Caught up in the action and thrills of an Indiana Jones adventure, we sometimes forget that Jones is a thief. In fact, he is the worst kind of thief the archaeological community knows. He steals unique antiquities, sneaking them away from their sites; and he sells them to collectors, destroying forever the intellectual value they might have had in situ.
Gregory Benford's Artifact starts centuries ago, with a mysterious stone artifact being buried in a tomb. But each time we think we have this story pinned firmly into a genre, it morphs on us; first Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom, then James Bond and Dr. No.
We learn this stone cube is an object of power; we know that some of the grave-diggers are entombed with it. Fast-forward to present day (or rather, to a mid-80s "present" with a still-viable Soviet Union). The artifact has been unearthed at an archaeological dig. Because the nominal leader of the dig, American Claire Anderson, has a beef with the swinish Greek Kontos she has been saddled with as "co-director," she does not declare that she and her assistant George have found the artifact. Instead, under a two-week deadline to finish the dig, she flies back to the States and seeks a metallurgist from MIT to help her assay the stone of the artifact.
She meets John Bishop in his office at MIT, and hires him to do the job. John doesn't tell Claire he is a mathematician, not a physical scientist, for two reasons. One, he likes scuba diving, and hopes to be able to dive in Greece when this job is done. And two, he's really attracted to Claire.
Back at the tomb, George has finished disinterring the artifact, and found a pipe leading down to the sea behind it. John's test results are puzzling—they reveal a cubical cavity inside the artifact, lined with heavy metals. From an amber cone that projects from one face of the stone cube, they glimpse an occasional flash of light. A slight humming noise comes from the object, and it has an eerie feel to the touch.
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
Jones rescues antiquities to preserve them in museums, DrPat.
In Temple of Doom, he goes on about Fortune and Glory for a bit, but in the end saves the village.
"You call him Dr. Jones, doll."
Sorry, couldn't resist that last bit.
2 - Deano
I recall reading an article back in the late 80's which noted that Speilberg took some heat from archaeologists for Jone's actions in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for basically portraying archaeology as a bunch of "pot-hunters" and looters. Speilberg made a concerted effort in the subsequent films to mention Indiana wanted to make sure everything ended up in a museum.