In “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” the Egyptian dig site containing the Well of Souls is Tanis.
After returning to the United States, Indiana Jones learns that Nazi forces are excavating at Tanis in search of the Ark of the Covenant. Jones and his friend Sallah realize that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place because they lack the correct information from the Staff of Ra. Using the medallion and the properly sized staff, they locate the Well of Souls beneath the Tanis excavation.
The Well of Souls is the underground chamber where the Ark has been hidden. The sequence combines archaeological clues, ancient inscriptions, and classic adventure-film traps, including the chamber’s swarm of snakes. The Nazis eventually seize the Ark, setting up the film’s climactic supernatural confrontation.
Tanis is also the name of a genuine ancient Egyptian city in the Nile Delta, associated with important archaeological discoveries. However, the film’s portrayal of Tanis as a city buried by a catastrophic sandstorm and hiding the Ark is fictional. Karnak, Luxor, and Giza are real Egyptian sites, but they are not the film’s dig location.