History Main / ArchaeologicalArmsRace

* The Orokin from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' left behind many artifacts which three of the major factions in the setting are all hunting for to get an upper hand in the conflict. [[PlayerCharacter The Tenno]] in particular are basing a lot of their gear on what they've used during [[GreatOffscreenWar the Old War]]; their game-changing technologies such as [[JetPack archwings]] (the first one only) and [[CoolSpaceship railjacks]] are earned respectively through excavation missions and and scavenging parts scattered around the Solar System, with the upgrades for the latter gained by repairing wreckage rewarded from railjack missions.

* The city of Ambara Down and titular Literature/TheReclamationProject Reclamation Project]] fight over the lost technology of ancients, leftover after humans [[TheElitesJumpShip abandoned the surface of the Earth]] and left it to the [[FurryLens zoomorphs]].

* The second season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' has the Autobots and Decepticons racing each other to retrieve the Iacon Relics - Cybertronian LostTechnology which was scattered across Earth for safekeeping.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': This is a major part of the storyline of the ''Antiquities'' expansion, as told in ''Literature/TheBrothersWar''.

* Part of the overarching plot of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' is the race to find [[LostTechnology artifacts]] left behind by the [[ThePrecursors First Civilization]], such as the Apples of Eden. By the present-day, the Templars are winning with the Assassins playing catch-up.

* The galactic war described in Creator/VladimirVasilyev's ''The Legacy of Giants'' and ''No One but Us'' involves an attempt to recover a cache of {{Precursor}} portals that can be used to transport entire armadas instantaneously (normal FTL travel is fast but far from instantaneous and can be detected far in advance of arrival - arriving ships leave an "imprint" in space). The duology is even called "The War for Mobility", as both sides realize that the more mobile side wins. In the end, the good side (the one with humans) ends up obtaining the portals and quickly figuring out how to use them to capture the "evil" side's Emperor, forcing their surrender.

* Part of the setting of ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon''. Several factions are after technology left behind by [[ThePrecursors the Ancients]], generally for this purpose:

* Sunken ships have been used on occasion as sources of non-radioactive steel. [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2971/is-steel-from-scuttled-german-warships-valuable-because-it-isn-t-contaminated-with-radioactivity During the 1960s]] when global radiation was at an all-time high, thanks to nuclear testing, it was difficult at the time to make non-radioactive steel in a blast furnace (which takes in a lot of air). [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_in_Scapa_Flow A scuttled German fleet at Scapa Flow]], off the Shetland Islands, was one source of inert steel salvaged at the time. Nowadays the background radiation level is lower and there's now numerous types of air filters that didn't exist in the 1960s, so this usually isn't an issue.

* This is all over the place in ''VideoGame/SeriousSam''. It's made clear in the intro videos alone that Earth is only holding out against Mental thanks to caches of Sirian technology scattered across the world. No fewer than four ancient cultures (Pre-Helenistic Egypt, proto-Babylon, pre-Columbian Aztec, and (oddly) Harold of Saxony-era England) had access to working Sirian ships, teleporters, and radios, though only the Egyptians and English managed to maintain them. The Egyptians even had a working time machine, which still functioned in the year 2260. Sirian tech wound up being the only way the UN could successfully send explorer ships out amongst other star systems, too, though that may have been what [[NiceJobBreakingItHero attracted Mental's attention in the first place]].

* In ''TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', when the Hylians caught wind that the ancient evil Ganon was on the verge of waking up, their solution was to try to dig up the {{magitek}} superweapons that had defeated him 10,000 years prior. Unfortunately, they didn't fully understand how to control the ancient devices, resulting in Ganon simply hijacking them and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turning them against their masters]], destroying most vestiges of civilization as a result.

** It's somewhat [[{{DownplayedTrope}} downplayed]] - the Nazis were [[{{ThoseWackyNazis}} quite...wacky]] in much more serious, [[{{UsefulNotes/WorldWarII}} darker]] and [[{{UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust}} frankly horrifying]] ways, but their supposed penchant for occult mumbo-jumbo is inflated quite a bit in pop culture. The SS was particulary susceptible to it, as Himmler, its founder and leader, had been intensely interested in mysticism and occultism all his life, but even in the SS, it was restricted to parts of the higher officer corps and some weird offshoots such as the aforementioned Ahnenerbe. The Nazi party itself did make conscious use of (perverted) NorseMythology symbolism, but most leading figures of it could have cared less about spiritual beliefs and mysticism, much less the resolutely secular and pragmatic (where that point is concerned, at least) Wehrmacht high command. And that's not even to mention the general civilian population as such, which by and large couldn't have cared less about Black Suns, Nordic prehistoric Supermen or expeditions to find some mythological trinket or other - which did indeed occur, but the funding for which had always been minuscule and was cut completely as the war progressed. The RealLife Nazis in general were much more banal and ordinary than in nearly all fictional representations, which only makes their actual deeds seem more horrifying.

* In the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' series, humanity is developing its own technology but remains after [[{{Precursors}} Protoculture]] technology because not only it's still much more advanced, but also because a single Zentraedi main fleet almost wiped out Earth once and they know there's still more Zentraedi fleets out there and have an immense numerical superiority, so they want something that can stop them if another (or more than one) Zentraedi main fleet becomes hostile.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' - the humans are one of the least-advanced major galactic powers, dependent at first upon the Centauri for access to hyperspace jumpgates and later the Narn for weapons to use against the Minbari, who outclass by them. Even during the setting of the series proper humans are the only major power not to have developed artificial gravity (except for the Narn, who may just not care). In response, the humans formed [=InterPlanetary=] Expeditions (IPX), a corporation that funds archaeological expeditions to locate and exploit the technology of any dead alien races. Earth's major innovative weapons system, the Interceptor (designed to shoot down incoming energy weapons fire) is stated in expanded materials to be one such piece of reverse-engineered alien tech. [[spoiler: The main plot kicks off when an IPX survey reaches Z'ha'dum and awakens the Shadows.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'', the SchizoTech is the result of multiple interstellar wars clubbing the Inner Sphere as a whole back a century or so technologically -- often ''purposefully'', as research and industrial sites were prime targets in the First Succession War. Afterwards, everyone realized that a ''lot'' of what was once common technology had become irreplacable [[LostTechnology LosTech]], and by the time of the Second Succession War began preservation of science and industrial sites were part and parcel of the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Ares Conventions]]. This also means that many of the "supernatural" Franchise/IndianaJones tropes expected of an Archaeological Arms Race were in full effect; the only [[LostTechnology Lostech]] caches remaining were ones with some fairly dangerous security measures(In the 2018 game, a cache was protected by [[spoiler:an ''artificially intelligent computer virus'']]). [=ComStar=] had a debatable effect on all of this; they maintained the faster-than-light communication networks, along with interstellar civilization in general... but they also secretly monopolized their technological edge by destroying everyone else's research sites and killing every cutting-edge scientist who wouldn't join them. This era came to an end after the Third Succession War -- much of which was fought ''over'' lostech caches -- when the Gray Death Legion mercenaries discovered the Helm Memory Core, a near-complete set of lostech schematics which they chose to spread through the Inner Sphere despite the efforts of [=ComStar=]. Meanwhile, the Clans who left the Inner Sphere at the start of the Succession Wars not only maintained their level of technology, but actually improved on it, making a Clan 'Mech of a given weight worth, in general, one and half Inner Sphere 'Mechs of the same weight.

* The entire conflict in ''VideoGame/MetalFatigue'' is based around this; three brothers working for their [[HumongousMecha Combot]] building family business discover alien technology, setting off a war between it and two other companies (one of which each of the brothers ends up working for). Naturally the best way to get the best parts is to find said alien technology (as well as stealing parts you've blased off enemy combots).

** [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}} The first game]] featured a nuke which you could use to skip the endgame boss fight.
** In [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}} the second game]], the Enclave has access to enough fossil fuel to manage a small army, complete with helicopters due to having total control of the last oil rig in the entire world. This made them more powerful than the Brotherhood of Steel, and they could curb stomp any faction in the Wasteland. They also have a strain of the Forced Evolutionary Virus that would allow them to kill off anyone and everyone via massive hemorrhaging and inflammations before finally dying after an hour of torture.

* In ''Videogame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', the above-mentioned ''Civilization'' goodie huts are replaced by pods from the Unity, the ship that carried humanity to Planet. Technological knowledge from Earth, rovers for planetary exploration, and manufacturing supplies can all be found in the pods...assuming they haven't been infested with mind worms.

* The RTS flash game ''VideoGame/{{Relic Of War}}'' (previously "Reich of Darkness", but renamed and re-released due to some intolerants and paranoids censors) goes basically around this, with the nazis discovering an ancient artifact and using it for taking an advantage in an alternative timeline WWII developing new technologies (the allies do the same later on)

* Among much other nonsense, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenerbe Ahnenerbe]], the closest RealLife Nazi institution to the {{Ghostapo}} ''and'' the inspiration of the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movies, sometimes launched expeditions to search for mythical items that the Nazis considered LostTechnology from a time when [[YouFailHistoryForever advanced Nordic peoples were ruling the world]]. One sought item was [[Myth/NorseMythology Thor's Hammer]], that the Nazis believed to be a real weapon capable of releasing electrical charges. Another was {{Atlantis}}.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'', the First and Second Succession Wars clubbed the Inner Sphere as a whole back a century or so technologically. [=ComStar=] exists in part to maintain what technology they can, while hiding it from the Successor States who'd just throw it into more warfare to be destroyed. During the Third Succession War, the discovery of [[LostTechnology Lostech]] caches can cause small-scale wars over their possession. Then the Gray Death Legion mercenaries discovered the Memory Core with almost complete lostech schematics and spread it contents through the Inner Sphere despite the efforts of [=ComStar=]. Meanwhile, the Clans who left the Inner Sphere at the start of the Succession Wars not only maintained their level of technology, but actually improved on it, making a Clan 'Mech of a given weight worth, in general, one and half Inner Sphere 'Mechs of the same weight.

** It's somewhat [[{{DownplayedTrope}} downplayed]] - the Nazis were [[{{ThoseWackyNazis}} quite...wacky]] in much more serious, [[{{UsefulNotes/WorldWarII}} darker]] and [[{{TheHolocaust}} frankly horrifying]] ways, but their supposed penchant for occult mumbo-jumbo is inflated quite a bit in pop culture. The SS was particulary susceptible to it, as Himmler, its founder and leader, had been intensely interested in mysticism and occultism all his life, but even in the SS, it was restricted to parts of the higher officer corps and some weird offshoots such as the aforementioned Ahnenerbe. The Nazi party itself did make conscious use of (perverted) NorseMythology symbolism, but most leading figures of it could have cared less about spiritual beliefs and mysticism, much less the resolutely secular and pragmatic (where that point is concerned, at least) Wehrmacht high command. And that's not even to mention the general civilian population as such, which by and large couldn't have cared less about Black Suns, Nordic prehistoric Supermen or expeditions to find some mythological trinket or other - which did indeed occur, but the funding for which had always been minuscule and was cut completely as the war progressed. The RealLife Nazis in general were much more banal and ordinary than in nearly all fictional representations, which only makes their actual deeds seem more horrifying.

** It's somewhat [[{{DownplayedTrope}} downplayed]] - the Nazis were [[{{ThoseWackyNazis}} quite wacky]] in much more serious, darker and frankly horrifying ways

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* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Red Skull unearths the Tesseract, the key to making super-powered weaponry, in an ancient viking ruin. After finding it, he somewhat derisively implies that the Nazis are involved in similar searches.
--> '''Red Skull''': And the fuhrer digs for trinkets in the desert.

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