Pirates & Privateers: Archaeology Books

Who hasn’t watched at least a few of these films: The Mummy, The 13th Warrior, Captain Blood, Titanic, Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, Glory, Gangs of New York, or Tombstone? Ever wonder how much is based on reality? For thirty-five years, historians have challenged Hollywood’s depiction of historical events and times, but history tells only a portion of the past. Archaeology shows us what life was like, and sometimes, much of what we know about a particular period comes almost totally from such exploration, rather than the historical record. In Box Office Archaeology, practicing archaeologists, professors of archaeology, and doctoral candidates in this field of study compare films and other media to their factual research.

The book is divided into thirteen chapters:

1. The Way of the Archaeologist
2. Unwrapping the Mummy: Hollywood Fantasies, Egyptian Realities
3. Vikings, Vixens, and Valhalla: Hollywood Depictions of the Norse
4. A Pirate’s Life for Me! But What Did That Really Mean?
5. Titanic
6. Voyage from Myth: Return of the Confederate Submarine H. L. Hunley
7. Pocahontas Unanimated: The Life of a Powhatan Princess
8. The Life and Times of the Ever-changing Hollywood Indian
9. Imagining Blackness: Archaeological and Cinematic Visions of African American Life
10. Five Points on Film: Myth, Urban Archaeology, and Gangs of New York
11. Western Boomtowns: The Lost Episodes
12. Contesting Hollywood’s Chinatowns
13. When the Legend Becomes Fact: Reconciling Hollywood Realism and Archaeological Realities

The first serves as an introduction to what archaeologists do, and those involved in the writing “hope that this book inspires the public, students, and scholars to recognize the differences between the mission of the archaeologist and the movie director, yet appreciate the way we learn more about our past from the study of crumbling ruins, dusty archives, and yesterday’s garbage.” The last chapter is a summary of what the eleven chapters reveal and the need for archaeologists to find new ways to interest people in learning about the past and to make the information they uncover more accessible. Each chapter includes a list of resources the authors consult. The book also includes an index and a section that explains why each author is qualified to write on his/her chosen subject.

Why did I select this book to review? I admit to being surprised when it came up in a search for pirate books, and its inclusion intrigued me enough to visit the publisher’s website to learn more. For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Box Office Archaeology and I learned a lot I didn’t know. I’m not a stranger to the authors on the chapter about pirates, Charles R. Ewen and Russell K. Skowronek, for they edited X Marks the Spot. “A Pirate’s Life for Me!” looked at the stereotypes that pop culture has instilled in us, defined what a pirate was, introduced the golden age of piracy, and then examined the archaeological investigations into the shipwrecks of Whydah and Queen Anne’s Revenge, as well as the exploration of Port Royal.

This book is one of those rare examples where archaeologists present their findings on a level that most people can readily understand, and in a way that makes the subject interesting. Anyone who wants to know more about reality versus Hollywood’s interpretation of our cultural past will find this book a compelling, eye-opening revelation.