Guild of Archaeologists, Antiquarians and Tomb Evacuators

One of the Guilds of Ankh-Morpork. It appears as a location in the computer game Discworld Noir. It has a very crotchety doorman, who is both knowledgeable about ancient artifacts and not disposed to let people in unless they are signed in by an official member. The Guild had a very secure section of vaults, where the priceless artifacts of ancient civilizations are stored away, never to see the light of day. They very scrupulously exhibit, in public areas, only the really interesting stuff such as pottery shards and fragments, with long academic discourses attached saying how excited the Guild was to receive positive proof from close analysis of this fragment that double-handled ceremonial amphorae of the LoftExtention type were in use during the Mycaeniac age in Classical Ephebe, and not the later Spartacreatean age, as is popularly supposed. All the boring incidental stuff that isn't nearly as academically interesting, made in boring materials like silver and gold and which convey only limited information concerning ornamentation and jewelry styles, is kept locked securely away in the lowest and best-secured vaults, and we don't have too much of that sort of trivial incidental thing anyway.

Stealth Archaeology is a related (and deniable) discipline that largely appears to involve avoiding all inventive and deadly traps, and then getting away with the loot before the site's owner finds out. This may well be fully covered by the Tomb Evacuators part of the job description. Ask Laredo Cronk or Alice Band, perhaps...

Known members:

• Miss Alice Band
• Laredo Cronk
• Mr Elgin
• Mr Robinson, Guild Master
• Ilsa Vargberg

The Guild is based at 27b By The Wall, possibly a very apt location nearby a redundant section of city wall. Maybe the vaults are also a relic of the active city wall once having been here?

The Guild's Motto, as mentioned in Discworld Noir, is Serpentis Odi, which roughly translates to "I Hate Snakes", apparently expressing the opinion of a fellow Archaeologist, Dr Jones.