Archeology 101

No archeology class could be considered credible unless it addressed the all important question . . . who is the greatest archaeologist ever? Indiana Jones or Laura Croft? This question should be weighed with some consideration.

Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. was an American archaeologist most famously known as Indiana Jones or Indy. During World War I, he used the name Henry Defense, and went by a number of aliases throughout his life. He was married at least twice, conceived a son and daughter, and had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Throughout his career he found numerous famous mythological artifacts, including the Sankara Stones, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and the Crystal Skull of Akator, which placed him in conflict with different groups across the globe.

Born July 1, 1899 in Princeton, New Jersey, Jones' life was indelibly influenced when he accompanied his parents, Henry Sr. and Anna Jones on a world lecture tour from 1908 to 1910. Throughout his travels, Jones encountered many important figures in history that shaped his outlook on life. After the return home, his mother became ill and died. The death changed the family as father and son moved to Utah in 1912. Without her, their relationship became increasingly strained. As Henry Sr. withdrew into his studies, Indiana found himself in various locations as his father lectured once again.

By 1916, Indiana and his father had moved back to Princeton. While on Spring Break that year, Indiana quit high school, briefly participated in the Mexican Revolution, and spent the next three years fighting in World War I. Afterwards, he attended the University of Chicago, where he studied under Professor Abner Ravenwood, later transferring to France, where he earned an undergraduate degree in linguistics. In 1925, he began a brief relationship with Ravenwood's daughter Marion, which ended his friendship with Abner. Once a graduate, he briefly became an archaeology teacher in London where he met student Deirdre Campbell. Their romance led to marriage in 1926, but a plane crash took Deirdre's life.

In the years leading up to World War II, Jones secured a teaching position at Marshall College. In 1936, the US Government contracted him to find the Ark of the Covenant, which led him to be reunited with Marion Ravenwood. The relationship lasted until Jones left a week before their wedding. During the war, Jones joined the OSS along with girlfriend Sophia Hapgood. The Cold War brought the Soviets into competition as a new world power and Indy found himself the focal point of their quest for Akator. After Soviet agents kidnapped him he agreed to help his son Mutt Williams rescue his father figure and Indy's colleague Harold Oxley. Indy and Marion were reunited and their reconciliation finally led to marriage.

Jones' lifetime of adventures eventually took its toll, as he lost an eye in the process and was forced to walk with a cane during his later years. By the early 1990s, he was living in the New York City area with his daughter and grandchildren.

Lady Lara Croft is an 11th generation Countess. The Croft family was granted the title and rights to Abbingdon, Surrey by King Edward VI in 1547. The Croft Estates are comprised of three separate manor houses, two of which are maintained by the National Trust, and the third is home to Lady Croft.

Lady Croft herself has suffered several personal tragedies, including the deaths of both parents on separate occasions before she came of age. Reputably an accredited genius and Olympic-standard gymnast, Lady Croft is the focus of wild speculation and intense debate in both the scientific and political communities in addition to the popular press. Idealized and vilified in equal measure, she is perhaps one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of our time.

Lara Croft was born in Surrey's Parkside hospital to Lady Amelia Croft and the notorious archaeologist Lord Richard Croft, the late Earl of Abbingdon. Between the ages of three and six, she attended the Abbingdon Girls School, where it quickly became clear that she was an exceptionally gifted child.

At the age of nine she survived a plane crash in the Himalayas that took the life of her mother. In perhaps the first story of her prodigious indomitability, she somehow survived a solo ten-day trek across the Himalayan Mountains, one of the most hostile environments on the planet. The story goes that when she arrived in Katmandu she went to the nearest bar and made a polite telephone call to her father asking if it would be convenient for him to come and pick her up.

For six years following the plane crash, Lara rarely left her father's side, traveling around the world from one archaeological dig site to another. During this period she was ostensibly given a standard education from private tutors, but it would probably be more accurate to say she was her father's full time apprentice.

When Lara was fifteen, her father went missing in Cambodia. Extensive searches by the authorities and Lara herself turned up human remains that could not definitively be identified. Since Lord Croft's body was not officially recovered, Lara could not directly inherit the Croft title and Lara was thrust into a bitter family feud over control of the Abbingdon estates with her uncle Lord Errol Croft. Lara eventually won the legal battle, and took possession of her inheritance but at the cost of a deep rift in the Croft family that left her estranged from her living relatives.

Lady Lara Croft has already eclipsed her father's career; as of this writing she is credited with the discovery of some fifteen archaeological sites of international significance. These sites are still yielding new and exciting insights to the past on an ongoing basis. No one can deny Lady Croft's incredible contribution to the field of archaeology; however she is not without her detractors.

Lara's methods have been frequently called into question by government officials and other practicing archaeologists. She has been described variously as anything from cavalier to downright irresponsible. Some scholars have suggested that her notorious lack of documentation and brute force methodology have contaminated countless sites and done more harm than good. There have even been (unsubstantiated) allegations that Lara actually takes items from these sites before informing the international community of their locations, and that she is nothing more than a glorified treasure hunter.

Despite the tabloid press' infatuation with her, Lara Croft guards her privacy with complete determination. She has never granted an interview nor made any personal comment to any of the rumors associated with her, preferring to express herself through brief formal statements given by the family solicitors, Hardgraves and Moore.