Adventurer Archaeologist: Difference between revisions

[[File:Indy vs real 4122.jpg|link=Cracked.com|rightframe| Yeah, but who would you rather ''[http://www.cracked.com/funny-138-archaeology/ be]''?]]

An '''Adventurer Archaeologist''' has an interesting morality. Ruins are rarely really "abandoned" as the descendants of the [[Precursors]], or their ghosts, or even their mystically preserved selves are [[Chased by Angry Natives|very upset]] when outsiders intrude, and especially when they take the focal points of their culture with them.

Most people call this "theft," and in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]],'' it's noted that the title character has been called a [[Grave Robbing|"grave robber"]] (although real archaeologists were once considered that). However, to an '''Adventurer Archaeologist''', it's okay as long as it [[It Belongs in a Museum|goes into a museum]]. To keep the audience rooting for the '''Adventurer Archaeologist''', he or she is often pitted against an [[Evil Counterpart]] who wants the same treasure for themselves to hoard in a private collection, or to give it to the bad guys/sell to the highest bidder, use it to [[Take Over the World]], etc.

This trope is [[Older Than Radio]], an accomplishment when considering that archeologyarchaeology is a profession less than two centuries old. Antiquarians, historians, and intellectual grave robbers were a staple of 19th Century gothicGothic horror and ghost stories. They appeared regularly in pulp adventure novels and film adventures dating back to the dawn of talking pictures, including [[The Mummy (film)|the Universal mummy movies]] and the Johnny Weismuller ''[[Tarzan]]'' films. A certain [[George Lucas]] and [[Steven Spielberg]] series made it big again in [[The Eighties]].

It should be noted, however, that this Trope and its origins do come from [[Truth in Television|Truth in... err.... Literature]]. Early archaeologists tended to be more concerned about their own glory and getting museum trinkets that looked good than actually discovering information about ancient cultures, or preserving knowledge for future research—let alone respecting or collaborating with the modern descendants of the people whose tombs and temples they excavated. Their methods were often horrible by modern scientific standards, as the examples below show, and they usually discarded artifacts that weren't glamorous or shiny, including some types that are considered quite scientifically valuable today. As a result, no one knows how much historical evidence will never be known to us through the carelessness of 19th and early 20th century archaeologists.

== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==

* Yuuno Scrya from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. [[Improbable Age|At age 10]]. With [[Parental Abandonment|no parental supervision]]. On top of this, he's a high-class mage. He's more self-effacing than the usual example of this trope, and has some trouble with self-esteem and romance. However, though he fulfills this archetype before and sort-of during the first season, in the second season, he's introduced to the magically huge and horrendously disorganized Infinity Library. It holds just about any answer you might need... IF''if'' you can find it. He enters and [[Demoted to Extra|practically never leaves again]].

* ''[[Master Keaton|]]'': Taichi Keaton]] is an archaeologist, though he seldom has much adventure pursuing it. His other profession as an insurance fraud investigator more than makes up for that.

* This was the [[Secret Identity]] of the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] [[Hawkman]], who has returned as the current{{when}} Hawkman.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

** [[Wikipedia:Historical European martial arts|Historical European martial arts]] or HEMA is about recreating lost martial technique from surviving historical manuals. Essentially archaeologists who whackswordfight eachother with replica (blunt) swords.

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