Golden Idol (Artifact)

"Golden Idol", is a fictitious golden idol from the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark", a 1981 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It was made famous by the popularity of the film. It is also the first relic audiences see the protagonist of the film franchise acquire establishing that hero as a treasure hunter. Countless replicas have been sold world wide attributing to the association many fans feel towards their "hero". The Idol is one of the many licensed collectible movie prop replicas being sold in a multi-million dollar industry.

History

The idol belonged to the Chachapoyan tribe in Peru South America. It was sought after in 1936, in the Peruvian jungle, by archaeologist/treasure hunter Indiana Jones. Jones had heard of the idol when a score of golden Chachapoyan figurines began to appear on the antiquities market. Indy and Marcus Brody, curator of the National Museum, believed that new Chachapoyan temples had been located and were being plundered. All evidence pointed to one of Indy's competitors, a Princeton archaeologist named Forrestal, who had embarked on an expedition to Peru a year earlier and had yet to return. With help from the journal of a 19th century explorer and contacts in South America, Indy decided to follow in Forrestal's footsteps, determined to acquire the real prize: a golden representation of the Chachapoyan goddess of fertility and childbirth, said to be secreted in the heart of the Temple of Warriors. While traveling through one of the cave-like corridors in the Temple of Warriors Indy spotted a now decayed Forrestal who met his end by having broken a beam of skewed sunlight. The light beam had tripped a spring-loaded bed of wooden spikes that shot out from the wall of the tunnel, impaling him.cite book |last= Luceno|first= James|authorlink= James Luceno |title= "Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide" |publisher= DK Publishing |location=New York |date= 2008 |pages=P. 58-61 |isbn= 978-0-7566-3500-8]

The idol was made of pure gold and was placed upon an ancient Chachapoyan alter. The golden fertility idol was the exact weight to hold an ancient self-destruct mechanism in place. Indy knew of the booby trap and attempted to replace the idol with a bag of sand. His attempt failed however when he incorrectly estimated the weight of the idol. After escaping the many traps set by the Chachapoyans including a giant boulder, he finds rival archaeologist Rene Belloq waiting outside with a group of Hovitos, the local natives. Surrounded and outnumbered, Jones is forced to give up the artifact to Belloq. Jones escapes from Belloq and the Hovitos after a jungle pursuit and flying away on a waiting seaplane.

Years later, Indy regains the idol from a black market antiquities dealer located in Marrakesh, Morocco. However, also on the trail fo the idol is Xomec, a descendant of the Chachapoyans, and Ilsa Toht, sister of Gestapo agent Arnold Toht. The two want to use the idol to unite Amazonian tribes and distrupt wartime rubber production in South America, as well as lure Indy to his death.

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