In Conclusion

Here we are, a semester later, and all the wiser for it. Did we learn? Sure. Did we embrace a greater understanding of the bias of media? Certainly. Did a great deal of time get wasted playing these games for research purposes? Probably. Did we enjoy the process? Yes.

Turns out this is just the hedgehog's dream. Real
archaeologists don't find troves like this. The games
lied to him!

So here we are, achieving more or less what we intended. We set out without much more of an edict than, "Go forth and analyze ye how stuff is portrayed in terms of archaeology". We did. And here's what we noticed. First, games and toys love treasure. They love it. The ultimate goal of most games seemed to be to get the treasure, and toys also came with shiny things. We considered it a win when the artifacts weren't gold or jewels. Second, everyone loves Egypt. Based off how often it showed up, one would presume that at least half of the world's archaeology occurs around Giza. Sure, Egypt is steeped in thousands of years of history, but it's not the only place out there. Third, as often as not, archaeology was simply used as gimmick to catch consumers' attention without being actually related to archaeology. We're looking at you, video games. Developers needed a theme, and since everyone loves treasure (see Point #1), just have your player be an archaeologist doing totally non-archaeological things to get it. It works, but is it really needed?

It's all fairly forgivable, though, we decided. The point of games and toys is to be fun, not accurate. Even the ones that are supposed to be educational have to find a balance between the two, although arguably many weren't really trying anyways. There were more than a couple games that we came across that had the information but were so dry that they weren't even worth writing about. Meanwhile, dressing up as Indiana Jones may be fun, but Indy was never known for being particularly good at the non-Nazi-shooting part of his job. But I digress. The point was that most things we looked at had their merits, either to be fun or accurate, and it was the ones that caught the best balance that won.

History may not have actually been this epic, but
with a couple toys, you can pretend it was.

On this last note we leave you: It's hard to get it right, but mostly, any exposure seemed to be good. If kids can get interested, there's hope that they'll, oh, I don't know, maybe go pick up a book and do their own research.

Be an Archaeologist in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft (WoW) is an immensely popular MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game).  The game takes place in a fantasy world called Azeroth, and players can interact with one another through their characters.  One thing you can do in the game is master different professions.  Some of those are: alchemy, mining, enchanting, engineering, tailoring, cooking, and you guessed it - archaeology.  At first, it seemed like a random profession to include, but then it made sense.  The game creators could give the player more back-story on Azeroth in an interesting fashion.  And in the game, players are able to learn more about individual races in the game.

Search, ye will, for fragments of artifacts at the X's.

How does this feature work, you ask?  Here's a quick clip that shows the in-game archaeology process:

It seems like a pretty straightforward procedure - you survey an area to find artifact shards and once you collect enough pieces, you can "solve" the artifact (basically reconstructing it) and then you get a whole piece along with its history.  This profession focuses on the surveying of objects rather than the digging or analyzing aspect.  After getting the item, players can keep or sell it to vendors and museum curators.  This brings up the issue of looting.  Is the player a looter?  This is a little like looting, in my opinion, because you use the artifact for your own purposes only.  There is no higher power to go to after you get an artifact, and you can decide to keep it or sell it off.  However, since WoW doesn't have an archaeology society or whatever, it is impossible to not be a looter.  Speaking of looting, I watched other tutorials on WoW archaeology, and some players refer to the process of collecting a fragment as "looting."  Interesting coincidence there.

I don't think the game-profession teaches players that much about real-life archaeology.  It simplifies the digging and reconstructing processes and likens archaeologists to looters.  However, one thing that I approve of is that nowhere on the official game site do the creators talk about finding "treasure."  I think that's a step in the right direction for game-makers.  And since WoW is so popular, it's a good way of getting people's attention about the field.

Misinfomation - Where is the Truth?

We haven't had a post about an ancient game in a while, and I thought I'd fix that.  But I'm going to mix it up a little and talk about a game that people have brought back from history and are playing again - yes, that's right, the Olympics.

The first Olympic revival game organized by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) was set in Athens in 1896.  The iconic symbol Olympic rings were designed by Pierre de Coubertin between 1912 and 1913.  I find it a little weird that different sources have conflicting dates on when the design was created.  And I can't trace each claim to its original source because none of the articles listed their sources.  Hence why there is so much misinformation floating around the world...  Along this line, when I was doing research on the Olympic rings, I stumbled across a funny story.

In 1936, the Olympics were held in Germany.  The president of the organizing committee for that year's Olympics (Carl Diem) had the interlocked rings carved on a stone block and placed at Delphi as a prop in the torchbearer's ceremony.  The stone was never removed, and years later, authors Lynn and Gray Poole observed the prop and published  that the rings were a symbol from Ancient Greece.  Again, there was a conflict of information on the origin of the authors.  I read sources that said they were American and others that said they were British.  In doing some research, I found an obituary for Gray Poole that placed her as an American.  I could only find a Wikipedia article on Lynn Poole that placed him as an American as well.  However, I don't know how reliable Wikipedia is in this case, since their article on the Olympic rings claim that the Pooles were British.

See?  The word "Olympic" is included in the title.

The Pooles were said to publish the error in a book called The History of the Ancient Olympic Games.  Most articles that cited the book left out the word "Olympic."  Leaving out even one word of a book title makes the book different.  I have to wonder if any of those authors even bothered to look up the book.  They would have immediately noticed their error.

In trying to learn about this one aspect of the Olympic Games, I had nine browser tabs open to do additional research.  It was difficult to locate reliable sites and even more difficult to trace where different authors got their information.  The spread of misinformation must stem from people not thoroughly researching the topic and not listing their sources.  So then, how sure can anyone be of the information they get?  If nonfiction writers like the Pooles were fooled by the Delphi rings and published their finding in a book, their readers were misinformed and the misinformation could spread by word-of-mouth.  The bottom line: question everything.

Sources:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-08-29/news/0508290043_1_poole-mrs-kensington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Poole
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/08/the-origin-of-the-olympic-rings/
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/olympics/games.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/qi/9472902/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-the-Olympics.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_symbols#cite_note-aldaver-3
http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-boris-and-the-olympic-rings-of-truth/10825
http://ethicalnag.org/2012/07/20/more-myths-of-olympic-games/
http://www.amazon.com/History-Ancient-Olympic-Games-Poole/dp/B005U8M6TK

Do Re Mi Archaeology

Yesterday I was sitting around listening to my music when Indiana Jones's theme popped up. Naturally, this is an awesome song, but for all its catchiness, it's more about adventure than archaeology (although I'm sure that if it had lyrics, they would be about both trowels and muscle chests). This did get me thinking about actual archaeological songs, and quick Google search later got me to this:

(Skip to a minute in if you just want to get right to the lyrics.)

This is a song by Wintersleep, titled, funnily enough, Archaeologist. I can't say I know exactly what it's about, but the fact that there is mention of a winged boy "stained by the fire and clouds" has some thinking that it's Icarus's body. The repeated refrain of "belly of the whale" also makes me think of the story of Jonah and the Whale. So it looks like the song might have to do with certain mythologies, but that's really neither here nor there.

The band Wintersleep, being vaguely archaeological
by sitting outside.

What is here and there is that the song also contains a critique of archaeology. This comes up in the second verse where after the body is shipped to London they "discard the rotted parts". If the boy is Icarus or some other mythological character, it comes across as rather cold to be so disinterested in the whole body. Even if the body is just any old boy, there could be quite a lot to be learned from an old body that's been digesting in a whale's gut for some time. The whole song has a lamenting quality to it, despite its rather rocking tempo, as if it's upset about the fact that with all their focus on the facts archaeologists sometimes forget that they are still digging up dead people. Unlike the usual portrayal of archaeologists as dashing adventurers, here they come off as more distant and scientific. It's an interesting twist, and not necessarily any more correct than the former line of thought, but I'm all for taking things in new directions that aren't usually seen. So bravo, Wintersleep, bravo.

Also, the catchy tune doesn't hurt either.

Who Cares About Learning When It's This Cute?

Kota the Triceratops!

In our first post, we made a big deal about the distinction between archaeology and paleontology and claimed that the purpose of this blog was not to discuss dinosaurs...

Well, we lied.  Sorry.

This little Playskool triceratops game was too cute to resist.

I was looking for archaeology-inspired children's games when I stumbled upon the Playskool website.  This company produces all sorts of plastic paradises for kids.  However, none of the games or toys were strictly archaeological.  

This Kota Adventure Game is clearly aimed at young children (mainly preschool-aged), but I found it so adorable that I had to write about it!  In this game, Kota the Triceratops follows the mouse around the screen in search of glowing leaves.  The goals of this game are simple: collect all ten leaves, and win a trophy!  Then move to the next level and start gathering again.  Complete with tribal background music and great sound effects, this little triceratops crashes into rocks, tramples over grass, and runs into coconut-trees!  Who knew dinosaurs liked coconuts... 

Even though this game is inspired by paleontology and not archaeology, like other children;s toys we've examined, this game also portrays an extremely simplified version of the ancient world to the public.  The game presents a happy world where Kota runs around (usually bumping into things).  Young children can enjoy this simple game that is easy to win and not possible to lose.  Aside from teaching what a triceratops looks like, there is no educational content to this game--but with a target audience of five-year-olds, the instructional qualities of the game are probably not one its primary goals.  While the game is cute, simple, and fun, it doesn't largely distort this presentation of the dinosaur era.  Check out the Game!

I want one!!

Aside from offering an online game, Playskool also markets Kota as an automated toy!  I thought this large, moving dinosaur was hilarious, and, if I'm being completely honest, probably would have been my dream as a child.  Clearly this company has found some success drawing toy inspiration from ancient worlds and coordinating their games and toys.

Poster Stuff

It seems that we've neglected the category of "stuff" in our blog.  Not anymore!  Let me show you some archaeology-themed posters.  Fine Art America has quite a selection.  The posters feature beautiful shots of ancient ruins, such as the Colosseum and Machu Picchu:

There's also posters with ancient objects, like Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese terra cotta soldiers, and cave paintings:

And then there's posters that don't seem to have anything to do with archaeology...

Oh, Fine Art America search engine.  I wanted posters on archaeology.

And why would people want to buy these?  People who would purchase these could be hanging them up as art or using them to remind them of their travels.  One thing that people probably aren't doing is thinking about these places or objects from an archaeological perspective.  People don't normally look at their posters and use them to study the past (at least, I think they don't).  But people are somehow drawn to the past, whether they feel a special connection or are just intrigued.  Whatever the reason, people continue to buy and companies continue to make money.

Stuffed Animals--Indian Jones Style

Looking back through our blogs, I realized that we have yet to talk about archeology-related stuffed animals.  A little bit of research quickly revealed a reason for this—while dinosaur dolls are easy to find, plush toys directly related to archaeology are much harder to locate.  However, I found it very interesting that a Indiana Jones toys search yielded much different results…  

  

The collectables are clearly hot commodities:
The Limited Edition Kermit is worth $69.99, and the 
Indiana Jones Mickey Mouse Adventurer sells for $49.99.

Not quite a plush toy...
but still very entertaining:
Indian Jones Mr. Potato Head 
and the
Taters of the Lost Ark!

Although this set of dolls is very diverse, they all share a couple of key features.  The first, and most important item is Indiana Jones’ classic fedora.  No archaeologist is ready for research without this vital piece of headwear.  Most of these toys are also adorned with a gun or whip, handy for hunting down troublesome artifacts. To me, these accessory choices represent the use of marketable gimmicks used to relate these otherwise random dolls to the public’s glamorized depiction of an archaeologist.  

This leads me to the second similarity I noticed.  Almost all of these dolls are characters from other sources.  Mr. Potato Head, Kermit the Frog, and M+M’s alike are symbols of other toys, TV shows, and candies.  These pictures all show these separate characters dressed up to play the part of Indiana Jones.  Although there are many plastic action figures available, I only found one plush version of the actual Indiana Jones that was not a costumed character from another source.  

These examples show how companies use public interest in a particular topic to market their existing toys by reintroducing them in new costumes.  Indiana Jones is much more appealing to general public than a traditional archaeologist.  These commercialized toys reflect marketing tricks that control which plush toys are available to the public.

Cavemen!

I must admit that the first thing I noticed about the Playmobil Stone Age set is the blatant lack of women.  While most images of archaeology have women predominately in the background, this game goes a step further and provides only cavemen.  I wonder if kids using this game ever wonder about the other half of the human race in this prehistoric era…

To me, it feels like Playmobil is utilizing children’s fascination with the past to sell a toy.  I suppose that almost all the toys we’ve examined in this blog are at least partially guilty of this as well.  Still, at least the toy includes distinctive features of this historical time period—even of those aspects are rather generalized and stereotypical.  

One of the stranger aspects included in the play-set is a plastic plant.  I can understand the fire pit and primitive weapons.  Although I’m not sure when wolves were domesticated, the wolf pet seems at least plausible to me.  However, I am far from sold on the addition of a potted fern.  I thought mammoths and caveman existed during the ice age?  Wouldn't a mountain of snow be more appropriate next to the giant mammoth tent then a convenient houseplant?  

But I’m just harping on the authenticity of this toy’s details—as a kid, I would have loved a game like this.   The toy has lots of complex parts, detailed figurines (well…almost) and a tent you can build from a mammoth skeleton!  

Archaeology in a Box

Notably, archaeological games have been rather, well, Old World. There's a fairly strong focus on Egypt, naturally, with a spread to Peloponnesian themes and Middle Eastern adventures. When the New World is seen, it happens to be the Aztecs, or maybe the Mayans or the Incas. But as far as archaeological entertainment goes, apparently North America doesn't actually exist.

Until now.

For instant archaeology, just add child.

That's right. Behold, Dig! Discover's Archaeology USA. Because a big giant block is exactly what every child wants. Except that in this case they actually do. Because within this block are a dozen "relics", cast from actual artifacts that were found in sites across the United States. With special tools (provided with purchase), kids get to excavate these treasures, paint them, and display them proudly. The relics are a bit of a mishmash – everything from Indian arrowheads to colonial coins to Civil War goods. And frankly, we're not going to get too picky about this. This toy is what is known as a successful archaeological endeavor. For one, it's focusing on an archaeologically ignored area, because, believe it or not, it does not have to be a thousand years old and from Egypt to be considered archaeology. For another, it's about as close to real archaeology as you're going to get without getting a pick and digging a giant hole in your back yard. (Parents get to appreciate this much smaller scale mess.) Maybe it still lacks a great deal of the initial paperwork (although it does come complete with a "How to Become an Archaeologist" booklet), and maybe it's a little weak on the exact facts that are unearthed by these artifacts (although without playing it, this may be a little difficult to ascertain exactly), but it's hard to find a computer game that gives you the same experience of getting your hands a little dirty. So maybe this game is still about the treasure rather than the people who had it. It still teaches it a lot better than most other games out there.

Archaeology In Space!

The Dig sounds very much like a stereotypical archaeology video game, right?  You might think your character goes around to different sites and digs for treasure to sell for a tidy sum later on, but you would be wrong.  There is no glorified theme of treasure-hunting and the setting takes place in outer space!  Considering that the game was developed by LucasArts, it's not that surprising that archaeology is given a sci-fi spin.

The story starts out non-archaeologically related.  A decently-sized asteroid is headed towards Earth and a team consisting of an astronaut, a journalist, and a geologist (a weird combination, in my opinion) are dispatched to set explosives on the asteroid's surface to change its trajectory.  After the task is completed, the team explores around the asteroid and finds out that it is actually a spacecraft.  They are then carried away to a desolate planet far, far away.  The planet contains remnants of architecture and technology that suggest an advanced civilization, but there is nobody around.  The team has to dig for clues to try to get home.

This game doesn't reflect archaeological principles.  The characters decipher the civilization's language and seem to solve every mystery on the planet.  In real-life archaeology, you wouldn't be able to solve the entire history of a civilization in a week or even one lifetime.  A positive is that the game doesn't feature digging for treasure and selling it.  However, archaeology is only seen as a means to the end and not as a process in and of itself.  The Dig is primarily a science-fiction game tinged with themes of archaeology.

Herod's Lost Tomb: Adventurous, Educational, or Boring?

National Geographic’s online game, Herod’s Lost Tomb, has stunning visuals and graphics and offers a variety of historical sites for players to explore in during their quests for this lost tomb.  The game is marketed as slightly instructive entertainment where players discover artifacts and work to uncover the lost secrets.  In reality, I found the game overly educational, rather uninspiring, and a poor representation of archaeology.  

When playing the limited free online version, I was frustrated by the game’s main format and the archaeological views the system represented.  To solve the game, players visit various archaeological sites and must collect the artifacts from a list.  At each site, objects are piled around simply waiting to be picked up.  “Finding” these artifacts actually means clicking around the page until you identify the correct object.  This strategy represents such incorrect archaeological techniques that it’s hard to know where to start analyzing.  According to this game, archaeologists must go to sites and collect the artifacts they want most from a vast selection available from the site.  In the game, no artifacts are broken and there is no process of analyzing these findings.  

My other main complaint with this game is how boring I found it.  To me, it was more like an online I Spy game than an historical adventure.  The artifacts were often too small to see clearly and hard to distinguish from the bland color scheme of the game background.  Also, these objects were mostly generic (urns, safety pins, flowers, knives, barrels, etc.) and not fundamental to understanding the particular archaeological site under investigation. 

Overall, although this game does attempt to connect players to ancient cultures, the gameplay is fairly dry and incredibly boring.  Herod’s Lost Tomb doesn’t even possess the draw of correctly portraying archaeological techniques. To me, this game was neither educational nor entertaining, and has nothing to offer its players. 

Tetris Plus, or: Archaeology Could Really Use a Red Block Right Now (Like Right Now This Instant Oops I Died)

Tetris was invented in 1984 by a Soviet computer engineer, and involves dropping oddly-shaped blocks into rows, so the first thought is that it has little to do with archaeology. Of course, that's hardly something that will slow the ingenuity of developers, and so Tetris Plus was born. Tetris Plus, for Playstation, Sega, and other gaming consuls, includes a Classic Mode, but as this is irrelevant to our discussion we shall ignore and instead focus on the other two modes: Puzzle and Versus.

Archaeology: where you help the professor find his
glorious treasure before the Epic Spinning Ceiling
of Death grinds him into mincemeat.

In concept, both are similar to Classic Mode, except that they begin with blocks on the screen, and the object is to get a little professor down to the bottom before a spinning ceiling of spikes comes too low and kills him. The little professor just wants to find the treasure at the bottom (in Versus Mode getting there before the other player's professor, or at the very least staying alive longer, which apparently amounts to the same thing), and apparently he's willing to risk horrible evisceration at the hands of spinning spikes to get it. (Don't worry, all this carnage is very bloodless, but one could imagine the potential damage.)

Let's just think about the archaeological merits of these new modes. The game in fact begins with an introduction of our tireless professor and his faithful assistant, who, it proclaims, "are searching these ruins hoping to make great finds". Fantastic, you think. Great finds. That could mean, like, anything, not just treasure. And indeed, the next few images show our intrepid heroes looking through some rather unflashy rubble. It's nice to see that for once archaeology isn't all about the shiny stuff. That holds until you get to the actual game, where our professor starts locating gems and gold. So maybe it was just a nice thought.

Once you get to the gameplay, the plot kicks off (as much of a plot as Tetris can include, anyways). The professor dodges around falling bricks, hoping to stay alive until he can reach the next level. There are four locations to go through, which are at least archaeologically sound places to examine, those being Maya, Egypt, Knossos, and Angkor Wat, but the only thing these actually have to do with anything is dictate the background and the music. There's also a secret Atlantis location, but considering you have to complete all four of the others, which each include twenty levels, and you have to complete these in one sitting, the chances of actually getting to Atlantis are about as equal as, well, finding the real Atlantis, so factually, we can just go ahead and let this slide. In Versus Mode, you don't play any particular location, but you are pitted against another player, and both you and the other guy are trying to get to the treasure first – or just kill the other. Apparently, archaeology is a pretty cutthroat business.

(Just on a side note, the professor is a jerk in Versus Mode. If you get to the treasure first, he lounges back and throws gold happily in the air, rubbing it in that he's here and your opponent is not. If your opponent dies, he's quite eager to tell them that they "need to do better" or "need more practice". Yeah, he's totally in it for the money, not for the betterment of human knowledge, which makes you wonder if he's not actually a grave robber rather than an archaeologist.)

All in all, Tetris Plus is an entertaining game, but in terms of archaeology, it doesn't have much. Maybe there is a slight acknowledgment of the merits of non-shiny artifacts, but considering that the actual archaeology involves following a mysterious map and dodging around falling blocks in an old temple, the actual methodology might leave something to be desired.

Computer Game Turns You Into a Real Archaeologist!

From Dig It Games, Roman Town is a computer game that claims to turn players into real archaeologists.  Players will excavate, analyze, and explore just like the professionals.  While I don't appreciate the claim that a computer game can simulate the full experience of being an archaeologist, the game does contain some features that most other archaeology-themed games don't cover.  You can:

• Manage a team of diggers to excavate the site
• Learn scientific methodology and real archaeological techniques (although they didn't elaborate what they mean by real archaeological techniques)
• Analyze your finds in the lab - sort and classify your find and reconstruct rare artifacts piece by piece (there's that adjective "rare" - does every artifact have to be described as "rare"?)

My complaint with this game is that it claims to simulate the archaeological experience simply by clicking around on your computer.  I mean, sure, the game was created by a professional archaeologist, but he didn't include every single procedure he had to do in his profession, right?  Where is the paperwork you have to do before going to a site?  If this was completely accurate, you might not even find a worth-while artifact during your excavation.  But this game makes it out to be that you'll find a rare artifact on every dig, guaranteed.  I'm sure this game has good educational value, but its claim to make you into a real archaeologist is just not true.

I found a demo video of the game, and it looks like a decent game for kids - fun to play and interesting.

So although Roman Town won't turn you into a real archaeologist, it will give you a pretty good impression of the field and teach you the method and techniques in the trade!

Archaeology: Collect Artifacts, Avoid Looters, and Sell to Museums...Right?

Archaeology: The Card Game is a variant of games like rummy and is fast-paced, fun, and easy to play.  In the game premise, players are archaeologists digging in the Egyptian desert.  I find this theme more than a little bit stereotypical for a game titled Archaeology, but at least with the sarcophagus on the cover of the box, no buyer could not possibly be confused as to what this game is about.  This charming game has simple rules and is light and entertaining for a whole range of audiences.

The main goal of the game is to collect complete sets of artifacts (ranging from parchment scraps to talismans to Pharaoh masks).  Actually, this is one of the more accurate versions of archaeology I’ve seen in games so far.  Archaeologists in this game have to work hard to find pieces of an artifact—instead of a perfectly preserved vase, there are shards of pottery for players to gather.  The more pieces unearthed, the more valuable the discovery.  Players then sell these sets to the museum for maximum profit.  I think this objective of the game is very revealing of the public’s general impressions of the role of archaeology—If archaeologists’ only purpose is to discover treasure and make money, then to me, they start to seem a little more like looters then qualified scientists. 

Speaking of looters, pillaging artifacts is actually a built-in feature of the game!  Mixed among the regular treasure cards (they’re actually called this in the instructions!) of the deck are six sandstorm chards and eight thief cards.  However both these robbers and natural disasters are viewed as dangers for archaeologists and are one of players’ main challenges.  Interestingly, although the Archaeology relies on sandstorms and thieves to make the game interesting and exciting, it also presents the issue of looting in a very negative light.  Perhaps, after battling to protect their valuable cards from the “thieves” Archaeology players will finish their game with a firm hatred of these artifact-destroyers, so archaeologists can hope.  

Indiana Jones and the Costume with a Muscle Chest

It's almost Halloween, and naturally I'm assuming that you're planning to go as the scariest thing you can think of, that being an archaeologist, at least ever since you developed your rather irrational fear of trowels. Of course, if you attempt to dress as an actual archaeologist, donning a T-shirt bearing the logo of your sponsor on the chest and a dusty pair of jeans, with a shovel in one hand and a clipboard with meticulous notes in the other, people are going to assume that you are just the latest psychopath, who looks just like the rest of us but happens to bury people alive and write down the location, and that is just unacceptable. So, the next most logical step is to dress up unmistakably as everyone's favorite archaeologist.

You're Indiana Jones.

Look at your man. Now back to me. Now
back at your man. Now back to me. I'm
an archaeologist. Now I have a
muscle chest.

Yes, you too now have the opportunity to plunder loot, shoot Nazis, crack that whip, and get the girl just like the best of archaeologists. This Indy costume comes complete with khaki pants and open-chested shirt to show off your newly acquired Indy muscles. You read that correctly: the costume includes a muscle chest to help all aspiring archaeologists to show off how buff they are. Because I might have missed something, but I'm pretty sure that is one of archaeology's main focuses. Naturally, the trademark fedora tops it off, to give the proper rakish treasure-hunter vibe. Interestingly, the costume includes neither whip nor gun, Indy's most trusted tools as he globe trots in search of the latest mythical and dangerous artifact, but based on the photo, they must be recommended. Also interestingly, the costume does not come with even a mention of a shovel, pick, or trowel, nor paperwork that Indy really should have filled out before ditching his class to hop on a plane to Nepal. But we're getting picky here. This is an Indiana Jones costume, and Indy has better things to do with his time. Like save his hat. And use his whip to swing across death traps on his way to finding a golden idol.

Anyways, the point is that you might not end up looking much like a real archaeologist (note the blatant absence of trowels), but at least, like Indy, you can look good while plundering loot. Only your loot is candy. And his is the Ark of the Covenant.

Jewel Quest: Representation of Archaeology or Advertising Ploy?

There are many online games that are based on or inspired by ancient cultures.  Some of these games establish digital worlds where viewers can experience early civilizations and learn from the past.  Other games rely on adventure themes where romanticized archaeologists heroically chase down artifacts or answers to mysteries (preferably while wearing a stylish fedora…).  This example, Jewel Quest, uses neither of these approaches toward online presentations of archaeology. 

Jewel Quest is a simple online puzzle game where you arrange the jewels on the board into groups of three or more.  For every match, the sand tiles under the jewels turn to gold and more jewels drop down to fill their places.  Fighting the clock, the goal of the game is to turn every tile to gold and unlock the next level. 

In many respects, this game includes hardly any archaeology at all.  It requires no knowledge of the field of archaeology to succeed in the game and leaves the player with no additional information or understanding about ancient worlds or cultures.  In fact, the entire premise of the game could be (and has been) recreated without form of archaeology.  Harvest-Day, 4 Elements, and Fishdom 2 are all examples of other matching games easily available online.  All three are perfectly addicting in their own rights and are nearly identical to Jewel Quest.  

Since all of these games are so similar, they must each have their own special element to interest potential players—whether that enticement is through delicious looking fruits, a fantastical fairyland, an underwater world, or a daring archaeological adventure is completely flexible.  I thought it was interesting that the majority of these puzzle games actually use some connection to adventure, treasure, or ancient cultures to draw their audience.  (Cradle of Rome, Call of Atlantis, and Bejeweled 1 through 3 are only a handful of the games I found that easily fit in this category.)  

It seems to me, that Jewel Quest’s success is built on the general public’s attraction to archaeology.  However, most of these connections between Jewel Quest and archaeology (gold, jewels, and an Indiana Jones style archaeologist) are mostly exaggerated or completely false.  This simplification of the role of archaeology reflects the public’s false perceptions about archaeology and ancient cultures.

Advertising Jewel Quest, MSN Games invites players to “Explore mysterious jungle ruins full of ancient artifacts and buried relics.  But prepare to think fast and act carefully, because it takes more than luck to claim the Mayan gold!”  In reality, most of these elements are limited or non-existent in the actual playing of Jewel Quest and are only there to spice up an ordinary matching game.  However, something about this marketing ploy combined with the basic elements of Jewel Quest is successful—I know I for one, greatly enjoyed the process of “researching” Jewel Quest for this article and will probably continue playing!

History of Aztec Ball Game for Kids

I stumbled across this webpage when searching for games played in the past.  The entry on the Aztec ball game was clearly meant for kids.  Information about the game was simplified and filtered for children.  This line from the website works to connect the past to the present for kids by comparing it to concepts they already understand: "The best players were treated like super stars, similar to the way we treat our best athletics today."

What wasn't mentioned was the consequences of losing the game: sacrifice.  Clearly the authors didn't want to scar kids' minds too much.  The whole entry had a very optimistic ring to it, illustrated by this line: "The game was exciting because you always had a chance to win no matter how far behind your score was at any one time."  But that's why sports are any sort of interesting at all!  This sentence describes any generic sport, really.

So why are things that may be considered a little violent not suitable for kids?  If we analyze how much kids are already exposed to violence in the form of movies, video games, and cartoons, isn't it okay for them to learn that the losers of the ball game were sacrificed?  It was an important part of Aztec culture and we really shouldn't just pick and choose what we want to learn about them.

Look at how happy the Aztec ball players are!  It's such a fun game... that's played to the death.

Playmobil: Mr. Archaeologist and the Tomb Raiders

I had a lot of Playmobil growing up. I mean a lot. Like boxes and boxes of the stuff. And in all honesty, I can say that had I seen either the Archaeologist set or the Tomb Raiders set, I probably would not at all minded to get them, because they both look like there are some serious adventures that could stem from either one.

Mr. Archaeologist finds that the best way to study
ancient Egypt is with a gun and lots of snakes.

Let's begin with Mr. Archaeologist. In all honesty, this is a better portrayal of archaeology in toys than I've seen in most places. Mainly, I say this because he comes with a wonderful selection of tools such as shovels, picks, and trowels. This guy has nine different tools to use with digging. Nine tools. Take note, kids: archaeology has a lot to do with digging. Furthermore, Mr. Archaeologist has a camera, which just might mean he's hoping to record something about what he unearths and learn a little more. So he has nothing to write down notes on. It's a start, though, it's a start.

On the other hand, you do have to wonder why Mr. Archaeologist needs a gun to do his work. Presumably it's to fight off the soon-to-be discussed Tomb Raiders whose sole aim is profit, rather than, say, shooting the newly reanimated mummy, or local bureaucrats who want to point out to Mr. Archaeologist that he actually didn't get the proper permits to dig here.

Mwahaha, treasure treasure treasure!

Mr. Archaeologist also comes with a lovely mummy and a couple urns (because all archaeology is Egypt), and a frightening collection of snakes and scorpions (Why did it have to be snakes?). Notably these buy into some pretty heavy stereotypes of archaeology, but I'm going to count this in Mr. Archaeologist's favor, considering he still has more tools to dig up his artifacts than he has artifacts. Mr. Archaeologist may also be dressed in khakis and a hat, but at least his hat is a little more dorky and a little less suave than a fedora, proving that stereotypes, while still invoked, can at least be somewhat toned down.

Now, opposing Mr. Archaeologist, we have the Tomb Raiders. Kids know the Tomb Raiders are bad. They have dark, scowling eyebrows that prove they are mean. (Mean people scowl a lot.) And while we could spend all day discussing the racial stereotypes appearing here and whether it's valid to portray the bad Tomb Raiders as Middle Eastern, this blog is about archaeology and history, and the good news is that Playmobil is at least showing that stealing ancient artifacts throws you firmly in line with Team Villain. The Tomb Raiders have more treasure than Mr. Archaeologist, demonstrating they aren't focused on anything but their own betterment. The juxtaposition, then, shows very simply good methodology and bad methodology for collecting ancient artifacts. Maybe kids won't get the nuances, but they hopefully get the basic message.

Of course, let's be honest. If I'd had these sets as a kid, I'd definitely be playing the most with the camels.

How We Play

The central tenant of toys is entertainment first, and whatever else comes along with it (such as, say, education) is a wonderful perk. We can't exactly expect toys depicting archaeology or the ancient world to be exactly accurate, because it's an unfortunate fact of life that most kids don't want to spend their play time filling in an application for a permit that will allow them to acquire a temporary license to spend the next ten days very, very carefully shoveling dirt. (If you were a child like that, I applaud you, but I'm going to venture that you're in a minority here.)

Lesson One: This is not archaeology. It's paleontology.
We're not dealing with paleontology.

Games like to be fun as well, but it's a little easier to sneak those educational tidbits in. Dig like an archaeologist! Answer trivia on the ancient world! The difference between games and toys, it seems, is that games force some semblance of structure, and so if they want you to be educated, then you're just going to have to be educated. With toys, you aren't held back by the same constraints. If you want, you can have your caveman and his pet pterodactyl get in a spaceship and save the princess. You'd be factually wrong, but you can do it.

Then there's the other stuff, costumes and decorations and books and who knows what else. If it's got something to do with human history and it's supposed to be fun, it probably applies to what this blog is about. In fact, we might even address the inverse, where we look at how toys and games and stuff of the ancient world are portrayed in the media.

Because that's what this blog is all about. It's about archaeology and the toys, games, and other random stuff that go with it. We're going to look at examples and pick them apart as to what is good with them and what, unfortunately, is not. And hopefully have fun in the process.