Arab Diggers (Tanis excavation)

Through the collective presence of workers in Omar's and Sallah's truck beds and the leadership of Omar directing their deployment.

They are subordinate operational assets in relation to Omar's leadership and Indy's strategic direction, yet they hold practical power because their labor and local knowledge make the search possible.

Their mobilization reflects how local labor structures can materially shape the progress of high-stakes archaeology, turning informal organization into a decisive tactical asset in the larger geopolitical race.

Implicit hierarchy under Omar's leadership with an expectation of obedience and rapid execution; no visible factional disagreements in this moment.

Manifested through the collective action of individual diggers performing ordinary labor and transport duties (driving trucks, occupying beds, moving equipment).

Operationally subordinate to the occupying German forces but locally essential; they have limited agency yet provide critical practical leverage to those who know how to use their routines.

Their labor underlines how local infrastructures enable and complicate the occupying force's control; they inadvertently enable covert resistance or espionage by outsiders.

Not explored in detail here; implicitly cooperative with local leaders like Sallah and operating under constraint of occupation and supervision.

By physical presence — clustered diggers and Sallah among them — watching and unable to intervene as officers act.

Subordinate and observational: diggers have minimal agency and are subject to Nazi control while serving as a human chorus to the object's extraction.

Highlights colonial power asymmetry: local labor supplies the expedition's muscle but lacks authority over artifacts unearthed from their land.

Unified in curiosity but internally heterogeneous in risk tolerance; leaders like Sallah stand out as protective figures among the rank-and-file diggers.

Via group movement and presence — milling among tents, then running to the rise to witness the explosion together.

Subordinate to Nazi authority in formal terms, but their numbers and mobility momentarily shift the camp’s attention and create a vulnerability the Nazis must manage.

Their movement exposes how occupation depends on human labor whose instincts and needs can disrupt military routines; it also creates cover and risk for opportunistic actions around the Ark.

Group curiosity balanced with practical caution; leadership is informal (figures like Sallah guide responses), not hierarchical like the Nazis.