Crystal skulls: Fact or Fiction?
WASHINGTON (AP) - July 10, 2008 Happy to share the spotlight with the latest Indiana Jones
movie, the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History is putting its
crystal skull on display starting Thursday.
"People like to believe in something greater than themselves,"
Smithsonian anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh said, and crystal
skulls are mysterious and beautiful.
The skulls "are a fascinating example of artifacts that have
made their way into museums with no scientific evidence to prove
their rumored pre-Columbian origins," she added.
Crystals carved into the shape of a human skull fed the 19th
century's need for drama and mystery and its fascination with
death. They were supposed to be the creation of ancient
Mesoamericans - Aztecs, Mixtecs, Toltecs, perhaps Maya.
The skulls were claimed to represent the art and religion of
these peoples. Some even said the skulls had special, even
supernatural, powers.
Scientists say it ain't so.
Nonetheless, the giant crystal skull that mysteriously arrived
at the Smithsonian 16 years ago is out of its locked cabinet in
Walsh's office and will be on public view until Sept. 1.
Studying this skull led Walsh to extend her investigation into
crystal skulls in other museums and to conclude that all are fakes,
made in the 19th and 20th centuries.
"In the past, most carved skulls were assumed to be ancient,"
she said. After all, why would someone go to the trouble of faking
one?
Still, she is glad it arrived at her doorstep and prompted the
study. "This particular object has told us a whole new story,"
she said.
The museum's director, Cristian Samper, said people often ask
him if there is a real Indiana Jones doing archaeological work.
"I tell them there are several," he said. "People doing field
work that is every bit as interesting."
Of the many crystal skulls in museums and private collections
around the world, the Smithsonian's is one of the largest, at 10
inches high and weighing 30 pounds. It was mailed to the museum
anonymously, accompanied by a note claiming it was of Aztec origin.
It isn't, Walsh said.
The skulls were carved from blocks of quartz - sometimes called
rock crystal - and show the marks of modern carving tools. That
means they were not made before the 19th century. The Smithsonian
one, she said, seems to have been made between 1950 and 1960.
Indeed, no crystal skulls have ever been found at an
archaeological site.
True, skulls appear in Aztec and Toltec art. But, as scientists
point out, they always were carved in relief in basalt, a dark
rock.
Scientists think the crystal skulls were made in Europe and
Mexico, most in the 19th century, a period when there was a
thriving market in antiquities, real and fake.
What about their claimed special powers?
Here's what the British Museum has to say:
"Large quartz crystal skulls have generated great interest and
fascination since they began to surface in public and private
collections during the second half of the 19th century. The British
Museum views the skull in its collection as an enigmatic object of
great interest but with no supernatural properties."
None of this, though, discourages movies from featuring crystal
skulls or museums from joining in. Indeed, in addition to putting
its skull on display, the Smithsonian is reporting on the topic in
Smithsonian Magazine's July issue and featuring the skulls in a
documentary Thursday night on the Smithsonian Channel.
Crystal skulls also are on public view at the British Museum in
London and the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.
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On the Net:
Museum of Natural History: http://www.mnh.si.edu
Crystal Skulls: http://anthropology.si.edu/crystal-skulls
British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org
Musee do Quai Branly: http://www.quaibranly.fr/
