The Ancient and Classical Worlds - Part One

With the release in 1981 of the first movie in the Indiana Jones series, I have often fantasized of living his lifestyle. With the release of three sequels, the intensity of my compulsion merely heightened.


Exactly like my hero, I have a love of both history and science, which one can best combine in the discipline of archeology. And like my hero, I have a passion for crawling through deep and forbidding passageways, wiping persistent spiderwebs from my face and wearing his famous wide-brimmed hat and a leather aviator’s jacket of the same color. And finally like my mentor, I often say, “Snakes, I hate snakes.”


The Ancient and Classical Worlds are so fascinating, though they are mostly crumbling ruins, and I have long wondered how the ancients could have possibly built them all. Consider  the remains under volcanic ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the Library of Celsius and the Great Amphitheater in Ephesus, the Parthenon in Athens and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. They are like sweet potato pie to me. My wife and daughter, who traveled with me, know far more about ancient and classical history than they once did.


The introductory video of the author was made after his return to North Carolina from his arduous and long adventure to the Mediterranean. It is based upon the spirit of good humor and   upon that presumption  I hope my readers might enjoy it. I said it once, but I’ll say it again, “Happy digging, wherever you are.”