Author: Franki Webb

Archaeogamer

Baldur’s Gate 3 – Druids, Henges and Springs #RealArchaeology

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This article has been written and published for Real Archaeology, an online event where a number of creators are producing archaeology-related content on various platforms.

Like with any game inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, one cannot help but reminisce on the past. As our ancestors worshipped, the skies and the earth, the druids of Baldur’s Gate 3 are no different. The inspiration taken from the Iron Age people of Europe plays a large part in game media, but it’s not all fantasy. Even in medieval fantasy roleplaying games, they can seem like a magical gateway into the past.

Obviously, there are no mind flayers or walking undead in our history. But video games allow an appreciation of the past that some may not appreciate by standing on an Iron Age hillfort, or walking within a stone circle like Avebury. Every culture in the past had its own version of a cleric, fighter, sorcerer or wizard. However, druids are a specific nod to ancient Celtic figures who played a role of great importance within their communities.  The Iron Age druids were more like institutions that we would recognise in a present day context, such as religion or political parties.

Tracking the archaeological footprint of the druids is a difficult task. The druids have been known for at least 2400 years, first by Greek writers and later by the Romans, who came in contact with them in Gaul and Britain.  According to Roman sources, druids were a learned caste who oversaw religious ceremonies, taught the ancient wisdoms, and were known in their communities as philosophers and learned counsel. Although these writings may not always have been completely accurate, or indeed truthful, it does seem clear that the druids were an important group of people in many Iron Age societies.

While it could be argued that the druids featured in Dungeons and Dragons are far removed from reality, there is some similarity when comparing them to their real life counterparts. Druid character classes were first introduced in early D&D supplements before being codified in the 1st edition Player’s Handbook of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

There is limited written record, and the material culture comes in many forms such as sacred spaces, art, ritual equipment, images of the gods, strange burial rites and to some extent “human sacrifice”. Evidently archaeology tells a different and more complicated story of this enigmatic priesthood, a theocracy with immense political and sacred power. One of the main druid archaeological site overlooks the Irish Sea from the northwest corner of Wales, Anglesey is dotted with numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age stone monuments. The most famous is the 5,000-year-old passage tomb of Bryn Celli Ddu (Welsh for “the mound in the dark grove”), which has an entrance passage that aligns with the rising midsummer sun. It was archaeologically excavated in 1928 and 1929, and later reconstructed some time in 1930s.

Interestingly, in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons and Dragon lore as a whole, the areas within the world of Faerun inhabited by the druids are usually groves. In Baldur’s Gate 3, the druids are located at the Emerald Grove close to the coast. The Emerald Grove, much like its real life comparison has interesting circular design. Stone Circles are prevalent in the British Isles, and they have been interpreted as a passage to the afterlife.

The Emerald Grove reflects an architectural sign of both moral and spiritual simplicity when compared to more elaborate places of worship in the game, such as Rosymorn Monastery close to Mountain Pass and the Temple of Shar close to Reithwin Town. This is more relevant for the druids, who reject the ornate and consider nature as their temple. This is nicely summed up by the main druid in the party, Halsin who states

“The city you mean? With all its noise, smoke, stone and bustle? I would not be here given the choice, but I have promised you my support. And that is what you shall have. This place crawls with life, but little of it flourishes. I see refugees unhouse. The destitute unwanted. Orphans unloved. The city is like a forest with an overgrown canopy. Light and nourishment can be penetrate it to those who need it the most… and still it draws them in. The safety in numbers. The promise of civilisation. The dream of better. All that potential is destined to die in the dark, and rot in the gutter. I wish for there was a better way,. I wish everyone could see the sun, have a full belly and see nature as a friend.”

Fekzak (2023: 294 ) states “there is no coincidence that the temple ruins oftentimes remain outside the scope of the in-game civilization; one can hardly find examples of abandoned(and haunted, or taken over)buildings and sacred sites within the city space, as if the architectural and metaphysical signifiers of religion gradually lose their meaning along with their proximity to the in-game cultural hubs.”

In terms of ideology, the main deity for the druids in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Silvanus, who is based on the Silvanus from Roman ideology, the god of the countryside, similar in character to Faunus, the god of animals, with whom he is often identified; he is usually depicted in the guise of a countryman. It is cognate with the Latin words silvester (‘wild, not cultivated’), silvicola (‘inhabiting woodlands’) or silvaticus (‘of woodlands or scrub’). The etymology of silva is unclear. Silvanus as a deity was mainly concerned were with nature itself, and more especially with “wild nature in all its raw beauty and violent brutality” (Shideed 2024: 211) Silvanus appears to be have been a popular god with the druids of Britain, who’s Celtic equivalent was known as Sucellus and Dagha. It is likely Silvanus was assimilated into the own pantheon during the Roman conquest, allowing for a continued worship of the original god Sucellus.

The interplay between civilisation and barbarism is felt throughout the game’s narrative, and is comparable to the Roman invasion of Britain known then as “Albion”. The Romans believed they intelligence and sophistication, but quietly feared their aggression and valour in the battlefield and their “barbaric” rituals. Consequently, the Romans and Greeks depicted the druids as bogeymen, spiritual medium that could channel the dark arts. It is more than certain that these records are biased,  wartime propaganda on a people they believed to be inferior. Similarly to the conquest of Mexico, where the Mexica Empire was seen as barbaric with a leaning towards devil worship by the Spanish conquistadors.

The archaeological evidence is quite fragmentary when it comes to their ancient practices. However, historical records, such as Julius Caeser’s description when he confronted them during his attempt at conquest, may give us an insight to see how they viewed by a more “civilised” culture.

The whole nation of the Gauls is greatly devoted to ritual observances, and for that reason those who are smitten with the more grievous maladies and who are engaged in the perils of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow to do so, employing the Druids as ministers for such sacrifices. They believe, in effect, that, unless for a man’s life a man’s life be paid, the majesty of the immortal gods may not be appeased; and in public, as in private, life they observe an ordinance of sacrifices of the same kind. Others use figures of immense size, whose limbs, woven out of twigs, they fill with living men and set on fire, and the men perish in a sheet of flame. They believe that the execution of those who have been caught in the act of theft or robbery or some crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such fails they resort to the execution even of the innocent.

– Julius Caesar,  Commentaries on the Gallic War, VI 16

In Baldur’s Gate 3, there a many are classes and cults that can be compared to devil worship, the Cult of Bhaal, worships murder and chaos. The druids depicted in Baldurs Gate 3 are multifaceted, some times they seem like a barbaric priesthood, perpetrating savage and blood rites ancient Britain and Gaul in the name of their gods as described by the Romans 2,000 years ago. The main druids featured in Baldur’s Gate 3 are Halsin and Kagha, one follows the nature loving stereotypes represented in the media. Kagha is represented by the barbarism of the druids when confronted by outsiders. In Iron Age Britain, Tacitus wrote with revulsion of the dark groves on Anglesey, haunted by Druids and containing crude and sinister altars soaked with the blood of human sacrificial victims. It is later revealed (if you choose to investigate) that Kagha is being controlled by the Shadow Druids, a druidic cult which believes that nature should drive out civilization with violence.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, the druids are a warrior class, where spells and feats aid them and their party during combat encounters. They take an active role in the battlefield by shapeshifting into animals, and using nature-based spells to take down enemies. Obviously, the role of a druid in the Dungeons & Dragons lore allow the player to participate in battles, which is a key element in the table-top game and Baldur’s Gate 3. Real druids played a more advisory role, however, there were exceptions such as Anglesey’s Druids who faced the Romans in 60 CE. Ancient Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote a detailed account about a major battle between the inhabitants of Anglesey and the Roman army in 60 CE, led by General Suetonius Paulinus (Tamblyn 1909).

It is unlikely that the true nature of the druids will ever be understood, archaeological evidence is too fragmentary and history records are biased and must be treated with caution. Despite this, the enigmatic nature of the druids has captured the imaginations of modern audiences, they appear in movies, games, books, and have even inspired a modern day religious movement in the form of neo-druidism, which focuses on the divine essence of nature. Neo druids follow a more medieval romanticism depiction, animal loving following wise leaders, and respecting the balance of nature. Arising from the 18th century Romanticist movement in Britain, which glorified the ancient Celtic peoples of the Iron Age, the early neo-Druids aimed to imitate the Iron Age priests who were also known as druids.

The media, modern and historical druids all maintain a relation to nature. Baldurs Gate 3 is no different. The controller allows players to engage with a past that is shrouded in ambiguity. An art form where antiquity can transform, and be consumed and interpreted by the present.

  • Felczak, M., 2023. Sacred Places and Spatial Design in Fantasy-themed Isometric cRPGs. Culture & Theory Volume 262, p.287.
  • Tamblyn, W.F., 1909. British Druidism and the Roman War Policy. The American Historical Review, 15(1), pp.21-36.
  • Shideed, R.M., 2024. Silvanus the Neglected god. Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality, 26(1), pp.205-213.
  • Waddell, J., 2023. Rethinking the Ancient Druids. An Archaeological Perspective: By Miranda Aldhouse-Green. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2021. 188 pp. Illus.£ 45.00 (pbk). ISBN 978-1-78683-797-4. Also available as an e-book.

Playing with prehistory

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Lara Croft made the discipline popular when she stole her first artefact in the puzzle solving game Tomb Raider in 1993, and it seems archaeology retains that pulling power to attract players. After Tomb Raider sprung to the public’s imaginations, other similar characters such as Nathan Drake in Uncharted and Aliya Elasra in Heaven’s Vault have proved equally as popular. Since the release of Tomb Raider, video games have come along way, no more are the awkward blocks and 2D backdrops. In 2018 the environment of ancient Greece was designed for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, it proved so authentic that a non-combat Discovery Tour version was released in 2019, allowing players to explore an almost historically accurate and thriving Acropolis all without the need to steal an artefact to unlock an achievement.

Video games have done such an astounding PR job for the profession with mainstream games such as Uncharted and Tomb Raider that they have inspired players to put down their controllers and pick up a trowel instead. Archaeology in reality, pales to the fantasy adventures of Lara Croft or Indiana Jones. But can we utilize the world building element of video games to engage with the public? The part of the human story that could benefit with such PR is the early prehistory (Palaeolithic- Neolithic or commonly known as the “stone age”), which almost never appears in the narrative of mainstream video games.

The designed worlds in video games are so intrinsic and real to the player that they make very engaging and effective public engagement tools. The fragmented nature of the archaeological record denies the full picture being seen, but video games, implementing the landscapes in historically accurate environments provide an insight to how this fragmented evidence could look in reality. Historical stimulation using the archaeological record may not appeal to the academic within us, seeming a bit gimmicky and altruistic, but they could unleash a new generation of archaeologists. However, prehistoric landscapes rely on preserved organic/palaeoenironmental remains in order for us to understand them, without the written record, archaeology is all we have, and how can soil and seeds recreate a landscape in the imagination of a child?

It has been done before and quite conveniently through the mechanics of Minecraft. The archaeology feature implements structures into the game called archaeology sites. This structure has blocks disguised as normal ones that have hidden treasures hidden inside of them. Users have also recreated real life archaeological prehistoric sites such as the Bryn Celli Ddu henge and burial tomb. Manchester Metropolitan University student Ben Edwards used his extra time at home to tackle an ambitious virtual building project. Rebuilding the monument in “Minecraft” lent Edwards “the freedom to reconstruct the landscape as it would have looked in the Neolithic [era],” he tells British Archaeological Jobs and Resources’ (BAJR) online news service, “right down to accurate hills, trees and rivers—something we had never done before.”

Archaeology can be an unobtainable world, the artefacts and structures buried in the dirt can struggle to spark the imagination of the public especially when those artefacts come from an era way before the adoption of farming and settled communities. Games focus on well-crafted environments that provide focal points of interest for players. This can easily make a game uniform and monotonous if not designed effectively.

Prehistory is not completely understood, the fragmentary nature of the archaeological record makes it hard for the record to be interpreted. However, that does not mean it cannot be implemented fully. The public may understand the context of a roman mosaic floor, but that understanding is usually understood within the context of standing archaeological sites such as Pompeii or Rome. The landscape and how our hunter gatherer/tribal ancestors interacted and understood it, is less understood even by the most experienced prehistorians.

An influx of interested academics in the esoteric subject of Archaeogaming means this is becoming a less taboo subject left in the margins of a few interested individuals. Although the literature is bogged down by the usual suspects of the previously mentioned Assassin’s Creed and Tomb Raider. The prehistory has had somewhat of a look in with Far Cry Primal and Dawn of Man releases. Dawn of Man is supposed to take place in the Palaeolithic period, an area of archaeological research in the UK which is scarce of substantial finds. The game is world building but primarily focuses on developing a settlement, while this game is engaging for prehistorians or keen hobbyists it fails to properly reconstruct a prehistoric landscape. For the purposes of public engagement it would be impractical.

The mainstream third person games is the way forward for a truly immersive experience, Far Cry Primal was the closest we got to this. Set in Mesolithic Central Europe. It provided a number of tropes that unfortunately distract from the complex game environments that the developers have created. Tropes such as the presence of the sabre-toothed cats, which became extinct n Europe in 26,000 BC meaning that their presence in a Mesolithic Europe at around 10,000 BC means it’s highly unlikely that they would be roaming around the landscape as they are depicted in the game. While there is nothing wrong with providing a landscape that creates the feeling of a Stone Age landscape. The perpetuation of these tropes in the media make it hard for those outside the archaeological sphere to truly appreciate how humans evolved and progressed. The Stone Age (Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) periods do not appear in the mainstream media often, is it because archaeologists have failed to spark the imaginations of the general public? Or is the lack of data, and the apprehension to interpret such data a contribution to the greater public understanding of these highly misunderstood periods.

The issue with prehistory is that it expands such as a long period of time that it can be homogenised and be melded into something that does represent the different time periods. But built-in engagement doesn’t necessarily need to rely on archaeological/historical accuracy to become a useful tool in public meetings. However, it does need to have some resemblance of the truth I order to create honest discussion. Another game that although fantastical in almost every element had some truly inspiring landscapes is Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. The game was developed by Ninja Theory and released in 2017, and focuses on mental illness and episodes of violent psychosis. It follows a Pict woman who has psychosis and goes to the underworld in order to save her dead lover’s soul. Although it is not set within prehistory, it is set in a period of history frequently referred to as the Dark Ages due to the scarcity of records. There seems to be something rather authentic about the artefacts assemblages scattered throughout the game. We learn about the ideological concepts through the iconography, statues and landscapes. This faithful interpretation likely owed to Dr Elizabeth Rowe of the University of Cambridge, an expert in Scandinavian History in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, who helped to develop the narrative of the game.

Contrary to what we know about the Early Medieval period like that represented in Hellblade, the nuance of trade, communication, and ideology means that the prehistory can be daunting for videogame creators, hence when a prehistoric backdrop is utilized in popular games it tends to be highly conceptual or completely inaccurate with games set in the prehistoric Age committing the predictable mistake of placing our ancestors in a world full of dinosaurs (Raso, 2011). Aside from this vision of prehistory full of interpretive mistakes, however game mechanics become very useful when translating the precarious nature of stone age life. For example, as Raso states (2011, p.85) “the survival of the individual and his social group or band was closely related to the nutritional resources they could obtain, an omnipresent aspect in the monographs concerning the most classic prehistoric sites.”

This is characterised in Horizon Zero Dawn when hunting the robotic creatures that dwell in a dystopian landscape. Its Neo-prehistoric world allows the developers to hypothesize how humans would react to the environment full of pseudo mega-fauna. Due to the sci-if aspect of its premise Horizon Zero Dawn overcomes the limitations of a prehistoric setting. The landscapes become a place for the player to explore and evaluate in an archaeological context where the debris piles serve as an artifact assemblage to be analysed. The game takes place in a world with gatherer-hunter communities have since developed in the time after an apocalyptic event complete with their own ideology, politics, and trade. As Reinhard (2017) states “artefacts and landscapes post-modern and culturally relativistic interpretation.”

There is game that tries to recreate the dangers and of a prehistoric landscape. Released in 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Ancestors: A Humankind Odyssey was developed by Montreal-based Panache Digital Games. A single-player, set 10 million years ago third-person adventure game set in a generic African landscape (consisting of ecosystems such as tropical rainforest, savanna, and coastline). The main goal of the game is survival, the player’s progress can easily be lost if the members of their clan die, players learn how to survive by a trial-and-error approach to the various social interactions, cross-species encounters, and tool use opportunities that are available in the game environment. A similar concept was created by Rubio Xavi for educational purposes. Ancestors: Stories of Atapuerca‘s game mechanics were based on the everyday activities of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle: hunt, make tools, gather resources, move camp etc (Rubio-Campillo 2020; p.53). The game also included small details which are often invisible in videogames such as the presence of children and the elderly.

There are many ways for this to become a reality but involves the archaeological community, the commercial and academic sectors working together to create something that is entertaining, immersive, realistic but also fun to play. The key is to create a connection to the player, and this doesn’t necessarily need to be done through the game mechanics, but through the narrative or characters. It doesn’t necessarily have to be accurate either as shown in Hellblade and Horizon Dawn Zero, but it does need to be represent the past in a way that feels authentic.

The human story started when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, and this part of our narrative tends to be the pushed to the margins, maybe it reminds of a time when we were truly vulnerable, or the lack of written history makes its more of a dark age. Whatever the barriers, it is up to the academics and media to show how interesting and stimulating this period of human story can be.

  • Snyder, W.D., 2022. Have Video Games Evolved Enough to Teach Human Origins?: A Review of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 10(1), pp.122-127.
  • Raso, D.G., 2016. Watching video games. Playing with Archaeology and Prehistory. AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology, 1(2), pp.73-92.
  • Rubio-Campillo, X., 2020. Gameplay as Learning: The Use of Game Design to Explain Human Evolution. Communicating the Past, p.45.

The Revenants of the Dragon Age series: The Archaeology of the Walking Dead

Published on by Franki WebbLeave a comment

In 2017, while I was writing up my masters thesis news broke of an unusual Roman British skeleton from Stanwick, Northamptonshire. Buried face down, the corpse’s tongue had been cut out and replaced with a flat stone. These type of burials are known widely as deviant and/or non-normative burials. News broke at the same time I was playing Dragon Age Inquisition, a game set in a world where the undead come back to cause trouble at every corner. Death in video games is more of a hurdle (regeneration or starting a level again is the only real death our protagonist will face) than something to fear and more so in a game like Dragon Age, where narrative decisions mean characters can come back through apparitions or necromancy, such as the Haunted in Act III of Dragon Age II or the character of Cole in Dragon Age: Inquisition or most gruesomely Leandra Amell’s grisly demise in All That Remains.

In Dragon Age, there are a number of faceless enemies that the protagonist faces, the most encountered are the reanimated corpses, a key enemy in A Village Under Siege, or the terrifying arcane horrors (dead mages possessed by a pride demon). However, one of the most formidable opponents you face are the revenants. In English folklore, a revenant is a person who has returned, supposedly from the dead. Borrowed from French, revenant was originally formed from the present participle of the verb revenir (“to return”). It literally means “one coming back,” either from another place or from the dead. The Romano British skeleton seemed to have suffer a mutilation that may have been a basic attempt to stop the corpse feeding on the living. Given the bacteria found in the skeleton’s bones, there could also have been a contagious epidemic at work, for which the deceased had been blamed, leading to the stone being placed in its mouth as punishment.

Although it may seem silly to us, there was a genuine belief in what we would deem today to be ‘superstitious’ or ‘occult’ in the ancient world. There was a very real fear of the dead rising from the dead and it can be seen in the archaeological record across medieval Europe. A site at Wharram Percy, a deserted medieval village in Yorkshire, England unearthed skeletal evidence of a probable medieval belief in revenancy. Historical accounts from Britain and Ireland tell of fear of revenants in general, while some accounts from Scotland and Ireland (and one from England) also hint at revenant blood-sucking – a fear linked more specifically to vampiric aspects of the revenant tradition. The scientific analysis has revealed that the individuals’ skeletal remains had been deliberately mutilated, decapitated and burned shortly after death. Medieval folk believed that corpses could only reanimate and become revenants in the short period between death and decomposition. Skeletons could not become revenants. Only fully fleshed intact corpses could do so.

Revenants were said to be stronger and bigger than they were when alive. This reflects how they appear in Dragon Age, being spirits of desire or pride that possess a warrior’s remains, and thus they appear as a heavily armored undead knight. They rise from the ground causing panic in the party and most are boss-level characters at least in Origins. The archaeological record reflects fear of undead warriors coming back from the dead, a warrior was someone to fear in life, but apparently even more so in death. Excavations near the Yorkshire town of Pocklington have discovered two revenant Iron Age burials.

A revenant burial in Pocklington, Yorkshire. (c) History Blog

The excavation revealed that one burial of a younger man who was speared repeatedly in the grave. The other was a senior man buried in a chariot with two horses. Both burials date to the 3rd century B.C. It has been argued that the manner of post mortem treatment was used to use of the control death of a powerful figure (e.g. witch, king) or someone suspected revenant, meaning social reputation of the person was valid in death as it was in life. Further afield in Sweden, a high-ranking warrior buried in grave 18 in Bjär, Gotland, with weapons, riding equipment and horse or dog, has been regarded as a potential threat to society after his death, as it could be assumed because of thy symbolic fixation of his corpse by stones and blades.  The body was fund close to a water body. Fear of revenants and their disposal in watery places may also help to explain the bog burials uncovered by archaeologists in northern Europe, these bodies were discovered pinned into peat bogs with thorns and stakes.

So how did revenants become a genuine belief? Were they nothing more than stories passed down from one generation to the other around the table to entertain, scare or teach a valuable lesson through storytelling? Although their origins may have started in the Iron Age, they became much more well known by English historians in the Middle Ages. There was a revenant caused trouble in Buckinghamshire as told by William of Newburgh in the 12th century. After trying to sleep with his still-living wife, pestering his still-living brothers, and then bothering some livestock, the locals decided the revenant had to go. Their quest for knowledge ended up going all the way to the bishop of Lincoln. The bishop’s advisors flat out told him that a common way to get rid of a pesky revenant was to cremate it. This was not an acceptable answer. In the end, the locals were told to open the revenant’s grave, put a scroll of absolution on the body’s chest, and rebury the body. (The bishop supplied the scroll by the way.) The Christian way worked and the revenant stayed dead.

A famous example of a warrior revenant is in the martyrdom of Oswald, it is Oswald himself, the hero and warrior, who is mutilated by the Mercian pagans. Oswald was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death in 642, and is venerated as a saint with a particular cult in the Middle Ages. Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira once again under a single ruler, and promoted the spread of Christianity in Northumbria. After eight years of rule, in which he was the most powerful ruler in Britain, Oswald was killed in the Battle of Maserfield while fighting the forces of Penda of Mercia. John Damon (2001, 403-05) is concerned with the fact that Oswald was decapitated post-mortem, and the ‘trophification’ of the severed limbs in both cases. This could be from a fear of rising from the grave much like his messiah Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, contemporary Old English records have little to say on the matter of prone burial, and everything we know of them is from the archaeological record.

Medieval communities in England believed that the only way the dead could walk is if a demon entered the body, props it up on its feet and then makes it take a few steps. This ideology was spread by Thomas of Cantimpre, a Flemish medieval writer and theologian, in his manual for preachers, Bonum universalede apibu. Thomas’s language emphasizes the demon’s manipulation of the body as an object: “[The Devil] moved [the body] at first in the coffin. . . suddenly the Devil roseup with the corpse”. Similar to the revenants of Dragon Age, demons in Medieval Europe were believed to seek out cemeteries in order to rob graves of their occupants. Thomas’s interpretation of revenants as demonically possessed means they are corrupted only corporeally. In Dragon Age, where warrior bodies are rife for demons, there are two forms of revenants, one takes the form of a corpse and the other a demon, which reflect the uncertainty of what they truly were and what medieval people feared, was it a fear of death or the fear of the devil? The creativity of Bioware to reflect the mental attitudes of medieval cultures to a wider audience allows video games to be a serious medium to convey archaeological and socio-historical ideas or theories. While it may be naive to think this way, as Dragon Age has demonstrated video games can become an effective approach for understanding the more nuanced religious and supernatural beliefs of our ancestors, even if we have to level up to do so.

  • Caciola, N., 1996. Wraiths, revenants and ritual in medieval culture. Past & Present, (152), pp.3-45.
  • Damon, John Edward. “Desecto capite perfido: bodily fragmentation and reciprocal violence in Anglo-Saxon England.” Exemplaria 13, no. 2 (2001): 399-432.
  • Mattison, A., 2016. The Execution and Burial of Criminals in Early Medieval England, c. 850-1150: an examination of changes in judicial punishment across the Norman Conquest(Doctoral dissertation, University of Sheffield).
  • Toplak, M., 2018. Deconstructing the deviant burials: Kopparsvik and the rite of prone burials in Viking Age Scandinavia. Met

Why the dark academia aesthetic for the archaeologist doesn’t (but could) work

Published on by Franki Webb3 Comments

I’m not one for internet aesthetics. Before I studied archaeology, I was very much into the mainstream. I spent most of my time not reading the great classics, Fitzgerald, Carver, Dickens, but Sophie Kinsella, Helen Fielding and oh god R.R Martin. I rolled my eyes when anyone mentioned Plath or Hughes, there was very little time for anything much else but attending ritzy media parties. When I was at university for my postgrad, archaeologists fell in two camps, the pseudo academic always with a book in his hand or the scruffy muddy handed digger. Unfortunately for me I probably fell in the former category, although I found my tweed collection was lacking in comparison to everyone else and my knowledge of Latin was subpar, but who knew that almost a half a decade later that this image of the pretentious scholar would somehow end up being an internet sensation? Dark academia as it is known as is a popular academic aesthetic on social media that revolves around classic literature, the pursuit of self-discovery, and a general passion for knowledge and learning.

At 33, I am beyond the pursuit of an idolised image, but what intrigued me about this weird corner of the internet was how much of archaeology, most importantly an era of archaeology known as cultural history revolved around this aesthetic. Did the understanding of the origin of archaeology play almost ironically in this aesthetic? For those who don’t know, cultural history was based on the idea of defining historical societies into distinct ethnic and cultural groupings according to their material culture. It was first developed in in Germany among those archaeologists surrounding Rudolf Virchow, culture-historical ideas would later be popularised by Gustaf Kossinna.  A staunch nationalist and racist, Kossinna lambasted fellow German archaeologists for taking an interest in non-German societies, such as those of Egypt and the Classical World, and used his publications to support his views on German nationalism. This makes the idolisation of scholars from this period, problematic. There are numerous articles on this subject, most criticising the European aesthetic of the academic. And much like cultural history, it is defined by elitism with undertones of racism and classism.

Bruce Trigger argued that the development of cultural history in part was due to the rising tide of nationalism and racism in Europe, which emphasised ethnicity as the main factor shaping history. Childe introduced the concept of an archaeological culture (which up until then had been largely restrained purely to German academics), to his British counterparts. This concept would revolutionise the way in which archaeologists understood the past, and would come to be widely accepted in future decades. The pictures that encompass this aesthetic mostly focus on the European ideals. There is nothing intricately wrong with wearing tweed and reading Homer’s Iliad, but there seems to be little awareness of were this aesthetic borrows heavily from the colonial period of British history.  Dark Academia glorifies the long relationship between colonialism and archaeology. Even if one is not studying archaeology, the aesthetic (predominantly the fashion and décor) borrow almost exclusively from culture historians. From tweed jackets to pith hats, certain items of clothing are enduring emblems of preconceived notion of “European intellectual supremacy”.

A famous archaeologist Dr Manassa Darnell also known as the “Vintage Archaeologist” has a large Instagram following, and presents herself as a 1920s Egyptologist of course from a white European or American with a particular socio-economic background. During this period, archaeological practices not only sidelined African people’s heritage and knowledge. They also resulted in many important fossils and artefacts being held in institutions outside Africa most notably America and England. The obsession with the aesthetics of a particular culture and era are questionable, there is of course nothing wrong with appreciating beauty and aesthetic on any level. The issue arises when people who follow this aesthetic celebrate colonial-era archaeology and erase the presence of people of colour. Dark Academia promotes the marketization, and consumption of these type of colonial aesthetics.

With a focus on the idolisation of classical art and philosophy arguably beginning at the same time as cultural history or at least in colonial era archaeology. The Elgin Marbles of the Parthenon for example were removed between 1801 to 1812 by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, as well as sculptures from the Propylaea and Erechtheum. The resurgence of Greek and Roman imagery by extreme conservative, white supremacist groups show how these types of imagery are still powerful at degrading people of a non-white background. Presumably, the problem is then not the aesthetic itself, I own a patchy armed tweed jacket, and my khaki’s are what I pack during archaeological excavations, it lies is in the complete idolisation and ongoing popularity of and nostalgia for colonial imageries among large segments of western audiences. By replicating this period down to the Harris Tweed and ignoring the the Eurocentrism apparent in Dark Academia makes it problematic in the context of the contemporary archaeology.  In this light, it almost callous for scholars of this field to out rightly appeal to the white-washed, elitist nostalgia of cultural history without context. It is up to us to instead point out the irony of internalised coloniality, and wear those tweed jackets while rewriting the damage done by those before us.

Space Archaeologist: Liara T’Soni

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Guest Post by Franki Webb, an archaeologist and writer. She started as a journalist but decided to chase her dreams of being an archaeologist. Her writing mostly focuses the problematic nature of Western archaeology and archaeology in the media. Currently she is working as an archaeological consultant for an engineering company.

Sarah Parcak, author ofSpace Archaeologydefines the discipline as “any form of air or space-based data to look for ancient features or sites.” Space Archaeology is very much a real discipline, steeped in using the latest satellite data to find new archaeological sites normally difficult to see on the ground. This is very different to how archaeology is usually depicted in a number of videogames, such asUncharted(2008) andTomb Raider(2013), where data is curiously absent. Undoubtedly, audiences are familiar with archaeological themes in science fiction movies such asForbidden Planet(1956);Planet of the Apes

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We are not Imposters: Dealing with Impostor Syndrome and archaeology

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I don’t think I’m the only female archaeologist who’s looked around a room and thought what the hell am I doing here? I regularly do this, and I’m training my brain not to allow these thoughts to take over like Dory from Finding Nemo I constantly repeat “Just keeping nodding, nodding”. Because these thoughts are insidious, they creep up on you in the middle of a sentence, as you enter a conference room, or even when writing an email. The feeling is everywhere. I once was invited to speak at a conference on the topic of archaeogaming. My online articles had proven popular with a number of people following the subdiscipline and I felt absolutely ecstatic to be recognised. The conference moved online and even from the comfort of my own sofa, I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there. Apparently a lot of archaeologists feel the same, a quick search of the terms “imposter syndrome” and “archaeology” on Google, produces 1,030,000 results. A lot of archaeobloggers like myself have posted about it, feeling the weight of their own inadequacy, most of which are women and underrepresented racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, hardly surprising when you look into the evolution of the subject.

Like most of them, I can almost pinpoint where my imposter syndrome took hold. This feeling started off during my postgraduate studies, I sat in my Archaeological Theory class in University College London, tired and exhausted from trying to understand the amount of assigned readings from the night previous. Words like “processualism” and “middle range theory” popped out of my head as quickly as they got into it. Impostor syndrome is not the root cause of the problem, I realised that after taking Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that my worst enemy was not the lecturer probing me for comebacks on my theory, or that overenthusiastic undergrad asking me the impossible questions that I needed a reference for. It was me. I was the one with these thoughts in my head after all.

When I was talking to my therapist, she noted that I constantly put myself down. “Sorry I’m just being stupid” was/is apparently one of my favourite phrases or my ultimate favourite was/is “I’m a bit of an idiot.” According to Marisa Peer, author of I am Enough repeating negative phrases about oneself makes the mind believe them. So the fact I was talking to myself in such a negative way almost everyday made me believe I was in fact “stupid” and an “idiot.” When I decided to do a presentation for the local history group about the archaeology of our area I walked in thinking “I’m too stupid to do this”. During my undergraduate studies I did a presentation comparing the use of Jade in Neolithic China to to that of the Classic Maya in Mexico. I remembered being so filled with confidence because I kept saying to myself “I can do this” something one of my favorite videogame characters Lara Croft repeatedly says to herself during the course of the game Tomb Raider. The power of my own words had changed my outlook so quickly. So what changed? Having strong role models is imperative to development when I had just started off I latched on to strong independent thinkers who not only encouraged me but who took their own time to help me. When they moved on I felt isolated and alone, and worried about my own capabilities.

As archaeologists we aren’t supposed to know all the answers. Within my career, I have known academics who know very little about digging, and I have known fieldwork archaeologists who struggle to present their ideas to an audience. What’s important even if you know you have weaknesses you can change them with some discipline and self belief. It’s really that simple. During this last week, I realised one of the most important things for me is writing, be that on this blog, journal or website. I took Peer’s advice and started writing a little everyday so it would become a habit. When you repeat the same action every day, even if it’s only for ten minutes you start adopting healthier habits. I started by writing ten minutes of my blog, and started writing a new article, by the end of the week I had three ready to publish articles! One of the persistent worries I hear from other archaeologists is that they don’t know enough especially from students, when I was helping them study Aztec hieroglyphs I told them to learn just one every day. Once they have memorised one, they could easily memorise two.

Let’s be real even if we don’t want to admit it, but Imposter Syndrome is ubiquitous with archaeology because of the very nature of the subject. The material culture reveals a number of traits regarding human behaviour, but human behaviour by it’s very nature is capricious especially during periods when humans weren’t fighting for survival. This means archaeologists can never really assert a clear and standard theory to explain human behaviour, which can make us feel somewhat unqualified. But none of us can really be fully qualified to make such assertions without a time machine. We can make informed theories even if we can’t prove them. The archaeologists that I have great respect for know this. They’ve also trained their brains to accept this and not strive for absolutes. These feelings are the hijackers sabotaging our rational brain to make us believe the feelings instead of the facts. As archaeologist even if we accept that our ignorance of their world is vast, we can’t allow impostor thoughts to block our pursuit of knowledge.

An Archaeologist Reviews – The Dig (2021)

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The Dig is a film driven not only by discovery but by loss. This feeling is captured in everything from it’s melancholic characters to its muted but earthy cinematography. The movies tells the story of Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) who hires local self-taught archaeologist-excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to tackle the large burial mounds at her rural estate in Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge. He and his team discover a ship of Anglo Saxon origin while digging up a burial ground. It’s an archaeological discovery that lit up the Dark Ages. Before this discovery, a dearth of written sources was presumed to signal an absence of culture in this period.

The greatness of The Dig lies in its look at the personal lives of the people behind The Dig even if entirely fictional. This Netflix production focuses on how the key themes of archaeology such a death, loss and memory affect the characters. Brown struggles to maintain his control over the site, with Pretty, who’s going through health issues, not always available to make sure the right thing is done. But both share a passion for knowledge, for discoveries of the linkages between eras and peoples.

Based on John Preston’s novel of the same name, The Dig is a story laid out in truth, allowing the historical events and somewhat realistic characters to keep the viewers captivated rather than need for excessive drama caused by snakes, guns, treacherous Nazis or damsels in distress. The most important aspect is not the treasure found, but how the knowledge has impacted our lives. Allowing us to reflect on our complex relationship to the past, and how and why we value it. For a nation on the brink of war, the discovery of Sutton Hoo was a source of pride and inspiration, equivalent to the tomb of Tutankhamum.

The funerary mound contained the remains of a decayed oak ship, approximately 27m in length, which had been dragged from the nearby River Deben to serve as a royal tomb. Over 250 artefacts revealed the sophistication of East Anglia in Anglo-Saxon times. There were riches from across the known world, including silver bowls and spoons from Byzantium and gold dress accessories set with Sri Lankan garnets, highlighting that trade was happening on a large scale even then. The wood of the ship and the flesh of the man had dissolved in the acidic Suffolk soil, the gold, silver and iron of his wealth remained. The burial is thought to belong to King Raedwald, whose reign corresponded with the early seventh-century date of the coins contained in a gold purse (c. 610-635CE).

The movie gives us an portrayal of the archaeological excavation in the 1930s, conducted using workmen with just a few skilled excavators and qualified academics. There is careful attention to archaeological detail, emphasising that the ship’s timbers had virtually disappeared, surviving as nothing more than iron rivets and a silhouette stained in the sand. But with all its triumphs, The Dig fails to cast it only female archaeologist in a positive light, Peggy was known during her impressive career for her field expertise, but she is relegated to love interest for a swoony Johnny Flynn, her brilliance rarely shown. But that’s true for the rest of the dig team, few professional skills are depicted at all: the archaeologists were brought in to draw, plan and record archaeological features – not simply to extract artefacts.

The final scenes reburying the ship to protect it during the impending WWII shows that Britain is to bear even more loss within its history. Director Simon Stone explores the idea of having a legacy, the emphasis in the movie is what we leave behind for others. Thankfully for us, Brown and Pretty’s legacy is on permanent display. The finds were given to the British Museum to ensure that they were accessed to as many people for free allowing the treasures to be found again by new generations. Deepening our understanding of ourselves, our world, and our collective history.

Detoxing from cultural heritage

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Like nearly everyone else in the UK I have spent most of the last year either indoors or in a park. Gone are the days when I would take detours through the British Museum to get to my part time job. There hasn’t been a day when I haven’t thought about the exhibitions that have been cancelled, or the empty spaces within those walls that I used to escape to when the stress of everyday life got too much.

The hiatus of not visiting my favourite cultural spaces has allowed me to rethink about why I spent so little time focusing on my needs away from work and study. My life has revolved around archaeology for such a long time that I had forgotten about the other parts of me that made me well me. How many exhibitions can I attend? How many books can I read this week? It was mentally exhausting, and while I still have guilt pangs about how much I’ve missed, the truth is so has everyone.

The freedom not to focus too much on keeping up to date with the latest research and exhibitions has allowed me to focus on myself, reading for the love of it, writing because I want to and not because of a false pressure to get published. Prepandemic I was only focused on how aspects of cultural heritage could either improve my knowledge or how it could impact my work. There’s much more to cultural heritage than what people are finding or how it looks in pretty display boxes. It’s about how we connect with it. Do we see our ancestors faces when we read about their ideologies? Do we see current patterns emerging when we walk around the ruins of fallen civilisations? This is what makes cultural heritage relevant to the world.

Detoxing from it, has allowed me to take a step back and consider what I enjoyed about it initially. The truth is people perspectives on it has always grabbed my imagination. How video game designers create spaces in historical environments. How people look at monuments and decide what people were thinking within that time and landscape. How writers use historical events and places to create narratives that connect with audiences.

The pandemic has allowed lots of us to look more inwards and to think about our happiness and contentment. The lives we were living before might not have actually been the best for our mental health, we’ve (or most) had the opportunity to slow down and reevaluate our goals, this inevitably means we’ve discovered something new about ourselves or that we don’t actually know ourselves at all. Cultural heritage won’t be the competition I wanted it to be. I will read books, attend exhibitions, and watch documentaries but in healthy moderation.

Video games inspire us

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“All men dream – but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity… But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.” From T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

I get asked a lot, “how did you get into archaeology?” it’s not a question I like to answer. I find myself tugging on the ends of my sleeves, an awkward reflex I picked up during the tortuous years of high school. The truth is I always lie when I respond to this question. I lie quite unabashedly about getting interested in archaeology in my teens, but the truth is archaeology never really crossed my mind until my early twenties. I’d always loved history; castles and I took delight in Indiana Jones as a kid but that was the extent of my appreciation for the discipline. The reality is videogames got me interested in archaeology, and not just any video game, Dragon Age. I loved the series so much, but it wasn’t just the storyline or characters that sucked me into the world, it was the world itself: scattered ruins, ancient races, forgotten languages and mystery hidden behind every corner.

The environs of Dragon Age got me thinking of historic landscapes in my country, England. I started visiting ruins of abbeys some which could be picked straight out of Ferelden. I loved the symbolism found in Celtic crosses and was drawn to the preserved landscapes of the prehistoric. After a year of making the most of my English Heritage membership I knew that I wanted to pursue something that made me fulfilled, much like how video games had made me feel. I applied for a degree that year, and continued playing video games with archaeology as a focal point, Tomb Raider and Uncharted. My archaeology origin story was one I didn’t like to share with others at university who usually had the typical story of joining their father’s excavation at Durham or found their first piece of worked flint at the age of 8.

Video games have always influenced my life and for the most parts in truly positive ways. It was my love for video games that led me to Japan when I was 20, got me into sewing as I recreated outfits of my favourite characters. It’s how I met my best friend, my first boyfriend, it’s provided me with a number of positive female role models throughout my adolescence and early twenties. It provided escapism when life just got too tough, allowing me to switch off the static around me. The role video games has had on my life and career has been unmeasurable, I owe Square Enix, Bioware and Core Design my sanity and happiness. When parents complain about their kids on that damn Xbox all the time, don’t automatically think they are wasting their time. It’s likely they are being inspired for the rest of their lives, to take risks they probably wouldn’t  take outside of the safety from their own living room.  To think outside the box, to study astrophysics to be like Commander Shepherd, to be fearless like Ellie or to create their own video games as a writer, artist or composer. That’s because video games inspire us.

Queen Himiko of Japan – The Archaeology Behind Tomb Raider (2013 & 2018)

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“Myths are usually based on some version of the truth”

– Lara Croft, Tomb Raider

There was something to admire about Crystal Dynamics’s 2013 video game Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, the main protagonist’s of the franchise is a keen archaeologist and like many wide-eyed archaeology graduates wants to make a name for herself. In this rendition, her interest in exploration focuses much more on the archaeology she hopes to discover than the treasure she uncovers during her time as PlayStation’s pinup girl of the 90s. In the 2013 game, recent archaeology graduate Lara Croft travels to a lost island off the coast of Japan in search of the lost kingdom Yamatai. Unfortunately for Lara and her comrades, the island is crawling with cultists known as the Solarii, and soon she forced into a battle of survival as she tries to escape the cult and the a supernatural presence that is chasing her.

Like many gamers, I loved this version of Lara (before the daddy issues came along, damn you Rise), and as an archaeologist interested in East Asian prehistory, this setting sparked intellectual joy (thanks Marie Kondo) unlike the previous games, which stuck to the fail safe of pyramids and King Arthur. There aren’t many faults with this game, and like Lara I too became captivated by the legendary figure of the Sun Queen, Himiko.

In the game Queen Himiko (卑弥呼) serves as the antagonist to Lara Croft, creating a supernatural entity Lara not only has to fight but also has to use her wits and intelligence to keep one step ahead. A formidable opponent for Lara, the spirit of the ancient Sun Queen is transferred from body to body through ritual female sacrifice.  Himiko is essentially a plot device that allows Lara to realise her full potential as an archaeologist and tomb raider as she tries to solve the mystery of the island and its inhabitants.

Queen Himiko as she appears in the 2013 video game Tomb Raider

A quick history

Queen Himiko was the shamaness ruler of the Yamatai kingdom, an area of Japan considered to be part of the country in Wa (Japan) during the late Yayoi period. Himiko is not mentioned the first history books Nihon Shoki (720 AD) and Kojiki (712 AD). She is however mentioned in Chinese history books, specifically the he c. 297 Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Zhi 三國志). These Chinese sources portrayed Himiko as a mighty sorceress and there are several such characters in Japanese history who could fulfill that role. Scholars in the 17th century proposed Empress Jingu. She became the defacto ruler of Japan in 201 AD ruling for the next 68 years until her death at the age of 100. However, Chinese sources claim when Himiko died there was a prolonged period of civil war which ended in the Yamatai making another woman their Shaman-Queen, a woman called Iyo (壹與). Jingu was succeeded by her (possibly illegitimate) son, Ojin.

However, the biggest mystery that still lingers till this day is where was the kingdom of Yamatai? In the video game Yamatai is depicted as having multi-period occupation island, but archaeologists believe the real Yamatai to have existed in some form in Kinki, the Yamato region of Japan.

The Yamatai Controversy

Andonyama kofun – burial mound of Emperor Sujin

Known in academia as “The Yamatai Controversy” , in the last century archaeologists and historians had two main contenders for the location of Yamatai. Kinki in the Yamato region of Japan and Northern Kyushu. However, an account by a Korean itinerary to Yamatai in Wei-shu disputes the theory that the kingdom was that far south in Kyushu.

It is likely that the kingdom was close to the old capital of Nara within mainland Japan, a potential archaeological site has been linked to Yamatai in Hashihaka. In 2009, excavations in Makimuku ancient ruins in Sakurai revealed the Hashihaka tomb, dating back to the late third century, and is said to be the location of the tomb of Himiko. The Makimuku ruins measure about 1.24 miles (2 kilometers) east to west and about 0.93 of a mile (1.5 km) from north to south. The ruins have ancient burial mounds, and a 306-yard (280-meter). In 2015, further investigations showed a burnt boar scapula found in the ruins of Makimuku, which may relate to the practice of burning animal bones to tell the future. The boar bone found at Makimuku measures 6.6 inches (16.7 cm) long by 2.64 inches (6.7 cm) wide. A further 117 frog bones have also been found at the site and there is a suggestion that they may have been used as an offering to the gods or in some other kind of religious rites.

Shaman Queen

In the video game Tomb Raider, Queen Himiko is said to have shamanistic powers and abilities, and there is some truth to this. Himiko is said to have practiced guidao, or Japanese kido, a type of Daoist folk religion. The Gishi no Wajinden (魏志倭人伝, ‘Records of Wei: An Account of the Wa’) described her as a having “occupied herself with magic and sorcery, bewitching the people”. She was seldom seen in public and was attended by “one thousand attendants, but only one man”. Like the video game, Himiko had many female attendants and a legion of skilled warriors who were sworn to serve and protect her known collectively as the Stormguard. They guarded her decaying body until Lara is forced to fight them to get to her tomb to save her best friend Sam from being another sacrifice.

 The archaeological record shows reveals that some of these myths might have some basis in the truth. Between 1955 and 1964, a series of archaeological discoveries including the excavation of a tomb near Kyoto with numerous bronze mirrors possibly dating from the 3rd century.  A mirror, known as Himiko’s mirror, was found in the Higashinomiya Tomb in Aichi, Japan. Researchers analyzed the “mirror”  and found it had a slight unevenness to its surface – so slight the naked eye cannot recognize it. The uneven surface creates patterns on the back as light reflects off of the front of the mirror, seeming to project a magical image.

Tomb Raider 2018

Queen Himiko as depicted in the 2018 movie Tomb Raider

Unlike the 2013 game, Tomb Raider the movie released in 2018 starring Alicia Vikander as Lara, takes Himiko in a completely different direction depicting the queen as the “Mother of Death”. The movie has a big twist, unlike the game Himiko isn’t mystical, (the real Queen Himiko probably couldn’t control storms or transfer her essence across bodies) but rather she was the carrier of a deadly disease. Furthermore, she wasn’t malicious; in fact, she exiled herself to Yamatai to prevent the spread of the sickness. There is no mention of her shamanic abilities or her role as a religious figure, which spurs the video game’s main antagonist Mathias, who’s been stranded on the island for 31 years, to worship her. Yet, like her real life counterpart she is still shrouded in mystery and intrigue.

The real Himiko’s legacy is a reminder of how historical women figures are often forgotten. She doesn’t feature prominently in the history of Japan, and recognition as a ruler didn’t come till the Edo period in the 1600s. It is likely that the Japanese adoption of Buddhism and Confucianism didn’t do much to elevate the status of women. Fortunately, she wasn’t permanently erased. Himiko represents the first notable ancestor of a strong tradition of female religious leaders and political leaders in Japan and serves as a representation of the unnamed women forgotten to history.