In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Egyptian excavation site where Indiana Jones finds the Ark’s map room is Tanis.
Tanis is the ancient Egyptian city identified in the film as the location of the Well of the Souls and the Ark of the Covenant. Indiana and Sallah use the headpiece of the Staff of Ra to determine the correct position of the staff’s shadow in the map room, revealing the location of the buried chamber.
Historically, Tanis was an important ancient Egyptian city in the Nile Delta and served as a royal residence during the Third Intermediate Period. The film’s excavation and temple complex are dramatized for adventure storytelling. Tanis should not be confused with Cairo, the nearby major city, or Giza, whose pyramids are among Egypt’s best-known monuments.