Raiders of the Lost Ark is set in 1936, but contains a considerable amount of Anachronism Stew.
Weapons:
- German soldiers carry MP 40 submachine guns. The MP 40 (also called the Erma/Volmer machine pistol) was designed in 1938 and adopted by Germany in 1940. While it could be claimed they are meant to represent the MP 36, the MP 36 is somewhat different (having a wooden body and a folding metal stock) and was never issued in anywhere near the same numbers as the MP 40.
- Soldiers who don't carry the MP 40 carry Mauser Kar 98s, which started manufacture in 1935 so it is conceivable it would be out of the country as early as 1936, but they would more than likely actually use Mauser Gewehr 98s.
- Several soldiers, including Toht, use a P38 pistol, which was adopted in 1938. Though several hammerless prototypes existed in 1935, it is unlikely anyone would actually be using it at that point in development. Interestingly, Lugers are also used, which is accurate, so it's questionable why P38s would be used at all.
- Indy has a Browning Hi-Power as his backup pistol. John Browning was designing it when he died in 1925, and FN started manufacturing it in 1935, so it is not impossible he might have one that early, though highly unlikely given that it wasn't even available for sale in the US at that point. After he loses it in the fire in Marion's bar, he has a different one, made by John Inglis Co. of Canada, which has a distinctive rear sight "hump". Inglis started manufacturing their version of the Hi-Power in 1944. Interestingly, Indy was envisioned carrying a 1911, but because 9mm blanks were the most reliable, he uses a 9mm Hi-Power.
- Near the end, Indy threatens to destroy the Ark with a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon. According to the film's armourer, it is a Type 56, a Chinese copy of the RPG-2, made to look like a WWII German anti-tank rocket launcher, but with a shoulder grip like an M9 Bazooka. Germany did not have an anti-tank rocket launcher in 1936, nor was any country in the world even developing such weapons at that time — such weapons like the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck came much later during the war, to replace the anti-tank rifles everybody used before then.
- The novelization of Raiders implies the bazooka is a prototype, as Indy had been looking for a machine gun and found the bazooka instead. He hadn't seen anything like it, and it reminded him of the Flying Wing, which he also assumed was a prototype.
Vehicles:
- The truck Indy, Sallah and Sallah's children climb into is a 1949 Citroën Type 23.
- The man with the eyepatch's motorcycle is a 1946 BSA M20.
- The munitions truck that tips over (then explodes) is a 1944 Mercedes L701, with a wartime expedient wooden cab.
- The fuel truck that starts leaking at the airfield is a 1938 Morris Commercial CD Zwicky Flight Refueler, which entered service with the RAF in 1937. The troop transport that Marion shoots up is a 1937 Morris Commercial CV.
- An ex-British Army World War II-era Morris 10 HP is parked beside the building the truck carrying the Ark is hidden in.
- The truck carrying the Ark is a GMC CCKW, modified to look like a Mercedes LG3000 diesel. Though the cab is rebuilt to look like one, it's too tall and too narrow to be a Mercedes, as well as the actual Mercedes being a 6x4 and not having a powered front axle, unlike the CCKW.
- The motorcycle-sidecar combo Indy runs into a pond is a Dnepr MT-11, a postwar continuation of the IMZ M-72, a Soviet copy of the BMW R71 (rejected by the Werhmacht in favour of the R75 in 1939, then sold to the Soviets). Unlike the sidevalve R71 and M-72, it used overhead valves, as did the R75.
- The car Marcus drives to Indy's house is a 1937 Lasalle (Cadillac's Companion brand
). - Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia in a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact aircraft used was an ex-BOAC one owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for the Martin M-130 China Clipper, which started service in 1934 and crashed in 1945. It also makes stopovers at Honolulu (Hawaii), Wake Island, Manila (Philippines) and finally arriving at Nepal (possibly Kathmandu). All of these non-stop flight stretches (which range from 2300-3000 miles) are way too long for the Short Solent's maximum range of approximately 1800 miles (the M-130's range was 3200 miles, for reference).
- When Indy and Marion travel from Nepal to Egypt, the map of their route is superimposed over a Douglas DC-3. The DC-3 first flew on December 17, 1935, and the first ones were delivered in 1936. Most of the 300-400 DC-3s in service were flying for American, Eastern, United, and TWA airlines in 1936, and it would have been highly unlikely to find one flying between Nepal to Egypt then. It also makes stopovers at Karachi (which, although in modern-day Pakistan, is correctly shown as being in India in 1936), Baghdad (Iraq) and finally arriving in Cairo. With the exception of the Baghdad-Cairo stretch (about 800 miles), all of these flight stretches (which range from 1200-1500 miles) are way too long for the DC-3's maximum range of approximately 1000 miles.
- The Nazi Flying Wing aircraft - which, according to the script, is a "Blohm & Voss BV-38" - didn't actually exist and is presumably there for Rule of Cool. It's based on a combination of two prototypes, one German and the other American — the Horten Ho229 (a jet-powered fighter-bomber developed for the Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II, although they only got round to flying a glider prototype) and the propeller-driven Northrop YB-35 (which first flew in 1946). There was a different Nazi flying wing design almost identical to the one in the movie, the Lippisch Li P.04-106, but it's highly unlikely the filmmakers knew about it.
- The conning tower of the U-boat that intercepts the ship carrying the Ark reads "26". The actual U-26 was a Type IA U-boat commissioned in 1936. The hull is incorrect for that type and that sub; it is actually the full size shell of the Type VIIC U-96 used in Das Boot which was filmed at the same time as Raiders (both films made use of the old U-boat pen in La Rochelle in addition to this particular prop, which Spielberg rented from the German film crew). The Type VIIC went into service in 1940.
- Neither the Type IA nor the VIIC had hatches large enough to allow the crate carrying the Ark. The captain also clearly orders the sub to dive ("Tauchen"), however a lack of constant air supply, limited battery capacity and reduced speed meant U-boats only dove for defence, attack or heavy weather. The only way a U-boat could travel below the surface was with the schnorkel, which was invented during the war.
General:
- The globe in Indy's classroom has African countries that were not independent in 1936.
- The Golden Gate Bridge appears when Indy departs from San Francisco. Said bridge was not completed until 1937; that said, it was nearing completion in 1936 (construction having begun in 1933), so it's feasible that it could look as though it's more or less finished from a distance.
- The maps showing Indy's plane trips have a couple of errors, which is surprising as they get some of the period details right (for the planes themselves, see above).
- Although it correctly shows Vietnam as French Indo-China, the one showing his journey to Nepal depicts Thailand, which was called Siam prior to 1939.
- The one showing his and Marion's journey from Nepal to Egypt shows Jordan, which was called Transjordan until 1949. That said, Iran is named correctly as it had stopped calling itself Persia in 1935.
- In 1936, Egypt still had a considerable British military presence (as a former British protectorate prior to nominal independence in 1922). The Anglo-Egyptian treaty limiting British military presence to the Suez Canal Zone was signed in August 1936, supposedly after the timeframe of this film. It would've been impossible for German troops to operate there without Egyptian permission, which would not have been given. It's possible the soldiers snuck in after the Nazis — or rather, Belloq acting as their frontman — gained permission for an archaeological dig, but given the number of soldiers and the amount of military hardware present, it's a big stretch.
- Said German soldiers are clearly members of the Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK), as they use its symbol (a swastika on the trunk of a palm tree) and wear tropical uniforms intended for DAK use. However, that uniform was not introduced until 1940, and the DAK itself was not formed until 1941. In 1936, German soldiers would have worn either the standard wool uniforms or, given the hot weather, model 33 cotton work uniforms.
- Marion lights a cigarette with a butane lighter. Butane lighters were developed in the 1950s.
- Marion's white, stiletto-like high heels weren't popular until the 1950s, with open-toed "peeps" becoming widely popular only in the late 1970s and early 1980s (when Raiders was made). High heels fell out of favor during The Great Depression and World War 2 (1930s-1940s), due to their representation of excess and wastefulness in the 1920s.[1]
- Captain Katanga's hat bears the insignia of the Yugoslav People's Navy, which was formed in 1945.
