THE
DEMON STATUE IN RAIDERS
On Indy's journey to the Temple of the Chachapoyan
Warriors, one of his Quechua porters encounters a monstrous
idol hidden in the jungle. The porter runs screaming,
and birds fly from inner recesses through its open mouth.
The Raiders novel calls this statue a "Chachapoyan Demon."
THE
JAGUAR TIKI
The Chachapoyan Demon scene was filmed on location
on the Hawaiian Island of Kaua'i. "Hawaii Movie Tours"
on Kaua'i owns a giant sculpture, a near-copy of the
one used for Raiders, which they say was carved by the
same artist. They call it "The Jaguar Tiki." The Jaguar
Tiki is not quite identical to the Chachapoyan Demon
seen in the film, lacking details such as the ears,
arm, and large headdress. Nonetheless, the Jaguar Tiki
is a terrific sculpture and you certainly get a sense
of deja vu from seeing this vision out of Indy's adventures
standing right in front of you.
THE
REAL CHACHAPOYAN DEMONS
The Chachapoyan Demon in Raiders was another fanciful
touch, not meant to represent any real artifact. And
yet, in another strange coincidence, there really are
giant menacing statues hiding in the jungles and cliffs
of the Chachapoyas region. One can easily imagine what
it must have been like to encounter these weird faces
by surprise.
The
real Indiana Jones must have encountered one of the
eight-foot-tall monumental Chachapoyan sarcophagi –
the standing tombs of the ancient dead. The clay mummiform
sculptures stand on inaccessible ledges and in niches
on cliffs, a distinctive artifact of the Chachapoyan
peoples who lived in the Andes in northern Peru.
This
group of funerary sentinels stands in a remote location
called Karajia. Their cliff ledge overlooks a narrow
valley that runs northeast of the town of Chachapoyas.
Almost all of the known Chachapoyan "demons" are sited
in this valley. In the local dialect they are called
"purumachus," and amongst the native people here they
are believed to hold the bodies of great Chachapoyan
warriors. The monuments strongly resemble the famous
moai of Easter Island with their cubist, schematic aesthetic.
Painted patterns decorate the simplified statue bodies,
and the faces stare fiercely out over the valley below.
Each tomb statue contains human remains in the fetal
position at its base, and some are marked with skulls
on poles rising above them.
The purumachus were first discovered and reported in
1893 by Indiana Jones' famous predecessor, the Swiss
archaeologist Adolphe Bandelier, which must be why Indy
is not surprised to see the Chachapoyan Demon he encounters
in Raiders.
Who
were the mysterious Chachapoyans? They're for real all
right, and we'll find out in the next installment of
The Archaeology of Indiana Jones. See you next month!
