The crystal skulls of Indiana Jones are a special case in the category of exotic objects with supposed origins in the ancient civilizations of Central America. Some consider them archaeological finds from the hands of the Aztecs or Mayans, while others attribute them to extraterrestrial origin despite the fact that scientists have already decided
They suddenly appear at an auction, as a bequest in a will, even as an anonymous donation. They are always accompanied by legends and myths, mostly macabre, but stimulating the human imagination and leading it to occult paths. They have no convincing authenticity and do not stand up to serious scrutiny. But that has little effect on those who wish to succumb to their mysterious charms. And if their myth had not been retracted by Spielberg in favor of the new adventure of Indiana Jones, they would certainly not be talked about today. "Crystal skulls" are a special case in the category of exotic objects believed to have originated in the ancient civilizations of Central America. Some insist on considering them as archaeological finds of the Aztecs or Maya, while others, more daring, attribute to them an extraterrestrial origin, although scientists have already decided with certainty on their falsification. A mystery that will be kept alive as long as people prefer the fairy tale to the truth.
The package
16 years ago, a heavy package from an anonymous sender arrived at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington and astonished the institution's scientists. For the contents of the package was a spectacular object made of white crystal, which represented a human head and was much larger than normal. However, the parcel was accompanied by a letter, but unsigned: "This Aztec crystal skull, believed to be part of the collection of Porfirio Diaz, was acquired in Mexico in 1960. I offer it to the Smithsonian Museum," it said. Who; Why; When;
Smithsonian Museum anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh, who specializes in Mexican archaeology, has made it her mission to answer these questions, working with museums and scholars from around the world to solve the mystery. It is perhaps no coincidence that the results of the research have now been announced to coincide with the release of the film. But are they not even more interesting that way?
Crystal skulls first appeared as pre-Columbian art in the 19th century. However, not a single one of them comes from a documented excavation, and their style has little to do with the original pre-Columbian depictions of skulls, which are among the most important motifs in Central American iconography.
Shortly before the French invasion of Mexico by Louis Napoleon's army in 1863, which installed Maximilian Von Habsburg of Austria as emperor, the first Mexican crystal skulls appeared on the market. The largest of them was 1.5 inches tall, but the one the British Museum acquired from banker Henry Christie around the same time was 2.5 inches tall. A little later, in 1867, a French antique dealer named Essen Bobin exhibited his collection at Paris and presented two crystal skulls together.
The antique dealer
Essen Boban is the most mysterious figure in the history of crystal skulls, as thorough research has revealed. He posed as an official archaeologist of Maximilian's French scientific mission in Mexico, lived there since his youth and started collecting ancient artifacts very early, which he later sold through his family business.
Upon his return to Paris in 1870, he opened an antique shop and sold much of his Mexican archaeological collection to Alfonso Pinard, a French explorer and ethnographer. He in turn donated the collection, which included three crystal skulls, to the Trocadero, the forerunner of the Musée de l'Homme. For Boban had in the meantime acquired in Paris a third crystal skull, which was about 4 inches high and had a large hole. It is now in the Musée du Quai Branly.
At the same time, other crystal skulls appeared in Mexico, and in 1886 the Smithsonian Museum bought one that much later turned out to be a fake and mysteriously disappeared in 1973. Later, a "second generation" skull turned up in Boban's Paris shop, which was normal-sized and had no hole. However, when he tried to sell it to the National Museum of Mexico, it was rejected as a fake made of plain glass.
The company
Boban was not deterred by such failures, however, from 1886 he moved his business to New York, where he auctioned antiques. At one of these auctions, Tiffany & Co. acquired the crystal skull for $950 and sold it to the British Museum a decade later. And we should not hastily accuse him of being a fraud, because he was certainly not the only one.
A "third generation" of skulls followed shortly before 1934, when London art dealer Sidney Burney purchased what appeared to be a replica of the skull owned by the British Museum. In 1943, this skull was sold by Sotheby's of London to Frederick Arthur (Mike) Mitchell-Hitzes, a British explorer who, among other things, had excavated a Maya temple in British Honduras in 1924. It was inherited by his daughter Anna Mitchell-Hitzes - who died last year at the age of 100 - who claimed the skull had supernatural healing powers, it emitted blue light from its eyes and it destroyed computer hard drives! What was called the "Skull of Perfection" or the "Skull of Love" or simply the... Skull of Anna Mitchell-Hitzes is now claimed by her heirs.
The Mystery
"The skull that arrived at the Smithsonian represents a different generation and I believe it was made in Mexico shortly before it was sold. Today it is in the Smithsonian National Collections, catalog number 409954, and right now it is kept in a locked cabinet in my office," says anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh, who started the research. But even today, various collectors bring her crystal skulls with alleged origins in Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and even Tibet. Some of them are made of simple glass and others of resin.
"The truth behind the construction of the skulls may have been laid to rest by Boban, this master dealer of many hundreds of pre-Columbian works, including eventually all five different crystal skulls now buried in museums," she says. "Boban managed to baffle many people over many years and leave a mystery that endures a century after his death," she concludes.
Conspiracy Theories
In the age of the Internet, crystal skull enthusiasts have developed their own discussion community, which includes some of the most incredible myths about the origin of these objects. Others claim that they come from a distant galaxy and were brought to Earth by aliens. Others believe that they were located on a lost continent (Atlantis is suspected). Some more... grounded people believe they are 100,000 years old. And of course, they all believe they have supernatural powers.
A more complex myth speaks of 12 skulls stored in a great Olmec pyramid, from where they were passed on to the Maya and the Aztecs and then were scattered everywhere. Of course, all skulls could eat and speak, and when brought together, received special powers. So be careful, because when they are lined up on the last day of the Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012, the earth will stop moving!
According to these - and many others - you can understand the fears of Indiana Jones, who has to get his hands on a crystal skull from Peru. In this case, however, it is not the aliens who are hunting him, but Russian agents (at the time of the Cold War). The Russian Communist Party was not pleased to be playing the villain once again. "The film shows Russians running up and down America looking for crystal skulls," protested a party representative. And if you look at it realistically, of course, they are right. Except that this is cinema and fairy tales at their best.
But if you characterize the Russians as exaggerated, what can you say about the Americans who declared Harrison Ford - Indiana Jones a member of the Archaeological Institute of America? After all, if a fake scientist "sells" so well, why not fake crystal skulls?
Myth under collapse
Fake? Obviously. But why do they remain in the foreground and why do some museums continue to exhibit them, although their lack of an archaeological context is undeniable, while on the contrary their aesthetic and technical problems cannot be hidden? Thus, the British Museum can recognise that they are forgeries, but not, for example, the National Museum of Mexico, which considers them genuine Mayan and Aztec works.
The fact is that crystal skulls do not reflect the art of the ancient civilizations of Central America. In fact, they were almost always made of basalt, sometimes covered with stucco, and probably all painted. They were usually attached to walls or altars and sometimes depicted some deities in relief.
As for the carving, they were coarser than the crystal skulls, but had more naturalistic elements, especially in the representation of the teeth. They were made of limestone, but also of gold. The Maya carved them in profile, representing the days of their calendar.
So the French and other Europeans may have thought they were buying great pre-Columbian artwork by associating them with Aztec human sacrifices, but the Aztecs did not hang crystal skulls around their necks! Instead, they displayed the skulls of sacrificed humans that had previously been pierced horizontally through the temporal region rather than vertically.
In addition, special examination of the skulls at the British Museum and the Smithsonian Museum by scientists Jane MacLaren Walsh, Margaret Sachs, and Ian Freestone has shown that they were probably made with a tool using a rotating disk of copper or similar metal. Did the Aztecs and Maya have a spinning wheel? No, say the scientists, especially since analyzes of original works have shown that they were made with wooden and stone tools.
