Michael Kolb doesn’t fear snakes or crack a whip, but that hasn’t stopped him from scouring the globe for priceless artifacts like Indiana Jones did.

Kolb, an associate archaeology professor who has taught at NIU for nine years, said he enjoys introducing students to the field he loves.

“I enjoy immensely taking students into the field where they can do hands-on work and they can use what they learned in the classroom,” he said.

Kolb has traveled to places across the globe, including Africa, the Mediterranean and Hawaii.

Hawaii, in particular, has become a second home to Kolb. He started a program in 1989 in which about 15 undergraduate students travel to the island and study its culture.

“I thought up the program and the idea – I was trying to think big and understand the rise of civilization in Hawaii,” he said. “Hawaiian civilization was very war-like, and tied to that was a very intricate system of ritual ideas. Our goal is to understand the big picture from beginning to end and put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Kolb said he finds excavating tombs to be a fascinating process, which sometimes can yield unexpected treasurers.

“Finding gold is nice if you’re lucky enough,” he said. “I have found some in Africa and the Mediterranean.”

Kolb brings along two of his children, ages 13 and 10, to some locations. He said his children enjoy lending their help to the students.

“My son wants to come back this year again,” he said. “I have to check his pockets at the end of the day because he will pocket things.”

Kolb said it’s important for archaeologists to communicate what they do to the public so they can share social benefits.

“It’s important … to know about the past, where we are at and where we are going in the future,” he said.

As for the fictional archaeologist Jones, Kolb felt the character captured the excitement of archaeology, but he doesn’t carry Jones’ legendary tool of the trade: a whip.

“Mine is strictly a verbal whip, although there are some archaeologists that carry guns,” he said. “In Africa and South America, I have had to carry a gun because the group I was with required it.”