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{{trope}}
[[File:Indy_vs_real_4122Indy vs real 4122.jpg|link=Cracked.com|right| Yeah, but who would you rather ''[http://www.cracked.com/funny-138-archaeology/ be]''?]]
 
 
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In [[Real Life]], archeology is ''not'' the most fast paced of careers. It can involve a lot of research, dirt, and going over small details like diet and theorizing on them. A real archaeologist can make his career by the meticulous analysis of the contents of a garbage dump and indeed, they (well, a few) would ''prefer'' to find the dump rather than a king's tomb, since the dump can tell them far more about the way ordinary people lived, with far fewer legal and ethical ramifications. Additionally, a dump will have items of low or underestimated value, reducing the allure for tomb robbers who might have broken into tombs and ruined the information.
 
Not so in fiction-land. Since most of the world has [[End of an Age|the ruins of ancient and powerful civilizations]] littered under the surface, archeology is a career that brings one constantly face to face with [[Lost Technology]], [[Sealed Evil in a Can|imprisoned evils]], and [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s. Lots of [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s. If it takes place on Earth and the writers don't make one up, it'll usually be something like an Egyptian tomb (expect a [[Mummy]] to haunt our hero) or the [[Public Domain Artifact|Holy Grail]].
 
In fiction, it then becomes perfectly reasonable to use any means to acquire said [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s, no matter how destructive. Who cares if you have to destroy ancient machinery that could well be thousands of years old and still works? There's a gold monkey at the end! ''And'' you get to wear a dashing [[Adventurer Outfit]]!
 
[[Adventurer Archaeologist|'''Adventurer Archaeologists]]''' are capable of dressing up very well for more intellectual appearances, but forays into studying usually occur off-screen, and it's never implied to take very long. (Compare [[Badass Bookworm]].)
 
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 archeology is a profession less than two centuries old. Antiquarians, historians, and intellectual grave robbers were a staple of 19th Century gothic 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 -- letresearch—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.
 
Often the main character in a [[Jungle Opera]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* Seta from ''[[Love Hina]]''; he takes on Keitaro as an assistant for a summer job.
* Midori Sugiura's university professor and Most Important Person in ''[[Mai-HiME]]''; we only see him in the end, having a stereotypical [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] adventure with Midori.
* Prior to the start of ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' this was {{spoiler|clone}} Syaoran's profession, giving him the seeds of skills needed for his task. (Being trained on the side by an [[The Hunter|obsessed Vampire Hunter]] helps too).
* 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 you can find it. He enters and [[Demoted to Extra|practically never leaves again]].
* Bakura Ryou's father is an archaeologist in the anime and the owner of the Domino museum in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' manga. Supposedly he bought the Millennium Ring on the streets of Cairo. Also, Solomon Muto--heMuto—he found the Millennium Puzzle in a pharaoh's tomb filled with all sorts of traps.
* Hunter Steele from ''[[Spider Riders]]'' may be one. Before he found the way to the Inner World, he had several archaeological tools with him. Also his grandfather may have been one because he found it first. Actually {{spoiler|Mantid was first, arriving sometime during the 19th century, which means he may have also been an archaeologist.}}
* Nico Robin of ''[[One Piece]]'' is an [[Heel Face Turn|ex-]][[The Dragon|Dragon]] [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|archaeologist assassin pirate]].
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* Boom! Studio's ''[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=3237&disp=table Hunter's Fortune]'' is proudly a poor man's Indiana Jones.
* Armando Catalano, the central character of ''[[Le Scorpion]]'', is an adventurer ''tomb robber'' as the comic is set in the 18th century and the science of archaeology doesn't exist yet.
* Savant from ''[[Wild CATS]]'' is an immortal alien [[Adventurer Archaeologist]].
* Oklahoma Smith from the ''[[Cherry Comics]]'' parody "Oklahoma Smith and the Lost Temple of Doomed Raiders".
 
 
== Film ==
* If [[Indiana Jones]] re-popularized it in recent years, given the movies are [[George Lucas Throwback|George Lucas Throwbacks]]s.
** This is probably why [http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/10/10bryan.html he was denied tenure].
** Although what we see is only a very small portion of what he actually does and certain supplemental materials make it clear that he does spend a lot of time teaching, as well as identifying and cataloging artifacts for museums as well as the college he works for.
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* Benjamin Gates (played by Nicholas Cage) from Disney's ''[[National Treasure]]'' franchise is a historian and amateur cryptologist who does all that work to be prepared to find the treasure and he only keeps looking for it so as to protect it.
* Most of the main characters in the original ''[[The Adventures of Captain Marvel]]'' movie serial from 1941. Interestingly, the main exception to this is Billy Batson himself, who is chosen by the wizard Shazam to become Captain Marvel because he's the only person on the expedition except the native guide Tal Chotali who suggests maybe smashing one's way through tombs and grabbing whatever is in there isn't such a good idea. Later, Batson is entrusted with the scroll which explains how the serial's [[MacGuffin]], the Scorpion, works because he "is probably the only one among us who can't translate it."
* Leslie Howard's ''[[Pimpernel Smith]]'', a 1941 take on ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (film)|The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'', is not only an [[Adventurer Archaeologist]], but a ''Nazi-fighting'' [[Adventurer Archaeologist]].
* Darius Biederbeck, played by Robert Quarry, in ''[[The Abominable Dr. Phibes|Dr Phibes Rises Again]]''.
* ''[[Two Brothers]]'' has a something of a subversion of the trope. McRory dynamites apart old temple ruins to sell statues to the highest bidder.
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* In the show ''[[Relic Hunter]]'', Sydney Fox (played by Tia Carerre).
* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Daniel Jackson is a "purer" example in flashbacks, but modifies the way he works once he joins the SG team.
* In a few ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' stories, Captain Picard gets to air out his [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] side.
* [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Vash Vash] in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. Love interest of Jean-Luc Picard, partner of Q.
* ''[[The Librarian]]: Quest for the Spear'' and ''The Librarian 2: Return to King Solomon's Mines'' (both starring Noah Wyle) are [[Deconstructor Fleet|knowing and ironic retreads]] of this territory, or maybe simply ''bad'' retreads.
* In ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'', the mentor of the team/father of the Red Ranger is one of these. Consequently, the Rangers themselves spend the bulk of the season generally following in his footsteps. This unique combination of [[Big Damn Heroes]] and [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] tends to result in a ''lot'' of property damage to ancient temples/exotic locales, not just their [[City of Adventure]].
** And, well, sometimes ''[[Go Go Sentai Boukenger]]'' delve into this territory too.
* ''[[Bonekickers]]''
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* On ''[[Friends]]'' a department store saleswoman flirts with Ross, using the absurd equation "paleontologist+works out=Indiana Jones." Talk about laying it on with a trowel. Ross is pleased, however.
* ''[[Young Indiana Jones]]'' has, strangely, an aversion. The show was created to be educational. The DVD sets include educational documentaries about people and events in the show... and the first one has a [[Hypocrisy Nod|documentary about what real-life archeology is like]].
* In ''[[The Sentinel (TV series)|The Sentinel]]'', Blair Sandburg is an anthropologist but has serious [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] moments such as taking out a bad guy with a vending machine and jumping out of an airplane into the South American jungle with Jim to rescue Simon & Daryl Banks. Not bad for a neo-hippie witch doctor punk.
* Examples of this trope IN SPACE are apparently common in the Verse of ''[[Babylon 5]]'', among them Sheridan's wife, who disappeared on an archeological expedition.
* On ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'', Dick and Mary got invited on an archaeological dig. Dick showed up dressed like Indiana Jones and waving around a bullwhip. It turns out he's [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70EsCj7ho1o&t=3m41s the dig is actually realistic].
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** One of the uncharted worlds mentions the planet is occupied by a volus billionare who is obsessed with searching the planet's abandoned crypts for "lost beings of light" who hid away weapons to fight a "darkness from beyond the stars." It's implied the volus is insane (although Shepard and his crew would likely disagree), but he has his own army of mercenaries digging up the planet.
** Shepard can play Adventurer Archaeologist in both games, recovering ancient asari writings, turian clan insignia, Prothean artifacts and data disks from sites spanning the galaxy. You can even keep a Prothean relic in your cabin as an art piece.
* Lorelei, Zweig, and Killey in the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series are all [[Adventurer Archaeologist|Adventurer Archaeologists]], with Lorelei even wielding a [[Homage|whip]] in one game.
* Ernest from ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'' was pretty much Indiana Jones with three eyes.
* The player character in ''[[Spelunky]]'', an Indiana Jones lookalike.
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* On ''[[Kim Possible]]'', this is the career of Lord Monty Fiske, until he reveals himself as Lord Monkey Fist (in his first appearance).
* In an episode of ''[[Ben 10]]'', Grandpa Max stepped into this role, with Ben and Gwen along for the ride, to keep an ancient superweapon from falling into the hands of the Forever Knights. All three are pretty glad when it's over.
* ''[[Tale Spin]]'' features three different [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] guest star characters, one of whom is an [[Indiana Jones]] parody.
** Also, possibly Scrooge McDuck from ''[[DuckTales]]''.
* Dr. Crockery from the ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' episode "Throw Mummy from the Train".
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