Mad scientist dangerous or questionable, which can make them accidental villains. The prototypical fictional mad scientist was Victor Frankenstein, creator of his eponymous monster, who made his first appearance in 1818, in the novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley. Though the novel's title character, Victor Frankenstein, is a sympathetic character, the critical element of conducting experiments that cross "boundaries that ought not to be crossed", heedless of the consequences, is present in Shelley's novel. Frankenstein was trained as both an alchemist and a modern scientist, which makes him the bridge between two eras of an evolving archetype. The book
The Dig (novel) (pp34–36) is possibly transposed from other phases of the excavation not described. The second mound explored in 1938 (known as Mound 2), which contained a disturbed burial which had included a ship, is not described but is 'merged' with the famous ship-mound ('Mound 1') excavated in 1939. Hence the real excavation of Mound 2 is suppressed, and the preparations for the real 1939 excavation is omitted. Some glassware found in the former is, in the novel, transposed to the latter (e.g. p 61). Hence the novel cannot portray what was learnt by the experience and findings of the 1938 dig,