I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archeologists.
* Though an anthropologist rather than an archaeologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan of {{Bones}} appears to harbor the occasional delusion of Lara Croft-hood. The series has established that she's an accomplished martial artist, markswoman and survival expert:
-->'''Caroline:''' Fine. Stop me when I get something wrong. Trained in three types of martial arts, two assault charges, registered marksman with the NRA, hunting licenses in four states...
-->'''Booth:''' You ''hunt?''
-->'''Brennan:''' Only for food.
-->'''Caroline:''' Shot an unarmed man...
-->'''Brennan:''' He was trying to light me on fire!
** The pilot episode hangs a few more lampshades on this, as the first five minutes show her returning from some South American jungle with a carry-on full of skulls, for which she neglected to obtain the proper importation permits, and then [[spoiler:executing vigilante justice on Cleo Eller's murderer when it looks like the man will escape prosecution]].
*** To be fair, as she said in the above quote, he ''was'' trying to light her on fire.
* In the ''[[CSINewYork CSI:NY]]'' episode "The Cost of Living", one of these breaks into a disused part of the NewYorkSubway and retrieves an item, in a large-scale homage to ''IndianaJones'' that probably left many viewers wondering what they were watching... Then the team find his corpse:
-->'''Stella:''' Seems James [Sutton] fashioned himself a real Indiana Jones.
-->'''Mac:''' [[GrissomOneLiner Until someone made this his last crusade]].
*** '''''[[CSIMiami YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!]]'''''
* On ''{{Friends}}'' a department store saleswoman flirts with Ross, using the absurd equation "paleontologist+works out=Indiana Jones." Talk about laying it on with a trowel. Ross is pleased, however.
* ''YoungIndianaJones'' has, strangely, an aversion. The show was created to be educational. The DVD sets include educational documentaries about people and events in the show... and the first one has a [[HypocrisyNod documentary about what real-life archeology is like]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Manga & Anime]]
* Seta from ''LoveHina''; he takes on Keitaro as an assistant for a summer job.
* Midori Sugiura's university professor and Most Important Person in ''{{Mai-HiME}}''; we only see him in the end, having a stereotypical AdventurerArchaeologist adventure with Midori.
* Prior to the start of ''TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' this was [[spoiler:clone]] Syaoran's profession, giving him the seeds of skills needed for his task. (Being trained on the side by an [[TheHunter obsessed Vampire Hunter]] helps too).
* Yuuno Scrya from MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha. [[ImprobableAge At age 10]]. With [[ParentalAbandonment no parental supervision]]. On top of this, he's a high-class mage. He's more self-effacing than the usual example of this trope, and has some trouble with self-esteem and romance. However, though he fulfills this archetype before and sort-of during the first season, in the second season, he's introduced to the magically huge and horrendously disorganized Infinity Library. It holds just about any answer you might need... IF you can find it. He enters and [[DemotedToExtra practically never leaves again]].
* Bakura Ryou's father is an archaeologist in the anime and the owner of the Domino museum in the ''{{Yugioh}}'' manga. Supposedly he bought the Millenium Ring on the streets of Cairo. He bought an ancient kick ass 24k gold artifact at a bazaar? Fat chance. Together with a Yugioh card no less.
* Nico Robin of ''OnePiece'' is an ex-{{Dragon}} archaeologist assassin pirate.
** Robin's mother, Nico Olvia, and a group of her fellow scholars set out on the seas of the ''OnePiece'' world to locate clues to a blank spot in history known as the Void Century.
* Explorer Woman Ray, title character of the anime of the same name. A late 1980s attempt by the anime industry to cash in on the popularity of IndianaJones and the GirlsWithGuns genre (EWR's theme music even sounds eerily similar to John William's Indiana Jones theme). Unfortunately the end result was pretty lacking.
* Ruby Crecent from 666Satan (AKA O-Parts Hunter) is a young archeologist who meets the main character when looking for her father.
* Two of AxisPowersHetalia's Alfred/America's hobbies are adventuring and archeology.
* In MahouSenseiNegima, the members of [[AcademyOfAdventure Mahora's]] Library Club are all Adventure Archaeologists in training. Said [[TheLibraryOfBabel library]] is filled with booby traps, cliffs, waterfall, and magical items. Students are actually banned from going to the lower levels because of the danger.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* The one, the only, Beckett of Clan Gangrel in ''[[WorldOfDarkness Vampire: the Masquerade]]''. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1677764/20/Gehenna_The_Musical Hot like Croft and cool like Jones]], baby.
** ''Mage: the Awakening'' also has "archeomancers", a faction of the Mysterium (collectors of magical lore) who search old ruins for artefacts.
** ''Hunter: the Vigil'' has two such groups: the Loyalists of Thule, who track down arcane secrets to defend humanity from occult dangers and [[StupidJetpackHitler make up for that whole Hitler thing]], and the Aegis Kai Doru, who collect magical artifacts and use them in their fight against threats to humanity.
* It is also possible to pull off an Adventurer Archaeologist character in the {{Eberron}} setting for DungeonsAndDragons. Indeed, the ''Forge of War'' book indicates that it's possible to run a war campaign in which one is attempting to locate ancient artifacts to deny them to enemy forces, "[[IndianaJones like a certain whip-wielding, fedora-wearing archaeologist.]]"
* ''{{7th Sea}}'' has the Explorer's Society, a continent-spanning organization of Adventurer Archaeologists. And their rivals.
* ''{{Feng Shui}}'''s Seal of the Wheel supplement has the Two-Fisted Archeologist, which is a direct homage to Indiana Jones, with a unique schtick that allows them to defy death, showing up ten sequences later all banged up and with a crazy story to tell about how they survived. Most of them work for the Ascended, but some of them go independent or join the Dragons. There's also several fan archetypes lurking about the net.
* One of the character classes in ''{{Rifts}}, Rogue Scholar is this, the picture of the character template even looks like Indy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* Lara Croft from the ''TombRaider'' games and movies.
* Garrett of ''{{Thief}}'' is at least honest in that he freely admits to being a looter. He winds up otherwise fulfilling the role anyway, though, as he usually manages to grab at least one MacGuffin without meaning to.
** Though one treasure in a lost city setting in ''{{Thief}} 2'' triggers him to ponder aloud that "Archaeologist sounds much more dignified than Thief".
* Professor Lemeza from the home-brewed ''LaMulana''. Has the advantage of being trained by his {{ninja}} grandfather; because "ninja infiltration techniques aid in investigating ancient ruins."
* Averted in MassEffect. Dr. Liara T'Soni is utterly clueless when confronted with anything that isn't a Prothean ruin, and remarks at one point that her expeditions usually entail far more study time and [[LampshadeHanging far fewer explosions.]]
* Lorelei, Zweig, and Killey in the {{Suikoden}} series are all {{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s, with Lorelei even wielding a [[{{Homage}} whip]] in one game.
* Ernest from ''[=~Star Ocean: The Second Story~=]'' was pretty much Indiana Jones with three eyes.
* The player character in ''Spelunky'', an Indiana Jones lookalike.
* Brann Bronzebeard and Harrison Jones among others in {{Warcraft}} series.
* Dr. Edwin Linsey in the sixth chapter of ''EternalDarkness''.
* The titular Henry Hatsworth, from ''HenryHatsworthInThePuzzlingAdventure''.
* Arguably Professor Layton, from ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage''. He is indeed an archaeologist, and he does have adventures, but these are more by accident than by design.
* The {{Mooks}} in the Flash game GuardianRock also qualify, though they have antagonizing roles.
* ''EndlessFrotnier'' begins with the hero and his RobotGirl sidekick getting permission to explore a crashed spaceship... that they were recovered from when he was a baby.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* In ''SluggyFreelance'', Riff's father appears to be one of these, as well as the LaraCroft parody ''Lara Craft Macaroni & Cheese''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* The fictional version of Jackie Chan from ''JackieChanAdventures''.
** This trope is parodied, however, when he comes to his niece's career day and gives an accurate explanation of what archeology is like in real life.
* On ''KimPossible'', this is the career of Lord Monty Fiske, until he reveals himself as Lord Monkey Fist (in his first appearance).
* In an episode of ''{{Ben 10}}'', Grandpa Max stepped into this role, with Ben and Gwen along for the ride, to keep an ancient superweapon from falling into the hands of the Forever Knights. All three are pretty glad when it's over.
* ''TaleSpin'' features three different AdventurerArchaeologist guest star characters, one of whom is an IndianaJones parody.
* Dr. Crockery from the ''ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'' episode "Throw Mummy from the Train".
* In ''BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', RedTornado, in his secret identity as an archaeology professor, tells his students that archaeology is not about adventuring but rather long hours of boring research. [[HypocriticalHumor Then he saves Christmas alongside Batman.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* Lieutenant Rhine Arcken from ''OpenBlue'' is a [[EnsignNewbie naval officer]] by profession, but only because it was the best way to get government funding for her archaeological expeditions. It doesn't help that she's being used as a XanatosSucker by her employers, the shadowy [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Office of Naval Intelligence]], to collect [[ArtifactOfDoom artifacts]] left by the {{precursors}} to be used as [[WeaponOfMassDestruction WMDs]] by [[TheEmpire Avelion]].
** Her mentor Dr. Halsey is a WarriorMonk with a [=PhD=] in archaeology. Or an archaeological professor with a background as a ChurchMilitant. It's really difficult to tell which.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* T E Lawrence, a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia, was an archaeologist who was sent to Arabia by the British government specifically because of his academic knowledge of the area. So, being an archaeologist really can lead to exciting adventures!
* The statement about archeologists out for personal glory and museum loot rather than knowledge is also true for old-time paleontologists. Indiana Jones was based on the adventure paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, and the famous "Bone War" between the Americans Marsh and Cope, which resulted in the discovery of many of the dinosaurs that are considered iconic today, also involved shoddy science, theft and outright destruction (dynamiting a quarry at the end of the season to destroy what was left to prevent the other guy from coming in and going through it). Don't forget the brawls and murder, too.
* However many college professors who focus on the Middle East occasionally get into slightly more perilous situations than the average archaeologist. My professor has explained to us the importance of bribes, and how he refuses to travel to the Middle East without them. He's also been the guest of radical military elements, as well as bluffing his way past guard posts and police officers who could have arrested him, as well as telling us of a grad student who was caught stealing from an excavation, and given 24 hours to leave the country or they'd be imprisoned indefinitely.
* Heinrich Schliemann may be the ur-example of this; in thieving, digging, and bombing his way to and through the ruins of Troy and Mycenae, Schliemann essentially invented modern archaeology by negation when observers compiled a list of his activities that archaeologists ''should never repeat''.
* Frederick Albert “Mike” Mitchell-Hedges could be considered this later on in his life (having started as a upper class delinquent who made several nice discoveries).
*My cultural anthropology prof once stowed away in the luggage compartment of a Mexican bus in order to get where she was going. The bus had bullet holes in it from being shot at by Zapatistas.
* Sylvanus Morley was, by all accounts, an excellent archeologist whose excavations of Mayan ruins in Mexico were highly influential. They also made a good cover for his spying for the American government during WorldWarOne.
[[/folder]]

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