Where is the Ark?

I normally don’t pay attention to details in movies, especially when those movies contain something supernatural. However, I noticed something in a movie last night that made me pay attention to those details.

I’m actually surprised I have never noticed it before. I’ve seen the movie dozens of times, but, for some reason, I didn’t notice it until I watched it last night. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching it since I was a kid and I never thought to question it.

The movie I’m referring to is Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In the beginning of the movie, there’s a scene where Indiana Jones and Sallah take the medallion to an old man to have it translated. The old man tells them that the medallion says that they need to mount it to a pole that is 6 kadams tall (I’m not sure what a kadam is, but that’s what the subtitles said he called them). Dr. Jones tells Sallah that 6 kadams is 72 inches.72 inches is 6 feet. So, basically, 6 kadams is 6 feet tall.

Then, the old man tells them that the back of a medallion tells them to take away a kadam, which should make the pole 5 kadams (or 5 feet tall). Indy and Sallah get excited, because the Germans didn’t know they had to take the kadam away, meaning that they were digging in the wrong spot.

However, when in the map room himself, Indy has the medallion mounted to a pole that is a foot taller than him. It should’ve been 5 feet tall. So, unless Indiana Jones is only 4 feet tall, he should never have found the Ark either.