- "Mataremos a los Huaqueos!"
- ―Sign displayed at Chauchilla Cemetery.[src]
The Chauchilla Cemetery is a 3rd century burial complex located on the Nazca Plains of southwest Peru. It is located south of the city of Nazca. Discovered in the 1920s, it had been used until the late 900s by the Nazca indians as a repository for their mummified dead - possibly due to its commanding view of the famous Nazca Lines, massive geoglyphs created by the Nazca for their gods.
History[]
American archaeologist Indiana Jones estimated that the Chauchilla Cemetery was built around 957. A stoned wall at the edge of the promontory the cemetery occupied, from two different eras, was constructed over a ruin.[2]
Around 1546, the mummified body of the famed Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana was interred at the Chauchilla Cemetery after his death at the hands of the Nazca along with the six conquistadors that he'd killed to prevent their taking the Crystal Skull of Akator.[3]
Jones and Mutt in the Chauchilla Cemetery.
In 1957, Indiana Jones and Mutt Williams followed a hint in Oxley's second letter and journeyed to Nazca looking for "Orellana's cradle".[1] After copying Oxley's drawings at the Nazca sanatorium, Jones and Williams showed them to a few locals, with a halfblind man recognizing them and warning them against going to the cemetery, describing it as cursed, only relenting and sketching out a map after being offered a few pesos.[3] There, they realized that Oxley meant Orellana's grave at Chauchilla Cemetery. The locals, fearful of grave robbers, posted guards to keep watch at night. These guards were fierce warriors who wore terrifying skull masks, and either killed or drove away whoever dare to enter the cemetery after hours. Jones suspected the cemetery warriors of being a secret tribe of Nazca or at least their descendants.[1]
Harold Oxley had been able to get in and out twice by going in during the daytime, when the guards were sleeping.[3] Jones and Mutt, however, who went at night, were attacked by two warriors. Jones killed one with his own poisoned arrow and drove away the other. They then continued the search until they found the hidden grave-chamber where Orellana and his companions were buried.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
In David Koepp's screenplay for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Chauchilla Cemetery overlooked the Pacific Ocean, but production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas suggested the Nazca Lines be used instead, a concept director Steven Spielberg liked and used, though the scene was ultimately simplified.[4]
Appearances[]
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novel
- "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" - Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic
- Indiana Jones: Traps and Snares
- Indiana Jones: The Search For Buried Treasure
- LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Non-canonical appearance)
Sources[]
- Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
- Indiana Jones Action Figures (Pack: Cemetery Warrior)
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Annual 2009
- Chauchilla Cemetery Battle
