The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol was a solid gold statue, six inches tall, representing the Chachapoyan goddess of fertility. The idol 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.
In 1935, a Princeton archaeologist named Forrestal disappeared in the jungle attempting to recover the idol. The following year, Indiana Jones, on commission from the National Museum and working from Forrestal's notes, managed to locate the temple and extract the statue, only to have it immediately stolen by rogue archaeologist René Belloq. Belloq promptly unloaded the artifact in Marrakesh, where Jones later re-appropriated it from the shop of antiquities dealer Saad Hassim.
The National Museum celebrated the idol's arrival with a lavish banquet at the Diamond's Eye nightclub in Manhattan. Among the guests was a band of angry Hovitos led by Xomec, alleged descendant of the Chachapoyans. Xomec swiped the idol from curator 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.
Appearances
- Raiders of the Lost Ark novel (First appearance)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
- The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones
- Issue 9: "The Gold Goddess: Xomec's Raiders"
- Issue 10: "The Gold Goddess: Amazon Death-Ride!"