Star Wars & Archaeology: A Recap

Doctor Aphra in her first appearance. Image Credits to Marvel Comics.

To give better context for several of the posts I already have, including the multimedia page Lovecraft & Archaeology, this is a recap of my original Master’s research on Star Wars and how it interacted with archaeology as well.

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I began the journey with the main idea that I wanted to look at visual representations of archaeology and the past in pop culture. From there, I settled on the Star Wars franchise as there hadn’t been direct research in the field on the subject of archaeology before, and the little bit that had been done wasn’t related to the same kind of studies that I wanted to perform.

Case Studies

I decided on three case studies: the Doctor Aphra comics, including the Darth Vader series where she originally appeared, the video game Jedi: Fallen Order (2019), and the animated television series Star Wars: Rebels, which I mentioned previously in my post about Thrawn’s appearance in the Ahsoka Disney+ series.

Doctor Aphra and Darth Vader interacting. Image Credits to Marvel Comics.

Doctor Aphra is an archaeologist within the world of Star Wars and has appeared in a number of comics since Marvel started producing them again. She was stated by her original author, Kieron Gillen, to be a very intentionally gender-swapped Indiana Jones with much more complicated morals. She is a sort of anti-hero/anti-villain that became so popular she got her own special edition figurine for Comic Con.

Cal Kestis and Merrin discussing how he uses Force Psychometry (EA 2019).

The Jedi: Fallen Order game follows former Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis who is in hiding, attempting to avoid the Inquisitors. This game is all about the past and archaeology, as Cal visits ancient ruins, temples, encounters Imperial Excavation Sites, and uses Force Psychometry to relive memories of the past.

The image of the three major Force Users in Star Wars: Rebels (Disney 2018).

The Star Wars: Rebels series has numerous encounters with the past, but the last two seasons specifically where Thrawn becomes a leading antagonist really emphasizes the archaeological nature of the show. Something that the Ahsoka series doubles down on.

Analysis

For each of those case studies, I analyzed three main components. First, I looked at the representation of each series, including race and gender, as that is something representations of archaeology and the past often have trouble representing well. There is a breadth of work on this within the field already, so it was easy to pull those theories and ideas over into the world of archaeology.

Second, I looked at the politics of the past in each one. Archaeology has had a turbulent history and was directly enmeshed with the rise of colonialism (& imperialism), and this is something each archaeologist has to deal with in their studies. Star Wars proved a fruitful ground there, as the Empire and the way it handles the past are very similar to real historical practices.

Doctor Aphra and Luke Skywalker talking about an ancient crystal with magical properties. Image Credits to Marvel Comics.

Third, and last, I looked at the ideas of pseudoarchaeology in each one, specifically how the supernatural was presented, what kind of fear was associated with that, and how much it played on stereotypes. This was particularly interesting because Star Wars does have a form of “magic” that is real in that fictional universe that would not be as true in Indiana Jones, which is very much set in a historic, real-world past.

I wrapped it up by analyzing what this means for the field and the future, as it provided a good way to talk to the public about archaeology.

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This was a very brief recap of a very long study, but it felt vital to give a backbone for the rest of my work with Star Wars & archaeology, and if you want to read more, check out the rest of my posts on the matter!