"They Gave Their Lives for Tourism"--Archaeology and The Private Library: Part I

King Tut (King Tut)
Now when he was a young man,
He never thought he'd see
People stand in line to see the boy king.

(King Tut) How'd you get so funky?
(funky Tut) Did you do the monkey?
Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia (King Tut).

(King Tut) Now, if I'd known
they'd line up just to see him,
I'd trade in all my money
And bought me a museum.... (King Tut)

Steve Martin & The Toot Uncommons, King Tut

Archaeologists are frequently the rock stars of academia.  Their spectacular finds often elevate them to instant worldwide fame ... and just as frequently make them persona non grata in the countries where they do their fieldwork.  Some folks idolize them all as an Indiana Jones, while others think they extrapolate entire worlds from very little concrete evidence:

  

A heady mix for such a young discipline.

Actually, in the United States archaeology is only considered a sub-discipline (of anthropology).  It developed, in the 19th century, from antiquarianism in Europe (where it is considered a stand-alone discipline).  It is one of the most cross-disciplinary of all academic disciplines, drawing upon numerous other disciplines to make sense of past human societies.  Not surprisingly, then, archaeology is one of those rare academic disciplines that is claimed by both the humanities and the sciences:

  

Its young age as a recognized academic discipline notwithstanding, archaeology has produced a vast literature.  Over the next several days, we intend to survey this literature from a number of different perspectives.  We will look at the literature produced by real archaeologists working around the world. We will look at the biographies of some of these practitioners.  And we will look at not a few fictional works whose focus is archaeology....