Some People Have No Sense of Humor

Filed under:Good Grief,Movies — posted by Anwyn on May 13, 2008 @ 9:38 am

Real Archaeologists (TM) on Indiana Jones:

Indiana Jones managed to retrieve the trinket he was after in the opening moments of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He pretty much wrecked everything else in the ancient South American temple where the little gold idol had rested for millennia.

Though he preaches research and good science in the classroom, the world’s most famous archaeologist often is an acquisitive tomb raider in the field with a scorched-earth policy about what he leaves behind. While actual archaeologists like the guy and his movies, they wouldn’t necessarily want to work alongside him on a dig.

Indy’s bull-in-a-china-shop approach to archaeology will be on display again May 22 with “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” in which he’s sure to rain destruction down on more historic sites and priceless artifacts.

Silly me, I thought it was the giant boulder booby-trap, the Nazis, the heart-yanking, child-enslaving Kali cult, and the built-in earthquake in the Grail cave that did the damage.

Seriously, I can’t believe they got anybody to go on record for this article:

“It is rather adventurous in a way, because for the most part, you’re going to some exotic country and delving into their past. But it’s not an adventure with a whip and chasing bad guys and looking for treasure,” said Bryant Wood, an archaeologist with Associates for Biblical Research.

It’s … it’s … not?

I may cry.

H/t J.

6 comments »

  1. Public service announcement to air after Indiana Jones movies – “We hope you enjoyed the adventure of this archeologist. However, please understand that actual archeology is mostly boring egghead-type work. If that is what you are interested in, please consider a career in archeology. If melting the faces off Nazis is more your thing, please contact your local Marine Corps recruiting office.”

    Comment by Gib — May 13, 2008 @ 10:04 am

  2. I can believe it. Biblical archeaologists are the worst in their field, with very poor research methods, questionable conclusions and a love for the spotlight. Had real academics gotten their hands on the Dead Sea Scrolls, there would have been complete research and no “loss” of important documents (the ones that contadicted their conclusions).

    Comment by Garter Knight — May 13, 2008 @ 11:19 am

  3. Knight, there was a big boatload of other pros who put their $.02 into that article. I just took the first one, which happened to be the biblical guy.

    Comment by Anwyn — May 13, 2008 @ 2:01 pm

  4. Gib wins. :)

    Comment by Anwyn — May 13, 2008 @ 2:04 pm

  5. OK. But other pro’s opinions on Indiana Jones doesn’t water down the fact that biblical archaeologists are a bunch of shnooks.

    Comment by Garter Knight — May 13, 2008 @ 2:06 pm

  6. I’m certainly no expert on the subject but I assumed — especially from the first Indy movie — that archeology from time in which Indy is supposed to be living was done in a rather “winner take all” manner. The idea was to beat your fellow archaeologists (and maybe also the ones working for the Nazis) to the prize. My understanding is that it’s not done that way today (at least not by the “establishment”) but I thought that the “rules” of the time were a bit more loose than they are now.

    That and… it’s a MOOOOOVIE!

    “Just repeat to yourself, ‘it’s just a show, I should really just relax.’ On Mystery Theater 3000.”

    Comment by Allen — May 17, 2008 @ 3:48 pm

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