The Story Of a Real Life Indiana Jones
Everyone loves Indiana Jones. The crackle of the whip, the catchy tune, the scrapes with death, it all provides for what some might argue is the best movie-watching experience there is.
But did you know that Indiana Jones is actually based off a real person?
What if I told you that the world once bore witness to a man with the same thirst for knowledge, iron will, and desire to explore as the fictional Professor Jones?
The man I’m referring to is the great Roy Chapman Andrews, who is regarded as the greatest archaeologist, explorer, and naturalist of all time.
In todays age, Andrews is often overshadowed by his fictional counterpart even though his accomplishments are just as legendary.
Today, we tell his story.
Roy Chapman Andrews was born in 1884 in a small town in Wisconsin known as Beloit.
A young Andrews immediately exhibited an extraordinary passion for exploration, exploring nearby fields, waters, and forests when he was just a child.
In his teenage years, Andrews would teach himself taxidermy. He would use the money made from this hobby to pay for his own tuition at Beloit College, where he would earn an English degree.
Desperate to find a way into his desired fields of exploration, paleontology, and archaeology, Andrews would apply to the American Museum of Natural History in New York right after his graduation.
His application was denied, as the museum had no openings in his desired roles. However, Andrews remained determined and eventually found a way into the museum: working as a janitor in the taxidermy department.
During his employment, Andrews would collect specimens for the museum on the side.
Additionally, he would earn a Master of Arts degree in mammalogy from the prestigious Columbia University. He did all of this while still working full time as a janitor in the taxidermy department.
He would eventually move on to bigger and better things in 1908, when he would become a member of The Explorers Club, a society founded four years prior dedicated to scientific advancement and worldwide exploration.
Now 25 years old, Andrews would get his first big break in the field, sailing on the USS Albatross, the first steamship ever designed for marine research.
The crew’s destination was the East Indies, where Andrews would observe marine mammals, while also collecting snake and lizard samples.
Now with some experience under his belt, Andrews would be invited by John Borden to partake in the maiden voyage of the schooner Adventuress.
They would sail to the Arctic, hoping to obtain whale specimens for the American Museum of Natural History.
While they weren’t successful in that aspect, the pair did make a pitstop at the Pribilof Islands, where they would photograph some of the earliest film of fur seals. These pictures would lead to protection of fur seal colonies worldwide.
After returning from the voyage aboard the Adventuress, Andrews and his wife Yvette Borup led the Asiatic Zoological Expedition from 1916–1917 through the provinces of China, including Yunnan.
His findings are recorded in the book Camps and Trails in China.
From 1922 to 1928, Andrews led expeditions through Western China and Mongolia, looking to find the earliest human remains.
A long believer in the “Out of Asia” theory first proposed by paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, Andrews was confident Asia was home to the first humans.
These expeditions, known as the Central Asiatic Expeditions would become the pinnacle of Andrews archaeological career.
Though he did not discover any human remains, Andrews and his crew would have a wildly successful trip through the Gobi Desert and the rest of Asia.
In the first leg of the voyage, Andrews would discover fossils from a Paraceratherium, an ancient hornless rhinoceratoid.
In the spring of 1923, mere months after his first discovery, Andrews would find the first fossils of the fossil species fittingly named Andrewsarchus.
Over the course of the next five years, Andrews would discover many different fossil mammals and dinosaur bones, the pick of the bunch being the first discovered nests of dinosaur eggs.
The findings from this legendary expedition are recorded in Andrews’ best selling book, The New Conquest of Central Asia.
The 900 page memoir is widely regarded as the greatest piece of archaeological literature ever.
After the expedition was seized by the Chinese government in 1928, Andrews attempted to return in 1929, but was unsuccessful.
However, one year later, the ban was lifted by the authorities.
Andrews would return one final time in 1930, discovering several mastodon fossils.
He was named President of The Explorers Club upon his return, staying in the role from 1931–1934.
It was during this time he would divorce his first wife Borup, marrying his lifelong spouse Wilhelmina Christmas four years later.
Andrews and Christmas would retire in 1942, moving to an estate called “PondOWoods” in Connecticut. Hence, unlike Indiana Jones, Andrews did not fight in World War II.
It was during their 16 year residence here that Andrews would write majority of his famed books.
The couple would later move to Carmel Valley, where Andrews would meet his untimely demise two years later.
He is buried with his wife at the Oakwood Cemetery in his hometown of Beloit.
As well all know, the first Indiana Jones movie came out 21 years after Andrews’ death, but a direct link between the character and Andrews has never been established.
However, an analysis by the Smithsonian Channel finds an “indirect linkage” from Roy Chapman Andrews to Indiana Jones.
This conclusion suggests that, while George Lucas nor his team of creators have ever confirmed that Andrews was the inspiration behind the character, it’s likely his life crossed their minds.
A more probable inspiration for Indiana Jones is 1930s and 1940s pulp magazine hero Doc Savage. Savage was a scientist who explored lost cities and battled Nazis like Indiana Jones. Whether creator Lester Dent based Savage on Andrews is unknown.
A true explorer, Roy Chapman Andrews’ life deserves to be celebrated just like Indiana Jones, with their exploits being equally legendary.
The famed archaeologist once said that “Always there has been an adventure just around the corner — and the world is still full of corners.”
A true pioneer of the field, it’s easy to say that our favorite obtained of rare antiquities may not have come to be.
