The archaeologist and his honourable struggle against tomb raiders and the illicit antiquities trade

Using several film examples, I am discussing in this contribution the role of the archaeologist as a guardian and care-taker of antiquities. The archaeologist is often being portrayed as a 'good guy' who champions the common good and fights vigorously against the short-term pursuit of profits by tomb raiders. A closer analysis shows however that the protecting, caring and fighting can easily mutate into an end in itself. Often it remains unclear precisely how the public might benefit from the preservation of so many antiquities from the distant past. The archaeologist becomes then a pitiable fighter for a cause that is lost from the start. This does not, however, make archaeologists less lovable.

Cornelius Holtorf, Lunds universitet, Schweden