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"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."
If adventure has a name, it has to be Indiana Jones"
"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 Real Life, 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 the ruins of ancient and powerful civilizations littered under the surface, archeology is a career that brings one constantly face to face with Lost Technology, imprisoned evils, and MacGuffins. Lots of MacGuffins. 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 Holy Grail.
Adventurer Archaeologists 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 Adventurer Archaeologist 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 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 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it's noted that the title character has been called a "grave robber." However, to an Adventurer Archaeologist, it's okay as long as it goes into a museum. To keep the audience rooting for the Adventurer Archaeologist, he or she is often pitted against an Evil Counterpart who wants the same treasure for themselves, or to give it to the bad guys/sell to the highest bidder, use it to Take Over The World, 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 Trophy Room 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 Older Than Radio, 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 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.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- The Diggers sisters in Fred Perry's Gold Digger.
- This was the Secret Identity of the Golden Age Hawkman, who has returned as the current Hawkman.
- Archaeology is second only to research scientist on the list of "most origin-prone professions".
- The DCU's Golden Age Blue Beetle 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 The Warlord is an archaeologist who becomes a sword-swinging heroine upon her transport to the Lost World of Skartaris.
- Arizona Goof from the Disney comics is a spoof of this trope.
- The Juggernaut from XMen.
Film
- If Indiana Jones did not invent the trope, he at least popularized it.
- The O'Connell Family from 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 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 Mac Guffin, the Scorpion, works because he "is probably the only one among us who can't translate it."
Literature
- Professor Bernice Summerfield, in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe.
- Mortal Engines has two of these: the cowardly, Ted Baxter-esque Nimrod Pennyroyal is more of a subversion, while the driven, hard-edged Thaddeus Valentine plays it deadly straight.
- Amelia Peabody 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 The Lost World 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 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.
- Hand Of Mercy 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 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 Big Bad who's the archaeologist. The protagonists are an action-adventure novelist, and his girlfriend who writes books on UFO's, Atlantis and the occult.
- In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, a sci-fi novel by S.M. Stirling set on John Carter Of Mars-type world made plausible with Bio Punk 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.
Live Action TV
- In the show Relic Hunter, 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 Star Trek The Next Generation stories, Captain Picard gets to air out his Adventurer Archaeologist side.
- Vash
in Star Trek The Next Generation. 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 knowing and ironic retreads of this territory, or maybe simply bad retreads.
- In Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, 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 Big Damn Heroes and Adventurer Archaeologist tends to result in a lot of property damage to ancient temples/exotic locales, not just their City Of Adventure.
- 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 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 Action Girl.
- Doctor Who: 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 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 CSI:NY episode "The Cost of Living", one of these breaks into a disused part of the New York Subway and retrieves an item, in a large-scale homage to Indiana Jones 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.
- 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.
- Young Indiana Jones 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 documentary about what real-life archeology is like.
Manga & Anime
- Seta from Love Hina; 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 Adventurer Archaeologist adventure with Midori.
- Prior to the start of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle this was clone Syaoran's profession, giving him the seeds of skills needed for his task. (Being trained on the side by an obsessed Vampire Hunter helps too).
- Yuuno Scrya from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. At age 10. With 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 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 One Piece 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 One Piece 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 Indiana Jones and the Girls With Guns 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 Axis Powers Hetalia's Alfred/America's hobbies are adventuring and archeology.
- In Mahou Sensei Negima, the members of Mahora's Library Club are all Adventure Archaeologists in training. Said 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.
Tabletop Games
- The one, the only, Beckett of Clan Gangrel in Vampire: the Masquerade. 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 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 Dungeons And Dragons. 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, "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.
Video Games
- Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider 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 Mac Guffin 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 La Mulana. Has the advantage of being trained by his ninja grandfather; because "ninja infiltration techniques aid in investigating ancient ruins."
- Averted in Mass Effect. 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 far fewer explosions.
- Lorelei, Zweig, and Killey in the Suikoden series are all Adventurer Archaeologists, with Lorelei even wielding a 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 Eternal Darkness.
- The titular Henry Hatsworth, from Henry Hatsworth In The Puzzling Adventure.
- Arguably Professor Layton, from Professor Layton And The Curious Village. 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 Guardian Rock also qualify, though they have antagonizing roles.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- The fictional version of Jackie Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures.
- 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 Kim Possible, 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.
- Tale Spin features three different Adventurer Archaeologist guest star characters, one of whom is an Indiana Jones parody.
- Dr. Crockery from the Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers episode "Throw Mummy from the Train".
- In Batman The Brave And The Bold, Red Tornado, in his secret identity as an archaeology professor, tells his students that archaeology is not about adventuring but rather long hours of boring research. Then he saves Christmas alongside Batman.
Web Original
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 World War One.
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