The Nazca were believed to have lived for around a thousand years before being wiped out, but they survived in some form as a small tribe eventually encountered by Indiana Jones. He considered them to at least be the Nazca people's descendants if not the Nazca themselves.
History[]
In 1546, Francisco de Orellana was killed by the Nazca in Peru after he murdered his fellow conquistadors when they tried to relieve him of the crystal skull in his possession. Dressed like skeletons, Orellana thought he was being attacked by the living dead.
One of Chauchilla Cemetery's guardians in 1957.
The tribe buried the seven men at Chauchilla Cemetery, overlooking the Nazca Lines. Orellana's body was wrapped with the crystal skull and a golden death mask.
Over four hundred years later, in 1957, the tribe was protecting Orellana's Tomb and the cemetery from grave robbers. However, Harold Oxley bypassed them simply by journeying to the graveyard during the daytime. He found the skull and attempted to return it to Akator. When he couldn't access the Temple of Akator he returned to Chauchilla Cemetery and placed the crystal skull back with Orellana's body.
Following Oxley's trail, Indiana Jones and Mutt Williams were attacked by two of the Nazca's skeletal guard who wielded blowguns but were also capable martial artists. Though one of the cemetery warriors was killed by his own poison dart, the other was chased away when Jones cocked his pistol. Others were present in the shadows but they simply slipped away in the darkness.
Behind the scenes[]
Nito Larioza and Ernie Reyes, Jr. played the Cemetery Warriors in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Cemetery Warrior action figure claims that there were three present in the fight. In LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, the warriors are led by a Cemetery Warrior King.
While James Luceno's adaptation states that the warriors are the Nazca's descendents, James Rollins' novelization leaves it ambiguous whether or not the tribe is made up of the Nazca themselves.
Appearances[]
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novel (First identified as the Nazca)
- 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 Action Figures
- Chauchilla Cemetery Battle
External links[]
Nazca on Wikipedia- Cemetery Warrior on Brickipedia, the LEGO wiki