No Right Answer: Han Solo vs. Indiana Jones

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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Lyndraco said:
RJ 17 said:
You seem to be missing the key difference between a grave robber and an archaeologist. The Nazis were the grave robbers, they sought to plunder those ancient treasures for their own personal gain. Any time Indiana was after an artificat, it was so he culd put it in a museum...which is what archaeologists do. He never intended to sell them or keep them as personal trophies, anything he brought back with him was turned in to the proper authorities. Granted, the vast majority of archaeologists probably don't get chased by giant spherical boulders or run afoul with an ancient Indian cult or bust open the floor of a library to find an crusader's tomb (that one I actually will give you as being non-archaeologist-like behavoir...can't really go around bustig holes in people's floors), but all in all he's performing his actions for non-selfish reasons, so he's not a simple grave robber.
My rebuttal: archaeology is only partly about the artifacts, its more about where those artifacts came from. As an archaeologist myself, I could provide an entire lecture as to why Indy is not an archaeologist, but basically, putting artifacts into a museum does not make one an archaeologist. That said, if archaeology was really this exciting and badass, I would never have a problem getting funding!
Well that's where you get into Indy's background story as a college professor. He already put in his time with real archaeology which is why he is so very knowledgeable about ancient civilizations and artifacts. We just don't see him doing hours of research on a subject. With the exception of Holy Grail, Indy already knew everything about the artifacts he was after. When the government was worried about the Nazis getting the ark, they came to Indy due to his expertise on the matter. He had to get that knowledge from somewhere, my guess is from proper archaeological studying. When "Shiva" causes Indy to "fall from the sky" so that he might liberate the beleaguered Indian people, he already knew the legend of their sacred stones. Granted Indy's father was the one that knew everything about the Holy Grail, but Indy never claimed to be an expert on that subject.

The point is, I agree with you whole-heartedly: what is depicted in the movies is most specifically NOT real archaeology, however given Indy's wisdom in the matters of ancient civilizations and artifacts, it can be assumed that the character has put in his time doing proper research and study. All in all I was originally just trying to say that Indy isn't a grave robber, they steal for their own personal gain, Indy doesn't.