# Were ancient tombs really booby-trapped? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 9, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289 "2005-08-09T16:36:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/1 "2005-08-09T16:36:58Z")
Kudos to **dropzone** for the well-written and entertaining [Were ancient tombs really booby-trapped?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mboobytraps.html) Staff Report. I especially liked the throwaway at the end about Scrooge McDuck and Carl Barks. I thought it should have been in the references, though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/2 "2005-08-09T17:46:11Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Kudos to **dropzone** for the well-written and entertaining [Were ancient tombs really booby-trapped?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mboobytraps.html) Staff Report. I especially liked the throwaway at the end about Scrooge McDuck and Carl Barks. I thought it should have been in the references, though. I do have to take issue a bit. A friend who’s an archeologist with the NC DOT tells me he has to fight Nazis all the time. I’ve never seen him handle a bullwhip, though. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/3 "2005-08-09T18:31:04Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I especially liked the throwaway at the end about Scrooge McDuck and Carl Barks. I thought it should have been in the references, though. Never read it so I couldn’t put it in the bibliography, could I? I mean, I’m not in college anymore. Anyway, I only mentioned it because Dex wouldn’t have allowed me to submit the article without it. I’ve dealt with Barks fans before and they’re an obsessive lot. I was more of a Wally Wood’s [Total War](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1593072627/002-6210176-6660841?v=glance) type. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/4 "2005-08-09T19:05:41Z")
Isn’t it _The Prize of Pizarro_ that is usually credited as the Carl Barks duck story that inspired the temple scene in _Raiders_, not _The Seven Cities of Cibola_? Not that I’ve read either of them, mind. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/5 "2005-08-09T19:22:15Z")
Ok, so they didn’t have booby traps, but what about switch puzzles? ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/6 "2005-08-09T19:24:20Z")
But if you eat all of the cookies, Emily Teeter won’t get any. Doesn’t she deserve some? ---
**Author:** ![jatl1373](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@jatl1373](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jatl1373)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/7 "2005-08-09T19:25:09Z")
> **[nov02.pdf](https://www.saa.org/publications/thesaaarchrec/nov02.pdf)** > > 38.11 KB the above link is for an article from a local Chicago professor of anthropology and archeology has developed and taught a course where Indiana Jones is part of the curriculum… further research for you… ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/8 "2005-08-09T20:16:21Z")
I can think of at least one (fictional) instance of booby-trapped tombs (sort of) that predates Hollywood. In the novel _King Solomon’s Mines_ , by H. Rider Haggard published 1885, the heroes gained entrance to an ancient treasure vault that was sealed by > [@](#): > > a mass of stone was slowly rising from the floor and vanishing into the rock above, where doubtless there was a cavity prepared to receive it. The mass was of the width of a good-sized door, about ten feet high and not less than five feet thick. It must have weighed at least twenty or thirty tons, and was clearly moved upon some simple balance principle, probably the same as that which the opening and shutting of a modern window is arranged. How the principle was set in motion, of course none of us saw; Gagool was careful to avoid that; but I have little doubt that there was some very simple lever, which was moved ever so little by pressure upon a secret spot, thereby throwing additional weight on to the hidden counterbalances, and causing the whole huge mass to be lifted from the ground. Very slowly and gently the great stone raised itself, till at last it had vanished altogether, and a dark hole presented itself to us in the place which it had filled. And then once they were inside, the treacherous Gagool sealed them in, apparantly doomed. If you want to know how they got out, read the book. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/9 "2005-08-09T20:30:50Z")
FTR, I am an archaeologist and I have never encountered a boobytrapped tomb. This is what drove me crazy about Indiana Jones. I mean, they got so many things dead-on like the constant Nazi threat, the ever-present bullwhip and pistol, the mandatory fedora, damsels in distress, etc. but they totally screwed up on the boobytraps. C’mon, it makes the movie totally unrealistic. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/10 "2005-08-09T20:35:01Z")
A very well written, informative and thoroughly enjoyable article, **dropzone**. Nice work. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/11 "2005-08-09T20:49:13Z")
> [@jatl1373](#): > > [404](http://www.saa.org/publications/theSAAarchRec/nov02.pdf) Wow! One can now download PDFs of that magazine (complete except the ads) for free! 🆒 Not the most recent issue, but most archaeologists aren’t in the business of “recent,” anyway. > [@Strinka](#): > > But if you eat all of the cookies, Emily Teeter won’t get any. Doesn’t she deserve some? Yes, indeed she does, and something better than pecan sandies, but Ed refuses to change it back to the chocolate chips she requested. Cecil must be on vacation because Ed seems to think he can get away with murder. > [@Lumpy](#): > > _King Solomon’s Mines_ (gently taking Lumpy aside so I can knock him upside the head without witnesses) This article was an investigation into the reality of booby traps and novels, by definition, ain’t real. :smack: On the other hand, [it’s a freebie at Gutenberg.](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2166) It’s the very essence of the “ripping yarn” and comes highly recommended. For a Victorian novelist Haggard writes clear prose a modern reader can read without making any adjustments. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/12 "2005-08-09T21:14:26Z")
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, **dropzone** is now a full-fledged member of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board (SDSAB) with all the honours and apparitions that appartain theretohereinunder. Congrats, **dropzone** , on another well-done Report, and on your promotion!\ And it was definitely the Seven Cities of Cibola, not the Prize of Pizarro. I’m a fan, I have them all. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/13 "2005-08-09T22:03:53Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > And it was definitely the Seven Cities of Cibola, not the Prize of Pizarro. For you anaphobes I still recommend _King Solomon’s Mines_. There is not one duck in it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/14 "2005-08-09T22:18:29Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Never read it so I couldn’t put it in the bibliography, could I? I mean, I’m not in college anymore. > > Anyway, I only mentioned it because Dex wouldn’t have allowed me to submit the article without it. I’ve dealt with Barks fans before and they’re an obsessive lot. I was more of a Wally Wood’s [Total War](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1593072627/002-6210176-6660841?v=glance) type. I only knew about it myself because of **CalMeacham** ’s articles in _teemings_. I do miss that pub. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/15 "2005-08-09T23:21:06Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > Just in case you hadn’t noticed, **dropzone** is now a full-fledged member of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board (SDSAB) with all the honours and apparitions that appartain theretohereinunder. In this case, you should change the “Guest contributor dropzone” at the end of the staff report in question. And yes, congratulations **dropzone** on this promotion. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/16 "2005-08-10T01:39:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > (gently taking Lumpy aside so I can knock him upside the head without witnesses) This article was an investigation into the reality of booby traps and novels, by definition, ain’t real. :smack: I know that! But the original staff report went into the question of where the “booby-trapped tomb” cliche originated (if not in reality, that is). So I thought that an example that preceded Hollywood script writers by decades was relevant. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/17 "2005-08-10T03:59:42Z")
(pulling myself up to my full height, which causes my pants to fall down) I, sir, am a scientist this week and pay no attention to folderol like novels and comic books. Check back next week, when I will revert to my old, geeky self. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/18 "2005-08-10T04:03:27Z")
By the way, Dex forwarded some emails about this column before it was published. How do people find these columns before they have been linked on the front page? If it’s by searching on, in this case, “booby” that guy who emailed from his religious college account may have some splainin’ to do if he gets caught. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/19 "2005-08-10T05:47:55Z")
Not that I disagree with the article, but it does seem like they should add a postscript: > [@](#): > > [Well…the ancient ancients never boobytrapped anything, anyways…](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_441.html) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289/20 "2005-08-10T07:03:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I am really sorry to report that if curses are out, then there is really nothing devious. Hollywood has turned standard architectural features like sliding portcullis blocks, shafts, Texas chainsaws, and sand filled chambers into objects of horror. Ok, I inserted the Texas chainsaws part. But what are, “Sliding portcullis blocks”? They sound scary to me. Are you _sure_ they’re not disguised booby traps? Huh? Huh? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-ancient-tombs-really-booby-trapped/316289.md?page=2)