4

In the university campus scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy is writing "NEOLITHIC" on a blackboard. He reaches 'H', but pauses after putting down the two vertical strokes, seemingly confirms something and resumes writing it. What is the meaning of this?

animated GIF of scene described above

Improve this question
2
  • 3
    Do you mean when he checks that he spelled the word correctly? Isn't it just him in his awkward, hesitant professor persona?
    – Walt
    Sep 3, 2017 at 22:19
  • One of the most famous monoliths is Stonehenge, which is several stones standing straight up. Note how many times he draws a straight line standing on end in a row.
    – Johnny Bones
    May 6 at 17:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
15

He's reminding himself how to spell the word.

If you listen, he spells the word to himself, trying to remember the correct letters.

"Neo," meaning "new" and "lithic"... L-I-T-H...I-C, meaning "stone."

That's all it is. A minor gag, just the slightly absent-minded professor of archaeology needing to remember how to spell an archaeological word.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .