7 Archaeologists Who Were Real-Life Indiana Joneses

We see a character like Indiana Jones and think to ourselves that there cannot possibly be any archaeologists who were like that in real life, but we would be wrong. The field itself is wrought with danger and discovery and while some archaeologists may be more comfortable behind a desk or teaching, these 7 are clearly more akin to a real life Indiana Jones than most others in their field.

From i09:

Maybe he didn’t find any alien artifacts, but Hiram Bingham III did bring an ancient Incan city to public consciousness. Bingham wasn’t trained as an archaeologist, but was a professor of Latin American history when he traveled on an expedition to Peru sponsored by Yale University. In 1911, while in the Urubamba Valley searching for the city of Vitcos, Bingham asked the locals about nearby ruins and Melchor Arteaga, a local farmer, led him to Machu Picchu, an Incan city little known to outsiders. He spent his next few expeditions studying the city, learning all he could about the ruins.

A lost city? Can you even imagine? Take that, Indie! Maybe for your next movie instead of hiding in fridges from atomic bombs you could use some of these amazing, real life exploits as inspiration!

[Image, story i09]