Nat Geo's "Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology" gets thumbs up

A meme I came across previously - NOT from the exhibit.

If you've checked out my interactive image "What is Archaeology?" under the Archaeology tab, then you've already gotten a sense of my "Indiana Jones is more a treasure hunter than an archaeologist" viewpoint. So, naturally, I was a little wary going into the exhibition Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology. But I really should have had more faith that National Geographic would get it right - and NG did just that.

I was impressed to come across sections of the exhibit dedicated to explaining different archaeological methods and how archaeology has developed over the years - it even addresses key issues that archaeologists often face, such as whether an excavation is necessary. Movie props are used to explain some of the real archaeology behind Indiana Jones' reasoning: for example, the Ark of the Covenant is used to explain how archaeologists use historical documents (e.g. religious texts) to infer information, including locations. Additionally, Jones' selection of the correct Holy Grail exemplifies how artifacts reflect the culture, status, and means of an individual.

For this archaeology student, it was an epic experience to walk through an exhibit balanced with Indiana Jones props (I stood inches from several of Harrison Ford's costumes!) and artifacts from the Penn Museum and the NG archives (such as the world's first map written in Akkadian cuneiform [a language that I've studied] and Hiram Bingham's photo album from his exploration of Machu Picchu [I researched the archaeology of Machu Picchu for a class last fall, and was in awe at seeing the originals of pictures that I'd come across in more recent publications]). Overall, this interactive exhibit was excellent, and receives two thumbs up from me.

Hiram Bingham III, featured in the exhibition, is credited
with the discovery of Machu Picchu - which was
originally reported on by NG Magazine.

The cuneiform map that I mentioned above - how cool!

Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology will be in Washington, D.C. until January 3, 2016. For more information, check out this link.