Victoria Alexander, Shari Khoshaba, Meylia Pflaum

From the beginning televised archaeology has been based less upon fact and more focused on the treasure hunting aspects. Today, the treasure hunting aspect of televised archaeology continues to skew the meaning and importance of archaeology, retracting from the actual scientific and cultural significance. The act of looting and vandalism by so called ‘amateur archaeologists’ destroys the contextual setting of which the artifacts are found and impedes historical preservation. In this cinematic exploration of archaeology we have set out to redefine the public image of archaeologists, explaining ethical issues that surround the looting of archaeological and historical sites. By interviewing several of San Diego’s reputable archaeologists, museum curators, and university professors we hope to explore the ethics of archaeology. Our goal is to show how the representation of archaeologists in cinema has skewed the image of real life archaeologists as it ignores the ethical issues and focuses only on the treasuring hunting aspects.