Chachapoyan

The Chachapoyans were inhabitants of the Chachapoyas region in South America (in Eastern modern-day Peru). As evidenced by their Temple of the Warriors, the Chachapoyans were exceptional designers, capable of building a sophisticated structure riddled with deadly booby traps.

The Hovitos were 20th century descendants of the Chachapoyans, as were the people from whom Xomec descended.

History[]

Living in the cloud forests of Peru,^[1] the Chachapoyans built the Temple of the Warriors, near El Panal to house one of the most holy deities of their culture, the Earth mother, in the form of a golden idol,^[2] erecting their temple precisely to protect the relic, which they worshipped as a god.^[3] Would-be soldiers in the tribe would prove their worth by entering the temple, passing through its traps and snares, touch the idol and depart.^[2] According to American archaeologist Indiana Jones, every Chachapoyan household had a Chachapoyan demon statue in display.^[4]

The Chachapoyans also had other structures in the area, including the city of Tec'na'al.^[2]

Legacy[]

By the 20th century, the Chachapoyans were long gone from the world,^[5] but their lineage survived in successor peoples such as the Hovitos,^[2] and the group from whom Xomec was a descendant.^[6] Both were sometimes referred to as Chachapoyans themselves.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

By 1935,^[10] Marya Smirnova had written and published Warriors of the Clouds: My Journey Through the Ruins of the Chachapoyan Culture, a book on her experiences with the Chachapoyan culture and their ruins. It became Princeton University archaeologist Forrestal's favorite, taking it for his expedition to search for their golden idol, from which he never came back.^[11]

Behind the scenes[]

The Chachapoyan civilization was conquered by the Incas during their imperial expansion but Incan superiority was challenged soon after by the arrival of the Spanish.