SPOTLIGHT
ASHLEY COWIE,
Today’s Real Life Indiana Jones
By Robert Seuferer
I have to admit; when I was growing up I was fascinated
by tales of the great unknown. Exploration was
everywhere. Whether it was in space, land or sea the
world and beyond was being explored in such detail
and society was amazed by it all. Those curiosities
were only fueled by adventure movies such as the
Indiana Jones franchise. Dreams of adventure, fighting
against evil forces and finding treasure are the stuff
that makes the imagination of young people go wild.
Little did I know back then that years later I would have
the great pleasure of spending some time with a real
life Indiana Jones. When speaking with Ashley Cowie,
the first thing you realize is that you are interacting
with a very intelligent individual. When you watch
his shows on television or on YouTube you do get a
sense of that, but one on one he’s truly a captivating
individual. His passion for his profession is so great that
it’s literally been a lifelong obsession for him. Ashley
said that when he published his first book at 28, his
mom went and a got a photo of him and showed it to
him. In the photo was an eight-year-old Ashley Cowie
holding a handmade book. In that photo the title he
had written read “Book of Ancient History”.
Q: Ashley, how did you begin on the road to where you
are now, where did your interests in history begin?
A: My grandfather used to take me around to castle
ruins in Scotland, we would constantly explore ancient
standing stones and crumbling burial tombs and I
became truly fascinated with it. That fueled my interests
with history. I was finding old relics like hammers and
arrow heads and by 16 I was collecting artifacts and
it simply went from there.
Q: What inspired you to take such an interest in ancient
symbols?
A: Who is Ashley Cowie? A historian, an adventurer,
a photographer, a documentary maker? I’m a keen
observer. I see things differently than most people
do and by observing details in artifacts and ancient
symbols I began to see things that nobody had seen
before. It’s like being a historical Sherlock Holmes.
I began reinterpreting ancient carvings by keen
observation and asking the basic questions, “who,
what, when, where and why”. What was the motivation
behind them?
Q: What did you do before you became famous?
A: At 17 I left the small fishing port of Wick in Caithness,
in northern Scotland to study photography and audio
visual design. 6 years later I returned to Wick and help
run our family fishing business. My father, brother and
I ran a successful seafood company and we sold it 6
years later. My father, then at 55 years old, taught
himself how to cook and opened an all-natural, organic
seafood restaurant which over the last 13 years has
become very successful, and now has won several
awards including the UK’s Most Sustainable 2016.
When the family business was sold my brother went
his way and I started down this road. I’m now working
with my father again on a new project. We are making a
series of 4 interactive cook books based on seasonality.
Those should be published by next year.
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1961 Magazine Fall 2016