Mystery of the Crystal Skulls

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One of archaeology's most compelling mysteries is that of the 13 Crystal Skulls. Skulls have been one of the most powerful objects of symbolism in human history, all over the world. Several "perfect" Crystal Skulls have been found in parts of Mexico, Central and South America. Together, they form a mystery as enigmatic as the Nazca Lines, the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge.

These skulls are believed to be between 5000 and 35000 years old. During early expeditions, archaeologists were told by locals that the skulls possessed magical powers and healing properties. However, people were unsure as to where they came from, or even why they existed. Some like to believe that these were remains from the lost civilization of Atlantis. Others like to believe these are fakes. And yet another group of psychics believe that these skulls have the capability to enable us to look into the past, present and future.

Historians and social anthropologists decided to find out more about the strange skulls. Very soon, they came across an ancient Indian legend saying that there had been thirteen crystal skulls of the Goddess of Death; they had been kept separately from each other under the strict control of pagan priests and special warriors.

Searches for more skulls started; some of them were found in museums and some in private collections not only in the USA, but in Mexico, Brazil, France, Mongolia, and in Tibet. There were more than 13 skulls found. However, not all of them were as perfect as the Mitchell-Hedges skull. Very likely, those were just later attempts to create something similar to the original skulls that were believed to have been gifts by God to the people.

The very construction and make of the skulls defies common logic. There are several crystal skulls in existence today around the world. The most famous of all the crystal skulls is: The Mitchell-Hedges Skull:

As the story goes, the skull was first discovered by the expedition headed by famous English archeologist F. Albert Mitchell-Hedges in Central America in 1927. Before that, the archeologist started clearing an ancient Maya settlement in a damp tropical jungle in Yucatan (British Honduras at that time and currently Belize) in 1924. It was decided to burn down 33 hectares of forest covering the ancient constructions of the settlement to make the archeological dig easier. When the smoke lifted, the expedition saw amazing ruins of a stone pyramid, city walls, and a huge amphitheater capable to seating thousands of spectators. The ancient settlement was called Lubaantun: The Place of the Fallen Stones.

After three years, Mitchell-Hedges organized another expedition; he took his daughter Anna with him, but, at that moment, the archeologist hardly supposed that the girl would be a lucky talisman for the expedition. On the day of her 17th birthday, in April 1927, Anna discovered a strange item under the debris of an ancient altar. That was a natural sized human skull made of a rock crystal and wonderfully polished. The skull lacked its lower jaw, which was found dozens of meters from the site three months later. The crystal details could be moved with the help of perfect, smooth joints on the skull and easily moved with every touch. Those who touched the skull experienced rather strange feelings.

It now appears that this tale of the skull's discovery was entirely fabricated. Mitchell-Hedges apparently purchased the skull at an auction at Sothebys in London, in 1943. This has been verified by documents at the British Museum, which had bid against Mitchell-Hedges for the crystal artifact, but the origin of which is attributed to Central America. The skull remains in the possession of the octogenarian Anna Mitchell-Hedges. She resides in Canada and displays the skull on frequent tours. Anna has maintained for all these years that she discovered the skull, even though there is reason to doubt that she was present at the Lubaatun expedition at all.

Continuing, Anna was the first to experience strange things. The girl put the skull near her bed before going to sleep. Anna said that she dreamed of the life of Indians who had lived thousands of years ago, and the girl could describe the dream in detail.

At first, Anna didn't attribute the strange dream to the crystal skull. However, strange dreams haunted the girl each time she had the skull near her bed. New dreams brought more new details about the life of Indians, details unknown even to scientists. When the skull was removed from the bedroom, there were no strange dreams. And they recommenced as soon as the strange find was taken back to Anna's room. The girl heard Indians talking and watched their everyday life and sacrifice rituals.

After the death of her father, at the beginning of the 1960s, Anna decided to give the strange skull to scientists for investigations. She believed that the skull was too perfect to have been made by the Indian civilizations living before the Columbus discoveries.

First, art critic Frank Dordland started investigating the strange skull. After a closer investigation, he discovered that the skull had a complicated system of lenses, prisms, and channels, creating unusual optical effects. The investigator was surprised to discover no signs of processing on the skull's perfectly polished surface. They couldn't be seen even with a microscope. Frank Dordland even addressed Hewlett-Packard, the famous company that specialized in crystal oscillators at that time, for a competent examination of the crystal.

The results were shocking not only for the scientist himself. The research by Hewlett-Packard in 1964 in a special laboratory revealed that the skull had been made long before the first civilizations appeared in that part of America where the skull was found. In addition, rock crystal of such perfect quality couldn't be found in that area. The most amazing thing was that the ancient skull weighing 5.13 kg, 203.4 mm long and 125.4 wide had been made of a whole crystal. This fact contradicted the laws of physics.

Hewlett-Packard experts analyzed the skull and discovered that it consisted of three or four joints grown together. After close analysis, they found out that the skull had been cut of one piece of crystal, together with the lower jaw. The rock crystal has a hardness that is slightly lower than that of topaz, corundum, and diamond; it can be cut with diamonds only. It is astonishing, but the ancient Indians managed to cut it somehow, and even made a lower jaw with the joints. Someone had made the skull of a whole crystal so carefully that it seemed that nobody had ever touched it. A kind of a prism was found at the back bottom of the skull; any ray of light that strikes the eye-sockets is reflected there. If you look into the eye-sockets, you may see the whole room reflected.

Hewlett-Packard experts say that the skull had been made regardless of all laws and rules. They surprisingly said: "The damned thing can't exist at all. Those who had done it had no idea of crystallography or of fiber optics. The people completely ignored the axis of symmetry, which was to prevent the crystal from splitting during processing. It is strange why it didn't split at that! No matter how unbelievable it may seem, the strange crystal skull can be seen in the Museum of American Indians.

Researchers found that the skull had been carved against the natural axis of the crystal. Modern crystal sculptors always take into account the axis, or orientation of the crystal's molecular symmetry, because if they carve "against the grain," the piece is bound to shatter -- even with the use of lasers and other high-tech cutting methods.

To compound the strangeness, HP could find no microscopic scratches on the crystal which would indicate it had been carved with metal instruments. Dorland's best hypothesis for the skull's construction is that it was roughly hewn out with diamonds, and then the detail work was meticulously done with a gentle solution of silicon sand and water. The exhausting job -- assuming it could possibly be done in this way -- would have required man-hours adding up to 300 years to complete.

The Mitchell-Hedges Skull:
 

For more on the other crystal skulls, etc. check out this site: The 13 Crystal Skulls

Mystery of the Crystal Skulls:
One of archaeology's most compelling mysteries is that of the 13 crystal skulls. The crystal skulls have been some of the most powerful mystical symbols in human history. Several "perfect" crystal skulls have been found in parts of Mexico and Central and South America. Together, they form a mystery as enigmatic as the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge.



The Secret Of The Thirteen Crystal Skulls:



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