Raiders of the Lost Ark's opening sequence was inspired by a 1954 Scrooge McDuck comic, which drew from 16th-century folklore about the Seven Cities of Cíbola that sparked Spanish expeditions into the American Southwest. The film's temple setting in South America references the real Chachapoyan culture, though the booby-trapped temple and golden idol are fictional inventions based on the disputed Dumbarton Oaks artifact.