Filer's Files

The crystal skulls are a number of human skull models fashioned from blocks of clear or milky quartz crystal rock, claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts by their alleged finders. Modern mainstream scientific opinion is that the skulls are instead of 19th century European manufacture. None of the specimens made available for scientific study have been authenticated as pre-Columbian in origin.

The crystal skull at the British Museum, similar in dimensions to the more detailed Mitchell-Hedges skull.

The skulls are often claimed to exhibit paranormal phenomena by some members of the New Age movement, and have often been portrayed as such in fiction, most notably in the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but And in Season 3, Episode 21: “Crystal Skull” of the sci-fi TV-show Stargate SG-1.

A distinction has been made by some modern researchers between the smaller bead-sized crystal skulls, which first appear in the mid-19th century, and the larger (approximately life-sized) skulls that appear toward the end of that century. The smaller crystal skulls may be actual Mesoamerican beads that have been carved in modern times into a skull shape; they may even represent a genuine Mexican Catholic cultural practice, as at least one example has been found attached to the base of a crucifix (reflecting a Christian symbolism of Golgotha, the “place of [the] skull”). However, it is the larger crystal skulls that have attracted nearly all the popular attention in recent times, and researchers believe these to have been manufactured as forgeries in Europe.

Trade in fake pre-Columbian artifacts developed during the late 19th century to the extent that in 1886 Smithsonian archaeologist William Henry Holmes wrote an article called “‘The Trade in Spurious Mexican Antiquities”‘ for Science. Although museums acquired skulls earlier, it was Eugène Boban, an antiquities dealer who opened his shop in Paris in 1870, who is most associated with 19th-century museum collections of crystal skulls. Most of Boban’s collection, including three crystal skulls, was sold to the ethnographer Alphonse Pinart, who donated the collection to the Trocadéro Museum, which later became the Musée de l’Homme.

Mitchell-Hedges skull
Perhaps the most famous and enigmatic skull was allegedly discovered in 1926 by Anna Le Guillon Mitchell-Hedges, adopted daughter of British adventurer and popularist author F.A. Mitchell-Hedges.

Anna Hedges claimed that she found the skull buried under a collapsed altar inside a temple in Lubaantun, in British Honduras, now Belize. As far as can be ascertained, F.A. Mitchell-Hedges himself made no mention of the alleged discovery in any of his writings on Lubaantun. Also, others present at the time of the excavation have not been documented as noting either the skull’s discovery or Anna’s presence at the dig.

In a 1970 letter, Anna And stated that she was “told by the few remaining Maya, and was used by the high priest to will death”. The artifact is sometimes referred to as “The Skull of Doom”, either because of it is seemingly inexplicable properties and the supposed ill-luck of those who have handled it, or perhaps a play on ‘Skull of Dunn’ (Dunn being an associate of Mitchell-Hedges). Anna Mitchell-Hedges toured with the skull from 1967 and continued to give interviews about the artifact until her death in 2007.

The skull is made from a block of clear quartz about the size of a small human cranium, measuring some 5 inches (13 cm) high, 7 inches (18 cm) long and 5 inches wide. The lower jaw is detached. In the early 1970s it came under the temporary care of freelance art restorer Frank Dorland, who claimed upon inspecting it that it had been “carved” with total disregard to the natural crystal axes without the use of metal tools. Dorland reported being unable to find any tell-tale scratch marks, except for traces of mechanical grinding on the teeth, and speculated it was first chiseled into rough form, probably using diamonds, and the finer shaping, grinding and polishing achieved through the use of sand over a period of 150 to 300 years. Although various claims have been made over the years regarding the skull’s physical properties, such as an allegedly constant temperature of 70°F (21°C), Dorland reported that there was no difference in properties between it and other natural quartz crystals.

While in Dorland’s care the skull came to the attention of writer Richard Garvin, at the time working at an advertising agency where he supervised Hewlett-Packard’s advertising account. Garvin made arrangements for the skull to be examined at HP’s crystal labs at Santa Clara, where it was subjected to several tests. The labs determined only that it was not a composite (as Dorland had supposed), but was fashioned from a single crystal of quartz. The lab test Also established that the lower jaw had been fashioned from the same left-handed growing crystal as the rest of the skull.[12] No investigation was made by HP as to its method of manufacture or dating.

As well as the traces of mechanical grinding on the teeth noted by Dorland, Mayanist archaeologist Norman Hammond reported that the holes (presumed to be intended for support pegs) showed signs of being made by drilling with metal. Anna Mitchell-Hedges refused subsequent requests to submit the skull to further scientific testing.

F. A. Mitchell-Hedges mentioned the skull only briefly in the first edition of his autobiography, Danger My Ally (1954), without specifying where or by whom it was found. He merely claimed that “it is at least 3,600 years old and according to legend was used by the High Priest of the Maya when performing esoteric rites. It is said that when he willed death with the help of the skull, death invariably followed”. All subsequent editions of Danger My Ally omitted mention of the skull entirely.
The earliest published reference to the skull is the July 1936 issue of the British anthropological journal Man, where it is described as in the possession of Mr. Sydney Burney, a London art dealer said to have owned it since 1933. No mention was made of Mitchell-Hedges. There is documentary evidence that Mitchell-Hedges bought it from Burney in 1944. The skull was in the custody of Anna Mitchell-Hedges, the adopted daughter of Frederick. She steadfastly refused to let it be examined by experts (making very doubtful that claim that it was reported on by R. Stansmore Nutting in 1962). Somewhere between 1988-1990 Anna Mitchell-Hedges toured with the skull. In her last eight years Anna Mitchell-Hedges lived in Chicago with Bill Homann. He took care of her until she died on 11th of April, 2007. Since that time the Mitchell-Hedges Skull has been in the custody of Bill Homann.

British Museum skull
The crystal skull of the British Museum first appeared in 1881, in the shop of the Paris antiquarian, Eugène Boban. Its origin was not stated in his catalog of the time. He is said to have tried to sell it to Mexico’s national museum as an Aztec artifact, but was unsuccessful. Boban later moved his business to New York City, where the skull was sold at auction, and bought by Tiffany and Co., who later sold it at cost to the British Museum in 1897. This skull is very similar to the Mitchell-Hedges skull, although it is less detailed and does not have a movable lower jaw.

The British Museum catalogs the skull’s provenance as “probably European, 19th century AD” and describes it as “not an authentic pre-Columbian artifact”.

Eugène Boban Duvergé, French antiquarian based in Mexico, main dealer of americania in the late 19th century – provided the London and Paris crystal skulls.
Old picture, taken before 1867.

Paris skull
The largest of Eugène Boban’s three skulls (sometimes called the Paris Skull), about 10cm (3.9in) high, has a hole drilled vertically through it is center. It is part of a collection held at the Musée du Quai Branly, and was subjected to scientific tests carried out in 2007–08 by France’s national Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums in France, or C2RMF). After a series of analyses carried out over three months, C2RMF engineers concluded that it was “certainly not pre-Columbian, it shows traces of polishing and abrasion by modern tools.” Particle accelerator tests Also revealed occluded traces of water that were dated to the 19th century, and the Quai Branly released a statement that the tests “seem to indicate that it was made late in the 19th century.”
People who believe in the psychic power of crystal skulls say that the skulls are a center of radiant psychic energy and have the power to increase happiness and improve people’s lives just by being held, handled and spoken with; others have suggested that crystal skulls can be used like crystal balls, to aid divination.

Claims of the healing and supernatural powers of crystal skulls have no support in the mainstream scientific community. The scientific community at large has found no evidence of any unusual phenomena associated with the skulls nor any reason for further investigation, other than the confirmation of their provenance and method of manufacture.