Indiana Jones And The Adventure of Archaeology Exhibition

To mark the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a touring exhibition is spotlighting famous props from the Indiana Jones films and putting them side-by-side with real archaeological artifacts. The exhibition, called “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology,” features the Ark of the Covenant from “Raiders” and the Holy Grail from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” as well as objects from ancient Peru, Egypt and Iraq, all on display in a museum space inspired by Hangar 51 and ancient temples. Lucasfilm teamed with National Geographic and Montreal’s X3 Productions to produce and curate the exhibit, which started its six-year international tour at the Montreal Science Centre and will head overseas next month. No dates have been scheduled in the U.S. as yet, but Hero Complex readers can get a glimpse of some of the objects in the gallery above (be sure to turn the CAPTIONS ON). Our Noelene Clark chatted with some of the creative forces behind the exhibition: Kyra Bowling, exhibits manager at Lucasfilm; Fredrik Hiebert, an archaeologist, explorer and National Geographic’s archaeology fellow; and Geneviève Angio-Morneau, co-project manager at X3 Productions.

The poster for Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: The Exhibition includes a geeky wink; on the poster, below Indy's shadow's left knee, are R2-D2 and C-3PO in the hieroglyphics. (Lucasfilm)

NC: So how did this project come about? Why Indiana Jones?

KB: At Lucasfilm, with the release of the last film, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” I think everyone was just so delighted with the kind of lasting power of the character and the franchise. We’d never done a formal Indiana Jones exhibition before, so the light-bulb moment went off. … Here we are, several years later.

FH: Let me tell you the perspective from National Geographic’s in-house archaeologists, because that’s what I am, and it’s a very special hat to wear, to use an Indiana Jones idiom. I normally deal with what I call the Indiana Joneses who come to National Geographic to do real research, and it’s an amazing group of scholars that we have …. A great number of them have been inspired by the films of Indiana Jones. It’s like a whole generation. I used to teach at the university where in Intro to Archaeology — Archaeology 101 — one of the first questions that I always ask is, “How many of you were inspired by Indiana Jones?” What’s amazing is that this is the 30th anniversary of the first Indiana Jones film, and these students are like 20 years old, and 70% of them raise their hands, saying they were inspired by the films. That is one of the world’s most awesome inspirations that could happen. It’s almost like Indiana Jones is the world’s most famous archaeologist. Even now. He’s not a real person, but he’s had an incredible, incredible impact on the field of professional archaeology, both at the university, and here, now, that I have the great honor to sit at National Geographic …. We are all inner Indiana Joneses. Every archaeologist has a little bit of that adventure in them.

Head over here to the Official website for all your information:

Please Leave A Comment-
Source-herocomplex