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Chachapoyan Fertility Idol

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"The beliefs and superstitions of an entire culture, all wrapped up in a 2000-year-old, six-inch lump of gold!"
―Indiana Jones[src]

The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol, also known as the Idol of the Chachapoyan Warriors (shortened to Idol of the Warriors), Golden Idol,[4] or the misnomer Idol of the Incas, was a six-inch tall, solid gold representation of the Chachapoyan goddess of fertility known to the Inca as Pachamama.

Archaeologist Indiana Jones noted that it bore a strong resemblance to Aztec deity Tlazolteotl and his rival René Emile Belloq made similar observations in reference to Ixcuina, an alternative name for the Aztec goddess.

The deceptively light artifact was hidden by the tribe's priests in a temple deep within the jungles of Peru. Braving the temple's deadly traps to stare into the idol's eyes became a rite of passage for young Chachapoyan warriors, its exact weight precisely counterbalancing the trigger of an ancient self-destruct system.

Thanks to a combination of protections around the idol, the seclusion of the temple itself, and the lethally territorial nature of the Hovitos who came to inhabit the area, the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol remained undisturbed for around two thousand years until the turn of the 20th century when word of the site's unspoiled reputation began to gain traction.

History[]

Origins[]

The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol was created by the Chachapoyans circa 64 BC,[2] around the same time the Temple of the Warriors was erected to house it.[1] Shaped in the image of the goddess Pachamama (as she was known to the Inca),[5] the Chachapoyan idol was very similar to an Aztec birthing figure of Tlazolteotl.[6] Though appearing heavy,[3] the relic was a lot lighter than it seemed.[6]

The Chachapoyan priests hid the idol away inside the temple[7] in a room named the Sanctuary,[8] as part of a soldier's rite of passage, a test that involved a Chachapoyan warrior finding his way into the temple, avoid the booby traps and reach the idol. If he survived, he had proven his worth but if not, he had done a favor for his people by removing their weakness from the group.[7]

A treasure not meant to be found, sitting on a pressure-sensitive disk that could spring deadly traps, many explorers met their deaths trying to acquire the idol.[9]

Discovery[]

Indy6

The idol in its temple.

Around the 19th century, an American explorer named McHenry discovered the House of Warriors while excavating what remained of the Chachapoyan city of Tec'na'al. The gathering hall was decorated with pictographs that contained directions of, as well as a crude map to, the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors. McHenry noted the images, but the ruins were later hit by an earthquake. His research, however, was eventually kept at the University of Chicago.[7]

In 1935, a Princeton University archaeologist named Forrestal went to the jungles of Chachapoyas, Peru while attempting to recover the fertility idol of Pachamama from the temple.[5] Working from McHenry's notes, Forrestal was ultimately able to find the temple despite part of the map being stolen by the local thieves Barranca and Satipo.[7] Unfortunately for him, Forrestal rushed into the ancient structure without checking if there were any dangers and was killed by a spike trap.[10] The National Museum expressed an interest in the Chachapoyan artifact after an idol that Indiana Jones brought from Ceylon got broken, disrupting the museum's plans (and budget) for a display on religious idolatry. Curator Marcus Brody informed Jones that the museum sought the South American fertility idol to complement a special exhibit on the Chachapoyan warriors planned to open early the following year, having already initiated preliminary research to locate the temple site. As Brody knew rival institutions and collectors were also competing to find the idol, he told Indy that claiming it was his chance to show he was still the National Museum's most profitable "expert of antiquarian acquisition".[11]

On commission from the National Museum and working from Forrestal's notes, Jones managed to locate the temple and extract the statue in 1936. Barranca and Satipo accompanied him alongside several porters, but Barranca was chased away after an unsuccessful attempt on Jones' life and then killed by the Hovitos while Satipo remained with the archaeologist. Upon triggering the temple's self-destruct mechanism having misjudged the idol's weight when replacing it with a bag of sand, Jones was betrayed by Satipo during their flight from the temple, who took the idol and left him to die. However, Satipo met his own end on a spike trap and Jones escaped the temple with the idol. Once outside, the idol was stolen by rogue archaeologist René Emile Belloq, who sent the Hovitos to chase Jones while he left with the artifact.[3]

Goldenidol

Sallah and Indiana Jones flee Marrakesh with the idol.

Although it was believed the idol was lost to the world after it wasn't found among Belloq's personal effects following his mysterious "disappearance";[12] Jones correctly deduced that Belloq had unloaded the artifact in Marrakesh, Morocco,[3][2] where the American archaeologist intended to recover it but his plans were delayed when he was his hired by Major Eaton and Colonel Musgrove to search for the Ark of the Covenant.[13] Jones eventually re-appropriated the idol from the shop of antiquities dealer Saad Hassim sometime after. The National Museum celebrated the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol's arrival with a lavish banquet at the Diamond's Eye nightclub in New York City. However, the evening was disrupted by a small band of angry Hovitos led by Xomec, a descendant of the Chachapoyans who took the relic from Marcus Brody and fled to the jungles of Brazil. Jones gave chase, and after defeating Xomec and his Nazi co-conspirator Ilsa Toht, once again reclaimed the idol for the museum.[2]

Legacy[]

A year later, before waking up and realizing that someone was looting Marshall College, Indiana Jones had a dream where he relived the events around the Temple of the Warriors, including claiming the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol and triggering the site's destruction, only this time tripping and being crushed by the boulder. Days later, while on a Giza, Egypt excavation site, Jones asked Dame Nawal Shafiq-Barclay if she had heard about Belloq's theft of the idol in South America when he learned that the philanthropist had sponsored a lost Mayan city dig.[14]

Some years later, when Indiana Jones reached the interiors of the collapsed temple in a second visit, he commented how he once had the idol in his hand,[15] recalling the loss of the artifact to his old rival.[3] Jones uncovered a second idol hidden in an area of the temple that got revealed during his previous visit, leading him to remark that fortunately for him, Belloq wouldn't be around to steal the second idol as he did with the first.[15]

Behind the scenes[]

The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol is based on the Dumbarton Oaks birthing figure, part of the pre-Columbian collection at Dumbarton Oaks.[16] The artifact is thought to depict the Aztec goddess Tlazolteotl although its provenance is disputed.[17][18] It was designed by sculptor Kev Short.[19]

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the original idea for the scenes with the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol was to have its eyes following Indiana Jones as he moved around the room. As such, one of the props built featured mechanical moving eyes. Evidence of this can still be seen in the archival footage on the film's DVD. Ultimately, the idea was abandoned though one shot remains in the final film -- the one where Indy is pouring sand out of the bag.[20]

Dialogue by René Emile Belloq during the Marhala Bar scenes which was dropped from the final cut of Raiders indicates that Belloq wasn't intended to get away with the idol, with Belloq revealing that he was lucky to escape with his own life because the Hovitos ultimately proved to be quite "narrow-minded" with regards to who the idol's owner was.[20] Though also present in Marvel Comics' comic book adaptation,[21] the absence of the line from the film itself allowed the artifact's story to continue in The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones by Marvel.[2]

During the early development of the fourth film, Frank Darabont's script Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods featured a drunk Indiana Jones stealing the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol from the National Museum after unfairly losing his job at his university. There, Indy would have replicated the opening Raiders sequence in trying to snag the idol without the security alarm from going off, only to fail and alert Agent McKimson.[22]

There were plans by Icons in the mid-1990s to create a Chachapoyan Fertility Idol prop replica for a proposed Indiana Jones-licensed product-line called The Treasures of Indiana Jones, so some concept art was made. However, Icons' plans ultimately didn't go ahead.[23]

The artifact has been an enduring reference to the Indiana Jones franchise in popular culture, including Star Wars where it appears in the background of Solo: A Star Wars Story.[24]

Continuity[]

""Chachapoyan Fertility Idol"... wasn't there when it got stolen from Indy the FIRST time, but saved his life the SECOND time..."
―Marion Ravenwood[src]

Despite how Indy is shown retrieving the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol in The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones,[2] The Indiana Jones Handbook would later claim that the idol was believed lost to both the modern world and the Hovitos after it wasn't found among Belloq's personal effects[12] and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which doesn't appear to acknowledge the continuity of the Further Adventures line, indicates that Indy has yet to reclaim the idol by 1937 when he asks Dame Nawal Shafiq-Barclay if she has heard of Belloq's actions in South America.[14] While the comic itself set the story just "weeks" after the film[2] and Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide set it in 1937,[5] Marion Ravenwood was shown to still be a part of Indy's life there.[2] The game clearly indicates that she was no longer being around by the summer of that year[14] yet Disney Magic Kingdoms' Indiana Jones tie-in had Marion reference her involvement in Jones getting the idol back.[25]

In the game LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Indy extracts the statue and leaves the temple with Satipo. Once in the jungle, Belloq confronts Jones, and Indy tries to give him other things (first a diamond, a rubber duck, and then C-3PO's head, which is very similar to the Idol) but Belloq isn't fooled and takes the real deal.[26] Although the Peru sequence is omitted from the sequel, it appears that Indy extracted the Idol successfully as he gives it to Marcus Brody, having been chased by the giant rolling boulder from Peru to the United States.[27]

Appearances[]

Non-canonical appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8  The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones – "The Gold Goddess"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Raiders of the Lost Ark
  4. ↑  Indiana Jones Heritage trading cards (Card: A Game of Chance)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook
  8. ↑ Polyhedron 19 - The Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors
  9. ↑ Indiana Jones: The Search For Buried Treasure
  10. ↑ The Greatest Adventures of Indiana Jones
  11. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb: 1935 Journal
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Indiana Jones Handbook
  13. ↑ The Golden Goddess
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
  16. ↑ Lucasfilm.com Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark with Exclusive Products on Lucasfilm.com (backup link on Archive.org)
  17. ↑ Tlazolteotl (photo of Dumbarton Oaks idol). The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited (2009).
  18. ↑ The Birthing Figure in the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks
  19. ↑ Indymag, February 2017
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 The Complete Making of Indiana Jones
  21. ↑ Raiders of the Lost Ark comic
  22. ↑ Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods
  23. ↑ Icons GRAIL CUP prototype at THROW ME THE IDOL (Web archive)
  24. ↑ Solo: A Star Wars Story
  25. ↑ Disney Magic Kingdoms
  26. ↑ LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
  27. ↑ LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues

External links[]

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