Crystal skulls
When I was a teenager I had a vacation job working near Tottenham Court Road in London. In my lunch breaks I used to go and visit the British Museum nearby, entering by the back entrance to avoid the crowds. Near that entrance was a special exhibit, highlighting a crystal skull reportedly from one of the ancient Central American civilizations, Aztec or Maya. This was a magnificent object, made of a single piece of quartz, that was totally transparent, that brightly reflected the lights shone upon it, and it was polished to a fine smooth sheen. For many years I imagined how these ancient savage civilizations had held such an object in religious awe.
Recently the lastest Indiana Jones movie, entitled "Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skulls" was based on the myth that there are 13 such skulls and that when they are returned to their place in a specific Mayan site, they will exhibit magical properties, like an ancient computer. Balderdash!
Now I saw a program on National Geographic in which several researchers put these skulls to the test. There are such skulls in the Museum of Enthnography in Paris, one the British Museum and one in the Smithsonian. However, there is one particular skull, called the "skull of doom," that was supposedly discovered by the daughter, Anna, of a well known adventurer and amateur archeologist, upon whom the role of Indiana Jones is based, namely Frederick Mitchell Hedges. According to her account, they were excavating at a Mayan site in 1924 when she was 16, when she decided to climb to the top of a pyramid, where she discovered a hole. When her father and others let her down on ropes through the hole, when she reached the bottom she saw something shining and when she picked it up she discovered that it was a crystal skull.
There are a few things that don't quite jibe in this account. First, the expedition notes of Frederick Mitchell Hedges make no mention of the discovery of any such hole nor of the crystal skull. Second, in various accounts dating from the mid-1930s, Anna uses different dates, ranging from 1924-1929 for the discovery. Further, a little known article was discovered in the British Museum archives in which two crystal skulls were compared in the 1930's, and although one of the skulls was clearly identical to the "skull of doom", it had been borrowed from a London dealer, who later sold it in a private sale, registered by Sothebys, to none other than (you guessed it) Frederick Mitchell Hedges.
Now that the provenance of the "skull of doom" was in doubt, the question was where in fact did the four skulls extant actually come from. Scientists used three methods of analysis, first surface electron microscopy to detect minute marks made by tools on the surface, second, chemical analysis of minute particles in tiny holes on the surface, and third minute inclusions of other minerals in the quartz that are characteristic of the original source of the quartz. They compared a small quartz crystal goblet that had been discovered in an excavation that was definitely authentic Mayan. They found three things, first, the marks on the surface of the goblet and of the skulls were entirely different, while those on the goblet were shallow and random in direction, those on the skulls were deeper and parallel, and this was consistent with the use of a mechanical wheel that had not been introduced until the mid 18th century. A chemical agent found on the surface was silicon carbide (carborundum), that was not used until the same period, and the inclusions were not consistent with quartz from Central America, but rather from Madagascar!
Two of the skulls, those in the British and French museums, were traced to a specific French antiquities dealer named Bonan in the mid 18th century and it was also found that Madagascar began exporting large quartz crystals to France at about that time. The one in the Smithsoniam was apparently made much later and shows signs of laser marks. So the crystal skulls are definitely forgeries!
Nevertheless, some still claim that the skulls give off emanations and when touched provide psychics with esoteric knowledge of the spirit world. But, as far as I am concerned that's another case of cherished illusions shattered by careful scientifc analysis.
Recently the lastest Indiana Jones movie, entitled "Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skulls" was based on the myth that there are 13 such skulls and that when they are returned to their place in a specific Mayan site, they will exhibit magical properties, like an ancient computer. Balderdash!
Now I saw a program on National Geographic in which several researchers put these skulls to the test. There are such skulls in the Museum of Enthnography in Paris, one the British Museum and one in the Smithsonian. However, there is one particular skull, called the "skull of doom," that was supposedly discovered by the daughter, Anna, of a well known adventurer and amateur archeologist, upon whom the role of Indiana Jones is based, namely Frederick Mitchell Hedges. According to her account, they were excavating at a Mayan site in 1924 when she was 16, when she decided to climb to the top of a pyramid, where she discovered a hole. When her father and others let her down on ropes through the hole, when she reached the bottom she saw something shining and when she picked it up she discovered that it was a crystal skull.
There are a few things that don't quite jibe in this account. First, the expedition notes of Frederick Mitchell Hedges make no mention of the discovery of any such hole nor of the crystal skull. Second, in various accounts dating from the mid-1930s, Anna uses different dates, ranging from 1924-1929 for the discovery. Further, a little known article was discovered in the British Museum archives in which two crystal skulls were compared in the 1930's, and although one of the skulls was clearly identical to the "skull of doom", it had been borrowed from a London dealer, who later sold it in a private sale, registered by Sothebys, to none other than (you guessed it) Frederick Mitchell Hedges.
Now that the provenance of the "skull of doom" was in doubt, the question was where in fact did the four skulls extant actually come from. Scientists used three methods of analysis, first surface electron microscopy to detect minute marks made by tools on the surface, second, chemical analysis of minute particles in tiny holes on the surface, and third minute inclusions of other minerals in the quartz that are characteristic of the original source of the quartz. They compared a small quartz crystal goblet that had been discovered in an excavation that was definitely authentic Mayan. They found three things, first, the marks on the surface of the goblet and of the skulls were entirely different, while those on the goblet were shallow and random in direction, those on the skulls were deeper and parallel, and this was consistent with the use of a mechanical wheel that had not been introduced until the mid 18th century. A chemical agent found on the surface was silicon carbide (carborundum), that was not used until the same period, and the inclusions were not consistent with quartz from Central America, but rather from Madagascar!
Two of the skulls, those in the British and French museums, were traced to a specific French antiquities dealer named Bonan in the mid 18th century and it was also found that Madagascar began exporting large quartz crystals to France at about that time. The one in the Smithsoniam was apparently made much later and shows signs of laser marks. So the crystal skulls are definitely forgeries!
Nevertheless, some still claim that the skulls give off emanations and when touched provide psychics with esoteric knowledge of the spirit world. But, as far as I am concerned that's another case of cherished illusions shattered by careful scientifc analysis.
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:38 PM
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