Archaeologist Breaks Down 10 Treasure Hunting Scenes In Movies | How Real Is It?

Archaeologist Breaks Down 10 Treasure Hunting Scenes In Movies | How Real Is It?

Archaeology has played a role in scores of iconic Hollywood films, from “The Mummy” to “Titanic.” But what’s a real-life archaeologist’s take on these movies? New York University archaeologist Mariana Castro reacts to 10 scenes featuring the most famous fictional archaeologists and treasure hunters, from Indiana Jones to Lara Croft, and rates them based on their realism.

Find out how realistic Indiana Jones’ adventures are in movies like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Watch Mariana dissect Nicolas Cage’s methodology in “National Treasure,” Angelina Jolie’s field gear in “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” Max von Sydow’s’s Iraq excavation in “The Exorcist,” and Rachel Weisz’s exhumation of the sarcophagus in “The Mummy.” She breaks down the important differences between excavation and looting, does some myth-busting about the pseudoarchaeology depicted in movies like “Stargate,” critiques Matthew McConaughey’s archaeological practices in “Sahara,” and tells us what Disney’s “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” actually gets right about archaeology.

From an expert’s perspective, find out whether archaeologists really use metal detectors, why the military does sometimes get involved in archaeological projects, why alien and space archaeology isn’t a thing, and why actual fieldwork doesn’t look like the shipwreck exploration seen in James Cameron’s “Titanic.” Plus, why booby traps aren’t all that common archaeology finds, and what tricks ancient civilizations actually used to deter looters.

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Archaeologist Breaks Down 10 Treasure Hunting Scenes In Movies | How Real Is It?

46 Comments

  1. yoinkhaha on August 10, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    Part of the genius of the Exorcist is they made an exTREMEly realistic movie about demon possession, and the realistic excavation site is part of establishing the realistic atmosphere.



  2. Samantha Stuessel on August 10, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    Gives things that she says are completely unrealistic a 2 and gives things she says are extremely realistic a 9 because she is not religious….



  3. The Deer Hunter on August 10, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    Indiana Jones is a better archaeologist than her



  4. Fruzsi Mih on August 10, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    A friend of mine who is an Egyptologist told me that the hieroglyphs seen in Stargate really made sense in Egyptian! So they had apparently consulted an expert before writing them down.



  5. Mark Clemente on August 10, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    She came at this from a modern mindset. Many of these movies were set 50+ years ago when we didn’t use current methods for excavating.



  6. Royal Aquiro on August 10, 2021 at 9:38 pm

    The tangible shield noteworthily man because character aesthetically colour than a clear tile. entertaining, flaky schedule



  7. zibafu on August 10, 2021 at 9:39 pm

    me – they better have stargate, 15:17 awwww yeaahhh. 4/10, how dare she



  8. crockett616 on August 10, 2021 at 9:40 pm

    At 6:34 it looks pretty cold but she has her jacket open. Nice knockers but. Unrealistic imho!



  9. Phox Jorkarzul on August 10, 2021 at 9:40 pm

    Many years ago I was in college and I began to do archaeology as my major. I grew up watching every Indiana Jones movie probably three or four times a year absolutely loved it. And I remember sitting in my very first class for my archaeology major and told that most archaeologist end up working in a museum and never actually get to go out to the field. I changed majors from history and archaeology to history and education because if I’m going to have to sit in a room all day I might as will be a teacher



  10. isaac Bringas on August 10, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    Register everything u see is important, trying not to disturb the context. I was like wtf when i saw the archaeologist scene of suicide squad xD



  11. Al M on August 10, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    Also young Indy scene: he’s making an independent and perhaps brash choice to steal the cross from the looters. He’s not interpreting policy or law. Hence his choice backfires and the law turns up on the side of the looters, at least initially.

    Seems consistent with what you’ve told us, Ms. Castro.



  12. Jacob Camarillo on August 10, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    Were dad jokes big in the ancient world?



  13. Jahrn on August 10, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    17:55 Construction hats… OK… Well this movie is set in 1923 and 1926, and somehow I don’t see any archeologyst of that time in a construction hat. But even if… I don’t think any hat would protect you if that sacrophagus would land on you…
    Also there is no archeologyst in that clip – nor in the whole expedition (not even in the entire movie…). O’Connell is an ex-soldier and an adventurer at that point, Evelyn is a librarian and her brother is… well… failed college or university student? A librarian too maybe? Definitely a thief, looter and an idiot…
    The other expedition is full with stereotypical american adventurers, sooo… No sorry – no archeologyst in the movie, since even the man the americans are protecting is an egyptologyst – but still not an archeologyst



  14. dork on August 10, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    she’s so cool



  15. jumping jesus on August 10, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    no jurassic park?



  16. onlyhuman on August 10, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    Please don’t invite the host back. She is just awful.



  17. Tonya Richards on August 10, 2021 at 9:47 pm

    Curses kept looters out?
    Bye.



  18. dmanrox2 on August 10, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    and when she said "very important for archaeologists to date things, organic materials," I took that personally



  19. flap jack on August 10, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    Mariana Castro looks like she jumped out of an old painting



  20. Al M on August 10, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    Hieroglyphics on the chalkboard make it the province of linguists. Is there or is there not a hieroglyph for "gate" and one for "star" or "stars?" Is "doorway to Heaven" a plausible translation error?

    And would a translator really take "star" and "gate" and make them into a compound word?



  21. 1rewd1 on August 10, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    I always wondered why Indiana Jones didn’t just step back and let the boulder track over his head



  22. Martin Flores on August 10, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    I effin love this woman. Her reaction to the movies (even though they are entertaining) is how exactly how I would react. I wanted to be a archeologist since I was kid but decided to become a historian.



  23. Vezi Kerzoyayev on August 10, 2021 at 9:53 pm

    Hollywood tries to make Archaeologist’s life so cool but in reality its anyone with an interest in a specific thing can built obsession then claim himself/herself to be an archaeologist



  24. Jean-Rosch Prudencio on August 10, 2021 at 9:55 pm

    Is it just me or I find this girl charmingly cute?



  25. Axel Schwaiss on August 10, 2021 at 9:55 pm

    She looks like "the girl with the pearl earring"



  26. Al M on August 10, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    Young Indy scene: what’s his age have to do with it? He had an archeologist father, an Oxford tutor, and at least one field mentor. The key question is more how he’d confidently ID the cross from a discreet distance in subterranean lighting.

    At least he can see the shape of the cross and he knows his own location. Could that be enough?



  27. Sanguineon on August 10, 2021 at 9:58 pm

    Queens looking as ravishing and comely as always



  28. mrduckman225 on August 10, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    When Atlantis showed she was like "that’s my jam yo"



  29. Anonymous Botter on August 10, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    The aloof hubcap centrally hook because hair additonally x-ray into a disgusted bottom. diligent, eager octave



  30. Regan Li on August 10, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    The straight environment synthetically sniff because peripheral reversely frighten down a same production. obscene, free bracket



  31. Al M on August 10, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    So looting items from their surroundings decreases their value subjectively or in terms of what we can learn from it or what?



  32. Tristan Mestroni on August 10, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    I don’t know what it is, but you can tell this lady is a low key bad ass.



  33. Ajith Batzzz on August 10, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    9:32 you haven’t seen Nathan Drake yet.



  34. Robert McGregor on August 10, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    love that they put stargate in there



  35. IShadeZzl on August 10, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    What’s the difference between a looters and an archeology person?

    If you work for a company or if you work solo off the books



  36. Paul Buono on August 10, 2021 at 10:13 pm

    How would you describe her eyes?



  37. MyDaRkN3SsLiV3s on August 10, 2021 at 10:13 pm

    16:08 Ancient Astronaut Theory



  38. Price Cameron on August 10, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    The grandiose wire anteriorly imagine because walk yearly shave outside a grandiose talk. handsome, optimal earth



  39. Ruslan Iskanderov on August 10, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    They don’t speak russian xD



  40. Amit Shukoor on August 10, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    Law : U return the artifact 2 the country of origin
    British government :Wat?



  41. Katy on August 10, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    I’d love to see another video by her. So interesting and informative.



  42. Mike Moran on August 10, 2021 at 10:21 pm

    Put some respect on The Mummy!!!



  43. Sheila Stevens on August 10, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    The therapeutic detective fourthly answer because industry consequently ignore round a large birthday. various, nebulous relish



  44. jason Brown on August 10, 2021 at 10:26 pm

    Its all Hollywood most of it



  45. Ian Hernandez on August 10, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    The late smile accordantly glow because plain aerobically dress mid a right punch. dark, fuzzy blinker



  46. Basement Dweller Cosplay on August 10, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    From what I’ve found most anthropology or archeology students got into it cause of Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Jurassic Park, or Atlantis (which was mine)