THE MYSTERY OF THE
CRYSTAL SKULL, PART III
When last we visited the convoluted capers of the crystalline cranium, the occultists continued to cling to the conclusion that this cheeky chunk of quartz is indeed a magical Mayan remnant. (Part II is on page 329.)
THE LAB CRUSADE
“[The skull] is not powerful, not scary, and not at all what it purports to be.” That’s the conclusion of Jane MacLaren Walsh, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. She’s been studying Mesoamerican cultures and artifacts since the early 1990s. In November 2007, after Anna Mitchell-Hedges died, Walsh was finally able to get a good look at the purported “pre-Columbian artifact” (thanks to a loan from skull-keeper Bill Homann). Working with the British Museum, Walsh and her fellow scientists threw everything they had at the Mitchell-Hedges skull: electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, computerized tomography, ultraviolet light, and more—including poring through everything they could find that was said or written by F. A. and Anna Mitchell-Hedges. After all was said and done, the scientists determined that the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull “was probably made in Europe in the 20th century.”
Walsh’s findings are similar to those made five years earlier by Professor Ian Freestone of Cardiff University in Wales, who studied another crystal skull, supposedly Aztec in origin, that was sold to the British Museum in 1897. His analysis concluded that that skull was “probably made in 19th century Europe from a lump of poor quality Brazilian crystal.”
MYTHS & FINDINGS
Now that the scientists, historians, and theists have had ample opportunity to study the skull, here’s some of what they’ve found out.
Myth: The Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull was polished by hand using sand.
Findings: It was made by modern jeweler’s equipment. The obsidian tools the Mayans used to make much of their artwork would have left marks in the quartz crystal that could be detected by a microscope, as virtually every other Mesoamerican artifact does. Tests have shown that the skull was made using a “wheeled instrument” that bore the “tell-tale signature of a metal tool augmented by diamond.”
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Myth: The Mitchell-Hedges skull is unique.
Findings: According to Walsh, it’s “a veritable copy of the British Museum skull, with stylistic and technical flourishes that only an accomplished faker would devise.” The only difference between the two is that the eyes and teeth of the Mitchell-Hedges skull are more detailed.
Myth: The skull’s ambient surface temperature is a constant 70° Fahrenheit, proving that it has some kind of internal power source.
Findings: It behaves no differently than any other chunk of quartz. Frank Dorland disproved that rumor at Hewlett-Packard back in 1970, but it still persists today.
Myth: The crystal skull is modeled after an ancient Mesoamerican person (or god).
Findings: A forensic artist named Gloria Nusse made a facial reconstruction based on the skull’s features and concluded that the model was most likely a “young European woman.”
Myth: The crystal skull is the product of “five generations of skilled craftsmen” and is “impossible to replicate, even with modern machinery.”
Findings: National Geographic hired a crystal artist named Barry Liu to make an exact replica of the Mitchell-Hedges skull. He did it in eight days.
Myth: Ancient Mayans and Aztecs worshipped crystal skulls.
Findings: They didn’t. In his book Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality, historian Philip Jenkins writes that crystal skulls weren’t really a thing until 19th-century Europe; they are merely “products of a generation of creative spiritual entrepreneurs.” Skeptic Joe Nickell puts it even more bluntly: “The chief power of the skulls seems to be that of attracting the credulous, including some with fantasy-prone personalities, and transporting them to a mystical realm from which they return with addled senses. It seems likely that further revelations about the crystal skulls will best come, not from channeling sessions, but from science and scholarship.”
WHAT HAPPENED AT LUBAANTUN
Perhaps the tallest tale of all is that Anna Mitchell-Hedges found the skull while on an expedition with her father to British Honduras (now Belize) in 1924. She said she could prove she was there because, when she returned to Lubaantun in 1989, some of the Mayans recognized her. What other proof does she have? None. “All my father’s papers,” she told a reporter in 1983, “were lost in Hatteras during a cyclone—photographs and all.”
That doesn’t explain why none of the other members of F. A. Mitchell-Hedges’s Central American expeditions ever mentioned him finding the crystal skull, or why none of them could verify that Anna was ever there with him. The existing photographs (the ones that didn’t get lost in a cyclone) don’t show the skull or Anna. According to the Skeptical Inquirer, an archaeologist named Dr. John Morris went to Belize to try and retrace Anna’s steps, but he “couldn’t find any of the tunnels or passages she described.” So why make up such a fantastical account? Because the real origin of the crystal skull is a lot less glamorous.
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In late 19th-century Europe, Mesoamerican artifacts were all the rage. Wealthy adventurers—the same types who went on African safaris to bring home big game treasures—funded expensive editions, where they basically pilfered sacred sites for trinkets and artifacts that they sold for a tidy profit to museums and collectors. It was such a booming business that Mexican—and later European—jewelers started making and selling fake ancient artifacts. Even then, these fakes riled science-minded archaeologists such as the Smithsonian’s William Henry Holmes, who wrote as early as 1886 that it is easy for “a native artisan to imitate any of the older forms of ware [ceramics]; and there is no doubt that in many cases he has done so for the purpose of deceiving.”
Despite archaeologists’ warnings, newly made crystal skulls were readily passed off as ancient Mayan and Aztec in origin, even though they bore little resemblance to real artifacts made by those cultures. But most collectors didn’t know that. As far as they were concerned, they had in their possession an impressive conversation piece that “the natives believe hold magical powers.” According to anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh, “The first generation of fakes were made in Mexico…between 1856 and 1880. This 24-year period may represent the output of a single artisan, or perhaps a single workshop.” Then European fakers got in on the act. One of these skulls was put on display at the British Museum in 1898. Sometime in the 1920s or ’30s, a German jeweler—most likely in the town of Idar-Oberstein, which is known for its stunning quartz artworks—made a copy of that skull. The forged artifact then changed hands a few times before F. A. Mitchell-Hedges purchased it in London in 1943.
CRYSTAL CLEAR
Just because the crystal skull isn’t a magical object brought to Atlantis by aliens doesn’t mean it’s not an amazing piece of craftsmanship. Even skeptics marvel at it. Here are some of its stats:
•Material: The Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull was made from a single block of clear quartz “rock crystal.” The lower jaw, which is detached, was made from the same block.
•Age: It’s most likely less than a century old. Unfortunately, as the British Museum explains, “Contrary to popular belief, there are no satisfactory scientific techniques which can be used to accurately establish when a stone object was carved.”
•Weight: 11 pounds, 7 ounces. (A real human skull weighs about two pounds.)
•Dimensions: 7 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 5 inches high. The skull is anatomically accurate, but smaller than that of an adult.
•Value: It’s difficult to come up with a dollar amount—there isn’t really a going price for, as Joe Nickell described it, “an ancient artifact that’s not really ancient but still has some interesting history.” F. A. Mitchell-Hedges paid about the equivalent of $5,000 in today’s money for it. An appraisal in the 1970s—when it was still thought to be a genuine ancient Mayan artifact—valued it at $500,000. But after Anna Mitchell-Hedges died in 2007, the skull was appraised for a paltry $3,000. If it were to actually go on the auction block, its status as the most famous crystal skull in the world could spark a competitive bidding war, but another auction doesn’t seem to be the fate of this crystal skull.
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Those who truly believe in the “mystical properties” of crystal skulls are unlikely to be dissuaded by scientific evidence. The going argument among the faithful is that the reason the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull doesn’t look like anything else the Mayans or Aztecs made is because it was made by even more ancient peoples, using alien technology too advanced for modern scientists to understand. According to author and “Crystal Skull Explorer” Joshua Shapiro, who claims to have searched Central and South America for the rest of the fabled 13, “The crystal skulls, in my opinion, are the ancient computers which have stored special and important wisdom and knowledge that humanity can access to help us create a peaceful world.”
And even though Bill Homann made the skull available for scientific study, he says he still believes in its power, and he still honors the woman who entrusted it to him. According to Crystalskulls.com, Homann is “carrying out the wishes of Anna Mitchell-Hedges as he travels around the world making the famous crystal skull available directly to the public, instead of having it reside behind glass in a museum.” There hasn’t been much news about the skull in the last few years, but we did find this October 2017 Facebook announcement for a one-day event in Bellingham, Washington:
NEWS FLASH: This is your special opportunity to have one of the most amazing experiences you may ever know, to encounter the most famous skull in the world, known as the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull and the guardian Bill Homann. Could this skull be the lost skull of Atlantis?
PRIVATE VIEWING SESSIONS: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. —$25 for 15 minutes.
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