Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--According to no-less than the prestigious National Science Foundation, Evan Peacock is Mississippi State University's Indiana Jones.
As audiences around the world are watching the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones film saga, the MSU archeologist is among a select group being highlighted in a special report on the NSF Web site.
Titled "Archaeology from Reel to Real," the report illustrates where realities of modern archaeology diverge from the cinematic world, as well as where they infrequently intersect.
While few people expect the fictional "Indy," hero of the swashbuckling adventure tales, to resemble real scientists, professional archaeologists agree that parallels do exist with their work. Peacock and other NSF-supported archeologists do discover "lost cities and worlds," the NSF report observes.
The "real" ones also seek to locate rare and precious artifacts that tell important stories about the past, even if those artifacts are minute snails--which actually is Peacock's area of research expertise. While the snails he investigates may be small, the archaeological stories they tell encompass ecosystems throughout North America, Peacock said.
"I study how nature shapes culture and vice versa," explained the 1988 MSU anthropology graduate who also holds a doctorate from the University of Sheffield in England.
In addition to Peacock's work, the online report describes other scientific investigations being completed by NSF-funded archaeologists working from Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain to Egypt, and China to the deserts of Mexico.
More NSF information about archeology and the Indiana Jones movie may be read at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/archaeology/reconstruct_eco.jsp.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Peacock at 662-325-1663 or peacock@anthro.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.