Frederick Courtney Selous is a name synonymous with hunting, adventure, conservation, and Africa. At least in some circles, that is. Born in 1851 in Regent’s Park, London Selous became one of the greatest white sons of Africa. His life epitomizes that of the regal English birth, with his father one time chairman of the London Stock Exchange and his mother a published poet. The family was in all ways quite well off, but he felt the call of the Dark Continent at the age of 19. He would travel back and forth from Africa to London to attend to business and family matters as well as meet at the Shikar Club which he co-founded in 1909. For all other considerations he lived, worked, studied, and died in Africa. His brother, Edmund, became a noted ornithologist and poet, in fact many of Frederick Selous’ poems and collected works reveal a depth of character that many take for granted. Selous loved Natural History and exploration from a young age and studied any living thing that he could. During his expeditions and hunting safaris he collected many of the first specimens to come out of places such as Namibia and Sudan. He also hunted big game across Europe and North America, but he will always be remembered as Africa’s Great White Hunter.
The Greatest Adventurer of All Time
Now, I would be completely remiss if I did not include the following man of action on the list. Not all of the men behind the movie actually lived, you see. H. Rider Haggard’s pen brought to life the greatest man of adventure to ever grace a page: Allan Quatermain. I have a complete collection of all of Haggard’s work, and I love them all, but if you are scrapped for time you may just want to devour King Solomon’s Mines, and She. Fair warning, however, you may decide to read them all. Quatermain came on the scene in 1855 searching for King Solomon’s Mines. The book, by the same title, is commonly considered the first of the “lost world” genre of literature. Haggard, being child 8 of 10, was sent by his father to what is now South Africa to take an unpaid assistant to the secretary for the Governor of Natal. This was not an uncommon practice for families in England. Since only the eldest child would be the inheritor, the remaining siblings were left to their own devices, usually in one of England’s colonies. His time is Africa not only influenced his writing, but left a cause that he would champion for for many years. His work in agriculture reform is mostly overshadowed by his life as a novelist, but he worked throughout Britain’s colonies and dominions attempting to change archaic land use practices and make colonial (and sometimes native) farming, ranching, etc. more profitable.
John Pendlebury Man at Knossos
Rounding out the final four position for the Indian Jones question is a British archaeologist by the name of John Pendlebury. Born in London in 1904, John Pendlebury had blinded himself in one eye by age eight, received scholarships for Pembroke and eventually competed internationally as a high jumper. Pendlebury made is mark in the world in Greek archaeology. The climate in the Mediterranean allowed for Pendlebury to work in both Greece and Egypt in a single field season. Crete became a second home to him and he worked closely with native Cretans to understand the history of the island. He was one of the first to look at local legend, folklore and stories to ascertain more about the physical history of a place. Shepherds would show him to places that they had known about for generations and Pendlebury would soon be digging there. Some people believe this was taking advantage of the locals for self aggrandizement, but that seems to sell the locals a but short. This was the late 1920s and early 30s, the world worked differently than it does today.
Sylvanus Morley…Undercurrents
Dealing with the most famous of the two source pre Indiana Jones Joneses has not left is without other contenders. I am sure there are even more than managed to make my list. But these are the ones I am familiar with, and can give the best account of, or advice for reading about. The third individual on our quest to find the source was different from his two predecessors by one chief enterprise: he was actually a trained archaeologist. Sylvanus Morley was, in fact, a Mayanist. He studied at length in Latin American and published several books, and many papers on the Mayan iconography among other things. He also published his diaries, a huge effort of 39 volumes running the gamut of his active years (1905-1947) trying to unravel the mysteries of the Maya of Mexico and Central America. Little is known or discussed about Dr. Morley outside of individuals who actually study the Maya presently. In fact, there are a few who do not know the history of their own field, save some disdain, or unkind words for their predecessors. But all that changed (or has it?) in 2009 when Charles Harris and Louis Sadler published The Archaeologist was a Spy: Sylvanus G. Morley and the Office of Naval Intelligence. Aside from being one of the books that helped solidify my desire to study the history of science (namely the people at the forefront and/or the births of their respected fields), it revealed to me that many people who work in fields today have no idea where their intellectual infrastructure comes from. Others, can specifically name a mentor, or a grandmentor (that would be their mentor’s mentor for you folks playing along at home) but most cannot trace influence back more than a few academic generations.
Hiram Bingham, Door No. 2
Following up on the heels of RCA, another
famous explorer-archaeologist (treasure hunter *gasp*) is Hiram Bingham III. (there was at least a IV, but I am not sure what number the family is up to now) Bingham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii quite some years before those nice American missionaries displaced the the Hawaiian Queen. Bingham makes the list for many of the same reasons that Andrews did: for example. he wore a hat. He also tromped about South America in field gear.
Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Andrews may be the most popular (and likely) candidate for the inspiration behind Indian Jones. It is had to argue with the look, the hat, the field gear, the gun. But, one must remember that mot all field gear looks that way, and in general, so does field gear. Also, the time periods are pretty similar and toting a gun across the globe was less of a hassle then. Hopefully I will get to expand on Andrews a bit later after re editing a paper I wrote on him, but for now a short sweet introduction to get all the players on the board.
The Making of an Indiana Jones…
Beginning sometime near the end of the last century I worked mainly between three major identity crises. I had (still have) a common tendency to find common ground with a character in a movie or book and slip into some sort of anachronistic version of that person in the real world. The funny thing is pieces of each of them have stayed and wedged firmly into the makings of a psyche that is truly unique. After swillowing between the likes of Don Johnson’s Marlboro Man, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and Elvis high school finally ended and I was able to make a clean slate and move into the more lucrative field of college.
The Original Blue-Bloods
I recently had the great fortune to deal with those kind individuals who help you move all your earthly possessions to another part of the globe. U-HAUL has a neat little program of ignoring how much stress you are under and creating more annoyances for you to deal with. But, they can be forgiven for their extemporaneous (and large) decals they smear on the sides of there water resistant (not water-proof) trucks. These include all kinds of Americana facts, many have great places to visit, sightseeing, famous happenings, etc. We got the one featuring the Hagerman Fossil Site in Idaho. There are others however and one that got me thinking of something to share with the world at large is that of the Horseshoe crab: how it’s magical blood is helping the pharmaceutical companies test their products, and how it has been around since at least the second day of creation. (I made that up) But these guys have been around for at least 300 million years generally not giving a damn about human beings for most of that time.
Continue reading The Original Blue-Bloods
Living life on the edge… of the page
Short, sweet introduction to a new record of life’s little instances that may otherwise be forgotten. I currently work another more detailed, and specific, blog about natural history, nature, and wildlife. This gets updated very infrequently (hope to change that) because it takes a few weeks to gather the info, pictures, and thoughts that I want to convey. This particular installment will (hopefully) be updated each evening with the events that I have perused during the day. Magazines, newspapers, meetings, movies, books, or anything else that is going on may make its way into these posts. Inspirations people (for me, anyway), thought provoking quotes I hear during the day. I keep a journal anyway, but as most people in the 21st century, I am around electronics more often. As much for me as anyone out there, if your interested come along, I will be stepping into the dark room of my mind to see what develops. Feel free to come along, the ticket’s free.
Buy the ticket, take the ride–Hunter S. Thompson.
For the Birds Part Two
Another bird made the theatres recently. This one may seem a bit more dark compared to the light hearted Dodo/scientist adventures; it is. So, death by Poe story, I said when it came out that the premise was Saw for smart people. The movie is more than that though.
Continue reading For the Birds Part Two 