Archaeologist or Treasure Hunter?

     At the time of the birth of archaeology, archaeologists weren't actually archaeologists yet. Try saying that three times fast! They were actually antiquarians, people who were just really interested in old stuff from the past. They usually would find it in ruined cities, villages, or tribal sites clean it up and display it somewhere in their home. They wouldn't know much about what it was, what it's use was, who owned it or how it came to be where they found it. It just looked really pretty.

Ooooo, pretty! Yes, but is it art?

http://mobysnewt.com/Item_Morgan_Bronze.html

 

     The first moments of archaeology happened synchonistically around the 10th century in both the Middle East and Egypt and also in China. In Egypt, Muslim historians were beginning to take interest in Egyptian hieroglyphics and art, as in China "modern" Chinese gentry began to show an interest in ancient Chinese artworks. The interest, like mentioned above, was purely in the aesthetic value of the works taken and displayed. This phenomena was seen again during Renaissance Europe when Roman scholars Flavio Blondo and Ciriaco de Pizzicolli attempted to map the topography of Italy.The first ever real excavation took place in the ruined city of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 18th century.

 

Indiana Jones the Treasure Hunter

     Indiana Jones is a perfect way of visualizing the crosses and distinct differences between archaeology and treasure hunting. By day he is a British professor of archaeology, he teaches his students all they need to know about archaeology, the occult and Egyptology. He studies ancient tomes that are in museums and discusses cultural impact on cultures both long dead and presently existing. He could be considered the first Ethnoarchaeologist. However his methods for obtaining new items for the university and the museum are where he sheds the guise of archaeologist and becomes a treasure hunter.





Professor Jones the Archaeologist

     By going into these countries, without permission from the ruling state and walking into the "site" without given consent from the descendants of the people who built it he is breaking several important laws that fall under the protection of archaeological sites. However, one might say that in the time period of the films those laws weren't in place, especially in the areas he travels to and you would be right. However, since the mid 1800s many archaeologists have talked of the moral code that they are responsible for upholding preventing them from removing objects of heritage from their physical present day owners.



     Today most countries have some form of legal document preventing archaeologists from working for the highest bidder. They have a right to unearth, clean, study, document and respond on items found in an archaeological site. They then have a greater responsibility to give these items, or at times human remains back to the present day owner of them. In America, we have UNESCO and NAGPRA laws which account for the ownership of most of the Native American and Prehistoric American resources found.
     So those of you who are interested in becoming archaeologists because you think you might snatch the crystal skull and sell it for a few billion dollars... stop watching movies! Just kidding, Indiana Jones was definitely in my mind when I first started studying anthropology. Although I have yet to crack a whip or have a poison dart shot at me, it has definitely been a world wide adventure in cultural thought.

Have a thought or a question? Ask me!



 

Suggested Further Reading:

A history of archaeological thought by Bruce Trigger

Call number: CC100.T75 2006 

Can You Dig it? An article presented in The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/1056932

 

*Indiana Jones pictures taken from Hollywood.com accessed 3/25/2013

 

An additional note on the further reading. Bruce Trigger is one of my heroes in the archaeological world. He was at times an anthropologist but is mostly credited for archaeology. Although he did do a great deal of digging in his life his passion was definitely teaching and theory. His book listed above is one of the most comprehensive histories of archaeology from it's period in antiquarianism to it's multi-faceted present.

 

Enjoy!