Archaeologists have discovered many of the world’s hidden treasures; however, some treasures like legendary hidden gold is better discovered by treasure protectors. Jon Turteltaub’ s 2004 movie, National Treasure, tells the story of treasure enthusiast named Ben Gates who embarks on a journey to find a long-lost hidden treasure. From stealing the Declaration of Independent to teaming up with his enemy, Ian, he discovered archeological sites along the way. Unfortunately, like many Hollywood movies, reality and non-fiction do not usually meet eye to eye. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, National Treasure, several archaeological aspects were introduced, but the reality of them is to be questioned. Gates discovers two archeological sites: Charlotte, a long lost boat, and an underground treasure site. He has a degree in American history and Mechanical Engineering, but he is not accepted by academia nor he is a professional archaeologist. Although he is seen using some scientific archaeological equipment, the procedures used do not follow professional or scientific methods that an archeologist abide by. In the movie, his team is seen using a detector to find the lost boat. This tool is similar to what actual …show more content…
Gates excavated the sites to find the treasure that his whole family spent years searching for. He had personal reasons and in no means did it for profit. This is bested showed in the movie when he decides to share the entire treasure because he believed that what the founding fathers intended. He also refused to accept ten percent of the treasure. In the other hand, Ian represented the other extreme side of archaeology spectrum of people who do it for profit. His entire motives were to find the gold for selfish desires. The movies portray the two extremes were most archeologists pursuit this career for research, a paycheck and