This story begins in the golden age of archaeology, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The mysteries and treasures belonging to ancient civilizations were scattered around the globe waiting to be found, producing a particular gold rush among researchers and, in greater numbers, among aristocrats and millionaires seeking exciting experiences.
The Legend of the Crystal Skulls
One of these amateur archaeologists, Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges, was in Belize – then British Honduras – searching the Mayan city of Lubantuum with his adopted daughter in search of traces left by the ancient Atlanteans. Mitchell Hedges, who had made his fortune at an early age as a Wall Street stockbroker, decided to dedicate his life and his savings to revealing the mysteries that were hidden in the thick Central American jungles at a time when official history was giving up. hand with the most unusual theories. It would be her daughter Anna hers who, exploring a secret chamber in the temple of Lubantuum, felt attracted by a strange glow that filled her with nervousness.
When he held in his hands the object from which the glow came, he was able to verify that it was a perfect skull made of quartz crystal and in perfect condition. When she was raised with the rope, the skull was raised by her father, provoking cries of joy and bowing from the Indians who accompanied them. It was the year 1927.
Despite the explorer’s powerful ethics, who donated everything he unearthed to the British Museum, he decided to keep this piece to which he attributed magical properties from the outset. He maintained that by looking directly into his eyes one could reach a higher state of consciousness, and even predict the future. He often recounted that a journalist went into a trance when he held her and that the object punished anyone who mocked its powers. He baptized her with the name of “Skull of Destiny”.
As if this were not enough, an ancient Mayan legend fueled the mystery of the crystal skull. According to the beliefs of this people, there are a total of 13 magical skulls scattered throughout South America that were carved in the 13 worlds inhabited by humans. The reason why the skulls are currently on Earth would be to help man in his search for knowledge, because when they are all found and placed together, they will reveal technological knowledge that we lost millennia ago. The supposed extraterrestrial origin of this skull sparked the imagination of archaeologists and the skepticism of scientists, who wanted to verify its fraudulent origin.
Although the discovery of Mitchell-Hedges was highly publicized due to the quality of the object’s workmanship, the truth is that there were already other crystal skulls on display in different museums and in private funds. The “ET” skull was discovered in Guatemala in 1906 and was named for its elongated skull that gives it a “non-human” appearance. In the Museum of Man in Paris there is another piece, also made of quartz, which has a vertical conduit in the center, probably to be used as a crozier for a ceremonial staff. The London skull, exhibited at the Museum of Mankind, was acquired by the latter from Tiffany’s jewelry store in New York, which displayed it in its store after its acquisition at auction.
These are some of the most relevant skulls, although there are documents of some others whose whereabouts are unknown; Let’s not forget that the early 20th century was a great year for looters and smugglers of ancient art.
The vast majority of these objects were classified as pre-Columbian and exhibited as such, but in the 1970s, a new wave of “New Age” sentiment caused the population to become interested once more in the properties of skulls. Thanks to new technologies, laboratories had better means to date ancient objects, although not using carbon 14, since quartz is inorganic, but using X-rays and microscopic analysis that could elucidate how they were carved, giving us the period of its elaboration. After the death of Frederick Mitchell-Hedges, his daughter Anna decided to deliver the skull to Hewlett-Packard Laboratories for analysis. What they discovered left them stunned; the skull could not have been carved with the tools available to the ancient Maya, given the level of perfection of the notches. One of the researchers literally exclaimed, “This damn thing shouldn’t exist if he wants to exist.” Of course, the scientists counted on it being a genuine pre-Columbian object and did not speculate that it was a modern carving. Anna herself took the skull from her without allowing further investigation into it. This was followed by years of controversy and scientific dissension.
Finally, after the death of Anna Mitchell-Hedges in 2007, the skull could be analyzed by the most modern methods, which included the use of ultraviolet light, computer tomography and an optical microscope. After almost a century of controversy surrounding the Mitchell-Hedges skull, the mystery had been solved: it had been carved using modern rotary tools, possibly in the 1930s, even after its discovery, which is also suspected to have been a hoax. Everything indicates that Federick acquired it at auction in 1943, subsequently creating the myth about his discovery, too literary to be reliable. The analysis of the rest of the skulls yielded a lapidary result; they had been carved with a very similar modern technique. Today,
Crystal skulls are back in fashion with the new installment of Indiana Jones, by Steven Spielberg, and it opens up new questions for us: the skulls have never been really dated, only the date of their carving is speculated on by technology employee; In addition, there are many other skulls made of different minerals and difficult to date, many of them still hidden. Will there be any other surprises in store for us?