Were he only a world traveler, that would be one thing. But Longmont resident Ed Barnhart is far more than that. A better description of the man might be to call him a time traveler because, in his world, he knows ancient civilizations as well as anyone. In the world of archeology, Barnhart is world class.
Not having the flash and dash of the movie’s most famous archeologist, Indiana Jones, Barnhart nonetheless can enthrall whether he’s talking about the paths he has traversed across continents or the culinary delights he has challenged himself to eat. His discoveries and research place him in exclusive company.
His vivid descriptions of Peru’s Machu Pichu or the awe in his voice when talking about Cambodia’s Angkor Wat can inspire. The latter, he said, may be the most fascinating of any place he has studied on the many roads he’s traveled.
His desire to uncover unknown facts about the people who erected the world’s shrines and monuments began innocently as a kid in Irving, Texas. His parents, he said, allowed him to simply explore the things around him.
In order to be in the places he’s been, he first punched his ticket at the University of Colorado where he earned a degree in archeology. Now, back in the state, he says he’s back at home. But his next favorite place is anywhere that takes him back in time and learning new things about the people who built the ancient world.
“There is an innate human curiosity about our world,” he said in describing his passion. It’s one “that all of humanity shares…and gives us wonderful views into that world.”
He speaks about archeology in the same way any artist might talk about their sculptures, paintings or music. To others, it mesmerizes. To Barnhart, it’s just what he does.
Archeology, he said, is about finding something new to better explain something old. He does not so much spin tales of exotica when he talks but rather speaks plainly and understandably about the awe about long ago times. Still, there have been moments when even he has found himself in the surreal. Take Easter Island or Rapa Nui as its inhabitants call it.
It is a 62-square mile patch of land located some 2,300 miles west of Chile. It is quintessential isolation, a middle-of-nowhere landmass in the south Pacific and home to scores of monolithic figures that for centuries have stared endlessly into the abyss. “It’s mind boggling,” Barnhart said of the islands’ iconic statuary. “There are more (figures) than people realize.” Each was carved from stone mined from the island’s quarry before moving them to where they stand today. Art in their creation, engineering in their placement. But the island is unique, he said, and not only for its one-of-a-kind statuary. “There’s an ancient history and the same people are still there,” to learn from.
In Longmont, Barnhart and his family’s new home, and over coffee, the goateed archeologist talks matter of factly about the many stops and the fascinating itinerary of the last quarter century. While many of these sites are among the ‘Who’s who’ of ancient times, others are more of the ‘Where’s that,’ variety.
Barnhart is one of the History Channel’s ‘go-to’ experts in a number of different areas, one of which is the regularly debated ancient astronaut argument. For the record, he does not subscribe to extraterrestrials having a hand in any earthly architecture. Figures resembling alien beings or what may appear to be a spacecraft or ray gun carved into stone are, to him, coincidental and simply products of artistic imagination.
It is sheer imagination that has inspired ancient societies far and wide to look into the nighttime skies and make observations that some, even today, have stood the test of time. “People in the past were just as curious,” he said. Their curiosity enabled them “to hand down records, create data sets that could be mathematically analyzed today.”
But unlike today, ancient astronomers connected their findings to their religions.
Barnhart’s wanderlust has taken him into tropical and searing climes around the world. Each stop, he said, comes with its own special challenges that sometimes include get- ting sick. It could be from a bug bite or, as a guest and out of cultural thoughtfulness and sensitivity, eating or drinking the wrong thing.
“I’m a baby about eating weird stuff,” he admits while, in the same breath, confessing to now and then having had to ‘take one for the team.’ Barnhart’s found himself in moments when dining with locals and having to eat things that crawl, fly, burrow into the ground or are simply unknown. He also admits to once, in Cambodia, having taken “a bite out of a guinea pig.”
Having a foundation in Spanish has made it easier for him to communicate in his various travels. In studying the Aztec, Inca or the Maya, conversation can be seamless. He also said that each of these civilizations holds its own magnificence in their building, art and science. In science, though, is where he gives a special nod to the Maya. “They were tops,” he said, possibly because, unlike the others, they had a writing system allowing them keep better records.
But one ancient civilization’s legacy—and not in this hemisphere—stands alone for the sheer massiveness in its architecture. “The Egyptians were on a scale that no one else was,” he said. “It is hard to take any civilization and compare them to Egypt.”
“The pyramid at Giza is 150 meters tall,” he said. The second tallest pyramid of the ancient world is dwarfed in comparison. “It (Giza) is almost three times as big as any pyramid in the world.” But size, he cautions, is not Barnhart’s measure of greatness.
“This whole holding up yardsticks to see who’s better or not as good is an illness in archeology I hope will change.” “In many ways, they are all equals and should have their equal place in history.”
Despite having an ‘office’ often located many time zones away from home and in environments burning hot, sticky and downright unpleasant, he is at heart a homebody who schedules trips to last no more than two weeks thus ensur- ing he’s not away from family for too long. Barnhart and his wife, a substitute teacher, have five children, the youngest a daughter in middle school.
His next trip is set for mid-March to Mexico, a place he’s been countless times. His holy grail adventure to Cambodia and the ruins of Angkor Wat is tentatively planned for next year. The site, he said, is almost overwhelming in its scope.
Barnhart says at its peak, it’s estimated it was home to as many as a million people and occupied an area greater than many of America’s largest cities.
To keep up with Barnhart’s archeological adventures or simply learn about various civilizations of the ancient world, visit his ArcheoEd podcast. It is free and available on Apple or Spotify.
