Archaeology as a treasure hunter and adventurer: the Indiana Jones films shaped the image of the discipline worldwide. But what is myth and what is reality? What content and challenges await archaeology students? And what skills should they have? […]

The archaeologist as treasure hunter and adventurer: the Indiana Jones films shaped the image of the discipline worldwide. But what is myth and what is reality? What content and challenges await archaeology students? And what skills should they have?

She had imagined archaeologists to be “funny little men who are not of this world”. All the more surprising for Indiana Jones’ movie partner when the archaeology professor played by Harrison Ford proves to be a daredevil action hero. “Indy” swings rapidly through every jungle course, escapes treacherous traps, unravels cryptic signs, explores secret chambers and passages and tracks down the most unlikely treasures along the way. His thrillingly brash explorer’s life was a huge hit at the international box office.

In real life, Hiram Bingham is said to have been the inspiration for the film character. The American archaeologist discovered the ruined city of Machu Picchu and other Inca ruins in Peru in 1911. Alongside Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy, and the Briton Howard Carter, who found the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings in 1922, Bingham is one of the pioneers of antiquity research who are still associated with the image of treasure hunters and adventurers today.

The success of the Indiana Jones films brought a lot of attention to the profession of archaeologist. Since the first episode hit the big screen in 1981, enrolments in archaeology have increased worldwide. In West Germany alone, the figure was around 85 percent in the ten-year period during which the original trilogy was shown. While there were just under 1,300 archaeology students in the winter semester of 1980/81, the number had already risen to over 2,400 by 1989/90, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office.

However, the aims and methods of archaeology have changed fundamentally since the expeditions of Bingham and Carter. Although today’s archaeologists are still searching for relics of the past – sometimes in remote corners of the world – they use modern technologies such as drones and AI. They do not fight with hostile powers, but enter into international collaborations. What’s more, the focus is not on trophy hunting, but on scientific exploration and the preservation of humanity’s historical heritage.

According to the script, Indiana Jones was also initially convinced that archaeology is about science and not treasure hunting. He told his students: “Archaeology is the search for facts. Not the truth. If you’re interested in the truth, Dr. Tyrie’s philosophy class is at the end of the aisle. So forget these stories of hidden cities. We don’t follow old maps, we don’t discover missing treasures, and no X has ever marked a significant point anywhere.” Of course, it is precisely these stories that the film then lives out in a pleasurable and entertaining way.

Archaeology is exciting and diverse even without comic book action. Today, there are 52 Bachelor’s degree courses in archaeology in Germany, three in Austria and three in Switzerland. The archaeology courses have different focuses in terms of regions, eras or cultures. Special subjects include the Ancient Orient or Roman Antiquity. Students are first introduced to the theory and methodology of archaeology. This includes aerial archaeology or geophysical prospection, which can be used to visualize structures hidden in the ground. Specialized archaeology focuses on the cultural and social history of an area as well as the representation of the main and most important secondary languages.

Later, students learn scientific methods such as experimental archaeology, archaeometry, bioarchaeology and geoarchaeology. “What used to be documented with a pencil on graph paper is now done using electronic surveying systems, whose software you have to master as well as the evaluation of the data and the 3D visualization of the precious finds,” says Karin Fischer Ausserer, Head of Vienna City Archaeology, describing the development. In addition to the theory, students learn the craft of scientific excavation technology – usually as interns “in the field”.

The university course in conservation and restoration also enables students to specialize in archaeological cultural assets. In 1989, the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (ABK) introduced the diploma course “Restoration of archaeological, arts and crafts and ethnological objects”. This was followed by courses in Erfurt, Berlin and Munich. Together with the restoration workshops of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz offered the dual BA course in “Archaeological Restoration” in 2007. In addition, the CICS – Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences – offers the course “Restoration and Conservation of Textiles and Archaeological Fibers”.

The tasks of restorers of archaeological cultural heritage consist of documenting, recovering, conserving, restoring and storing ground and underwater finds. During excavations, they work with excavation technicians to stabilize the finds before they are recovered. This initial treatment is important because archaeological objects stored in the ground are usually relatively poorly preserved.

Some conservators specialize in wet wood conservation or archaeological textiles. As they often find a mass of finds, precise finds management is essential. Documentation plays an important role in this context. Otherwise, all unrecorded aspects of the site would be lost once the excavation is complete, as every excavation always represents a planned destruction of cultural property. The conservators therefore record all the information contained in the archaeological object and the surrounding soil by means of drawings or photographs. In addition to microscopy, they X-ray the objects or use other imaging techniques such as 3D and neutron computed tomography or laser scanning.

Graduates of the Archaeology or Conservation and Restoration degree programs work primarily in archaeological research, but also in museums, archives and libraries. A large area of employment also lies in the preservation of monuments and archaeological sites. Private excavation companies are also looking for archaeology experts, as are prospecting companies whose aim is to explore and record archaeological sites in a particular area in a non-destructive manner. “There are also curious careers that ultimately have nothing to do with archaeology, but which can make good use of the skills of the ‘specialist for everything anyway’,” reports Karin Fischer Ausserer, for whom the archaeologist is a “universal genius”: “Because anyone working on an excavation should have just as much knowledge of materials science as they do of geology, zoology and anthropology.”

Graduates of the Archaeology or Conservation and Restoration degree programs work primarily in archaeological research, but also in museums, archives and libraries. A large area of employment also lies in the preservation of monuments and archaeological sites. Private excavation companies are also looking for archaeology experts, as are prospecting companies whose aim is to explore and record archaeological sites in a particular area in a non-destructive manner. “There are also curious careers that ultimately have nothing to do with archaeology, but which can make good use of the skills of the ‘specialist for everything anyway’,” reports Karin Fischer Ausserer, for whom the archaeologist is a “universal genius”: “Because anyone working on an excavation should have just as much knowledge of materials science as they do of geology, zoology and anthropology.”

For Konstantin Kárpáty, as for many of his fellow students, the Indiana Jones films were indeed a decisive factor in his decision to study, as he reports in an interview with the Berliner Morgenpost. “However, many students also stop in the first two weeks because they realize: Oh, Indiana Jones is really just a science fiction hero and doesn’t have much to do with reality.” Kárpáty himself, however, has not lost his enthusiasm for the subject even after the “reality check”. He completed his doctorate in early history at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and works as an excavator and excavation manager for private and public archaeological excavations. On the social media channel “Excavation Time” and in the podcast “Ausgegraben” he regularly provides information about news from the specialist world.

In the lectures and seminars at LMU, Indiana Jones was definitely a topic – but as a negative example. “It’s always just about this one find,” says Kárpáty, explaining the plot of the Indiana Jones films. The historical context around it – a grave or settlement, for example – is destroyed. The context, however, is essential for evaluating the significance of a find.

But the archaeologist has more than just criticism of the Indiana Jones character. The saying “This belongs in a museum” is a core statement of archaeology, because “monument preservation primarily means not excavating in the first place.” But the clock is ticking on all archaeological finds and there is a risk that they will decay. Kárpáty is convinced: “It doesn’t belong locked away in some depot, but in a museum.”

Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and a trained archaeologist, dispels the myth that archaeologists discover treasures every day. “You lose this image after the first lecture at university at the latest,” he wrote in Die Welt in June 2021. Archaeology is “hard work, not an adventure”. Instead of chasing after gold and mummies, he mostly rummaged through the garbage dumps of past millennia. With exceptions: “I myself had the fabulous luck of discovering oriental temples (1982 as a student in Bogazköy-Hattusa in Anatolia), gold treasures (2001 in Tuva) and mummies (2006 in the Mongolian Altai), but it was chance or luck, because the archaeologist always finds something different from what he expects.” According to Parzinger, however, nobody chases after a crystal skull like Indiana Jones with his shirt always well ironed.

Thomas Lucker can certainly understand the euphoria that the Indiana Jones films have created for the profession of archaeologist. Together with Jan Hamann, Lucker is the owner of the Berlin studio “Restaurierung am Oberbaum GmbH (RAO)”: “Ever since the Indiana Jones character came along, people have thought that working on archaeological excavations in exotic countries would be a great adventure – and they’re right. It’s just great!”

Lucker discovered an almost forgotten advanced civilization during an excavation project in Naga in 2000. The city in present-day Sudan was once the center of the ancient kingdom of Kush. Lucker and Hamann were commissioned to develop and implement a concept for the conservation and restoration of the architecture and artifacts.

Overwhelmed by the unique state of preservation of the ruins, Lucker is still in raptures today: “The temples stood there in the red desert sand as they did two thousand years ago and were no mirage.” However, the challenges of excavating are different to those in the Indiana Jones film: “In reality, you don’t have to fight Nazi villains and religious fanatics so much as visa problems, difficult material procurement and tricky digestion.” However, all the bugs, spiders, snakes and scorpions really do exist. Lucker is grateful for the experience he had in Naga, but is also very concerned about the current situation in Sudan. The fact that all excavations have been halted due to the bloody power struggle almost seems like a minor matter in view of the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis at the moment.

Read more: Monument preservation and restoration are undergoing technological change.