HP Lovecraft’s works - and others like his - are a major source of influence in the cultural idea of archaeology. Since then, the idea of the supernatural mythos of Egypt has become so closely tied to archaeology that it shows itself in nearly every major franchise that an archaeologist is involved in - including the heavy hitters of The Mummy and Indiana Jones.

It is not limited to Egypt, but has now spread to anywhere involving similar stereotypes, including Mesoamerica which can be seen in the Tomb Raider franchise and even Star Wars (the Doctor Aphra comics). Lovecraft’s ideas didn’t come out of nowhere, but this fear of the unknown and the idea that archaeologists, “were digging too greedily and too deep,” was a very widespread idea at the time, although Lovecraft was the one who took it to the extreme.

A shot of a pyramid early in Doctor Aphra #2 which explores these same themes of Archaeology and the Supernatural. Comic by Kieron Gillen, Kev Walker, Joe Caramagna, and Antonio Fabela.

Lovecraft would have been well aware of the Egyptomania of the time, and with the “Curse” that followed those who worked on excavations of the Pharaonic tombs, particularly the Valley of the Kings, the events that transpired led to the overwhelming cultural belief that archaeologists have to deal with the supernatural on a regular basis.