Archeology in Film

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the Hollywood image of the archaeologist and the discipline of anthropology. The paper defines archaeology and the role of anthropologists. The paper describes how the movie "Indiana Jones" makes archaeology look dangerous, exciting and extremely profitable while the realities of the discipline are totally different. The paper illustrates how Hollywood alters fact into fantasy to create its own version of anthropology and asserts that the character of Indiana Jones is not representative of the average archaeologist.

From the Paper:

"Indiana Jones makes archaeology look dangerous, exciting, and extremely profitable. The realities of the discipline are far different, as most professional archaeologists know. While Jones always finds the treasure, gets the girl, and escapes from the enemy, the real world of archaeology involves patience, long, tedious hours of digging and recovery, and more hours cataloging and indexing, often with few monetary rewards. However, discovering missing items from the past is enough reward for many anthropologists. Unlike Indiana Jones, their greatest rewards come from finding links to tie together ancient lives, rather than treasure for display in the world's museums."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Editors. "The Truth Behind the Legend." IndianaJones.com. 2003. 27 Nov. 2006.<http://www.indianajones.com/raiders/dvd/news/news20031007.html>
• Effland, Richard. "Indiana Jones Meets Reality." Mesa Community College. 2004. 27 Nov. 2006.<http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/archy/exploration/index.html>
• Johnson, Matthew H. Archaeological Theory: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Limited, 1999.
• Powdermaker, Hortense. Hollywood, the Dream Factory: An Anthropologist Looks at the Movie-Makers. 1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1950.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Harrison Ford, Karen Allen. Paramount, 1981.

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