”Archeology is our religion, yet we have both fallen from the pure faith.”
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Standing just under six feet tall, Dominic McNeil’s dark hair and rugged features seem typical of the so-called “Black Irish”, though a closer look reveals tell-tale hints of another ethnicity. McNeil is lean of frame and deeply tanned, mute testimony to many hours spent laboring under the sun. Close to his hairline, a jagged, indented scar marks his forehead, the leavings of a grievous wound he received in British service during the Great War. Although sensitive to the requirements of certain social situations, left to his own devices, McNeil lives in clothing that is functional: boots, day shirts with rolled up sleeves and canvas trousers, garments that would serve well in the often rough conditions of the field. In colder weather, he favors a leather Mackinaw coat.

An archaeologist by profession, McNeil was educated in Cambridge, Belfast, and the Philippines. Early in his career, he was acknowledged for his excellent instincts in selecting dig sites and the ease with which he could engage other cultures. McNeil served for two years on the faculty of the recently formed University of Birmingham, but ultimately resigned his position, acknowledging that academic life was not for him. For years now he has supported himself by pursuing his own archaeological expeditions and serving as a consultant on digs conducted by various universities. Although he remains a British subject, McNeil prefers the environs of Southeast Asia to those of the west, living much of the year in Bangkok, Siam.

Despite his gift for fieldwork and unquestioned results, McNeil is a controversial figure within the field of archaeology. His abiding interest in the occult, particularly funerary customs and ancient cultural beliefs in the afterlife, have marred his contributions in the eyes of some academics. He has authored three books, Ancient Mysteries of the Great Rift Valley, Beneath the Purple Mountain, and The Forgotten Cults of Ko Tao, all of which have enjoyed a degree of popular readership, though their content has been criticized in academia as promoting the baseless claims of folklore over tangible evidence. Recent years have also seen questions arise regarding McNeil’s methods in the field, some alleging that he undertakes unnecessary risks and shortcuts and is, at heart, a grave robbing mercenary. His attention consumed with unraveling puzzles from antiquity, McNeil himself seems entirely unconcerned with his reputation among his colleagues.