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Star Wars Archaeology

This article is more than 8 years old.

If your social media feed is anything like mine, a bunch of punning Star Wars fans have already exhorted "May the fourth be with you!" today.  Since the original film was released the year I was born, I have grown up with the movies... although I confess the last one I saw was The Phantom Menace one late night back in college.

What stuck with me all these years, though, are the backdrops.  Scenery that looked like it really was from a galaxy far, far away. These settings seem to have captivated other archaeologists as well, inspiring them to seek out the remains of George Lucas's sets and find the real history of those places.  In honor of Star Wars day, here are my favorite pieces on the archaeology of Star Wars:

1. Tunisia as Tatooine.  Because of my lifelong interest in the Roman Empire , I've always wanted to travel across northern Africa. The setting of Star Wars' Tattooine in Nefta, a small town near the border with Algeria, simply solidified that desire. Nefta may have begun as part of Numidia, a Roman province annexed in the first century BC, but has seen a number of different cultures come and go over the millennia.  A lot has been written about this locale, but check out Marc Barkman-Astles' 2013 article "The Archaeology of Star Wars" in Heritage Daily.

2. California as the Sarlacc Pit.  Buttercup Valley, in the Yuma Desert, was the backdrop for the famous Sarlacc Pit in the Return of the Jedi. While I've never been and wouldn't really consider a Star Wars-themed road trip an item on my bucket list, a quartet of fans set out to excavate the sail-barge set purportedly still buried in the desert. Jon Mooallem wrote up their adventure for Harper's Magazine in 2009 as "Raiders of the Lost R2: Excavating a Galaxy Far, Far Away."

3. Ireland as ???.  The World Heritage site of Skellig Michael in Ireland saw the Star Wars crew filming there last summer for Episode VII, but what the craggy cliffs stand in for in the Star Wars world seems to be a secret still. At JSTOR Daily, archaeologist Terry O'Hagan has written a nice synopsis of the historical and archaeological background of the location: "Skellig Michael: An Island Far, Far Away (Where Star Wars Episode VII Was Filmed)." The article is worth a read, especially if you want to out-geek your friends with the "real history" of the place when the movie comes out.

The seven Star Wars films have been filmed literally all over the world, meaning the chances of future archaeologists stumbling over errant X-wing starfighter pieces, Tatooine huts, and maybe even Leia's infamous bra keep increasing. Perhaps there's a future career in here for movie-set archaeologists?

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