Ugha

Ugha warriors at Akator.

The Ugha were an ancient tribe that lived in the western Amazon in the city of Akator. Building a society six to eight thousand years ago, the Ugha received thirteen visitors from above, whom they worshipped as gods. These gods taught them irrigation, animal domestication and other technology. Eventually, the Ugha, with the help of their gods, built up the city of Akator.

History

The Ugha people were one of the oldest cultures, possibly dating as far back as the Neolithic or were even contemporaneous with the Mesolithic. Sun worshippers like the Egyptians, the ancient Ugha inhabited an area of the Amazon in South America near the Sono River. At the base of the lowest of the Sono's three waterfalls, the Ugha used a concealed cave in which they recorded their history in pictorial form, memorializing important moments in their lives.

Around the time of the pyramids in Egypt, circa 5000 BC, thirteen interdimensional beings of unearthly origin arrived on the planet from the "space between spaces" in their flying, saucer-shaped craft. They chose to contact the sun worshipping Ugha who devoted themselves to the humanoid visitors from the skies, treating them like gods and, in turn, the beings imparted their knowledge upon the Ugha.

The visitors taught them farming,, irrigation architecture, metallurgy and astronomy, out of which grew a great city. Built upon the Ugha gods' craft in a crater accessed by the Ughas' cave network, it may have been the first city, and its construction influenced the development of other pre-Columbian New World civilizations including the Inca of Peru who called the Ugha city "Akator".

Akator thrived, and the thirteen interdimensional beings were collectors who somehow acquired pieces of arachaeological interest from different worldwide cultures over thousands of years which were stored outside the gods' chamber within the Temple of Akator at the center of the city.

In the 1500s, the Ugha encountered Spanish conquistadors, led by Francisco de Orellana, who stole the one of the crystal skulls from the Temple of Akator, and looted the city. It was believed that the Ugha did not survive after contact with the conquistadors.

Ugha warriors in the cave tunnels leading to Akator.

They were believed to have gone extinct, but around 1957, Harold Oxley discovered they were still alive as a culture when he visited Akator, trying to return the Crystal Skull of Akator. However, he did not mention their existence to the outside world. Later that year, Oxley revisited Akator with Indiana Jones, Mutt Williams, Marion Ravenwood, and George McHale, they discovered the Ugha paintings in the cave, and then were attacked by Ugha warriors hiding in the tunnel that connected the valley to the outside world. Chasing the intruders down the steps toward their city, the Ugha eventually took down and captured the five outsiders. Oxley revealed that he had the Crystal Skull in his possession, the Ugha retreated and allowed the team to climb the Temple of Akator.

When Irina Spalko entered the valley, her henchmen gunned down the primitive guardians of the valley, resulting in their extinction. After Indiana Jones and his team returned the Skull, a flying saucer was revealed below the temple, altering the valley's structure, letting thus the neighboring river flood into it, erasing the Ugha civilization forever.

Society and culture

Ugha warriors wore paints on their torso, face, and limbs, and were dressed in simple loincloths. Many warriors kept their hair fixed in ponytail-like styles. Ugha warriors also used ritual scarring and earrings to mark their bodies. They used very primitive weapons such as bolas, blow-darts, primitive stone axes and spears.

In the cave tunnel that connected the valley of Akator to the outside world, near a waterfall, the Ugha recorded their history in pictorial form, and developed secret hiding chambers from which to ambush trespassers.

Notable Ugha

• Cave Warrior

Behind the scenes

The Ugha appear in LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues where there are depicted as being led by an Ugha King, giving one possible answer as to how Akator is the kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the title of the fourth film.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (First appearance)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novel
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull junior novel
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic
• LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

•  Indiana Jones Movie Photo Cards (Card: The Walls Come Alive!)
•  Indiana Jones Movie Photo Cards (Card: The City of Doom)
•  Indiana Jones Movie Photo Cards (Card: Terror of the Ughas)
•  Indiana Jones Movie Photo Cards (Card: Saved by the Skull)
•  Indiana Jones Movie Photo Cards (Card: Secret of the Temple)
•  Indiana Jones Movie Photo Cards (Card: Checklist)
• Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
• The Complete Making of Indiana Jones
• Warrior Makeup