The Smithsonian's Crystal Skull
How the museum's quartz cranium highlights the epic silliness of the new Indiana Jones movie
- By Owen Edwards
- Smithsonian.com, May 30, 2008, Subscribe
The Smithsonian's Crystal Skull » (James Di Loreto/NMAH/SI)
The crystal skull sought by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the latest silver-screen installment of the archaeologist’s over-the-top adventures is, of course, a movie prop—masquerading as an ancient artifact from pre-Columbian Central America. (Disclosure: in my day job, I work for a magazine published by producer George Lucas’ Educational Foundation.) As it happens, the prop bears a strong resemblance to scores of crystal skulls in museum collections around the world. These skulls, carved from large chunks of quartz, may well have been chiseled by descendants of Aztecs and Mayans, but they are decidedly post-Columbian.
Fakes are an all too real part of the museum world. “There are always artists capable of making and selling things that seem old,” says anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Walsh has seen her share of fakes. In fact, she has become something of a specialist on the subject. “I didn’t start out as a skeptic,” she says, “but experience has changed my outlook.”
In 1992, according to Walsh, the museum received an unsolicited donation of a larger-than-life, ten-inch-high skull carved from milky-hued quartz. Some time later, Walsh, an expert in Mexican archaeology, was asked to research the skull, one of several known to exist. Until that point, skulls of this kind typically had been attributed to ancient Mesoamerican cultures.
Walsh knew that if the skull proved to be a genuine pre-Columbian relic, it would constitute an important addition to the Smithsonian collection. But she harbored doubts from the start. “After Mexican independence,” she says, “a lot of outsiders started coming into the country and collecting historic pieces for museums.” The collectors, she adds, “created a demand, and local artisans then created a supply. Some of the things sold to these foreigners may not have been made to intentionally deceive, but certain dealers claimed that they were ancient.”
A major player in the skull game, according to Walsh, was Frederick Arthur Mitchell-Hedges, an English stockbroker-turned-adventurer who, in 1943, began displaying a crystal carving that he called “The Skull of Doom” to his dinner-party guests. His daughter, Anna, later claimed that he had found the skull in a ruined temple in Belize during the early 1920s. The family’s stories seemed to generate the “discovery” of more skulls with even wilder tales attached. (They had come from the lost city of Atlantis or been left by extraterrestrials.)
Investigations by the Linnean Society of London, a research institute specializing in taxonomy and natural history, revealed that Mitchell-Hedges actually purchased his skull at auction at Sotheby’s in London in 1943 for around £400, about $18,000 today. How it came to the auction house isn’t known. (Anna Mitchell-Hedges kept it until her death at age 100 last year; the object remains in the family.) Experts now believe that many extant crystal skulls were made in Germany during the late 1800s; Walsh thinks that the Smithsonian skull was carved in Mexico in the 1950s.
By 1996, Walsh had decided to put the skull to the test. She took it to London’s British Museum, whose collections contain two similar skulls. Margaret Sax, a materials expert there, used scanning electron microscopy to study tool marks on the skulls. In each case, she noted that modern tools and abrasives had been employed. Today, the skull that launched Walsh’s sleuthing sits in a locked cabinet in her Washington, D.C. office, faux and forlorn. Walsh, offering an explanation as to why many museums even today exhibit crystal skulls as authentic Mesoamerican antiquities, describes the artifacts as “reliable crowd pleasers.”
A few years ago, another skull was sent to NMNH for testing. Researchers took a sample; what had appeared to be quartz crystal was found to be glass.
“So that [one],” says Walsh, “turned out to be a fake fake.”
Owen Edwards, who lives in San Francisco, is a freelance writer and author of the book Elegant Solutions.
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Related topics: National Museum of Natural History Crystals Artifacts Museums
Additional Sources
"Legend of the Crystal Skulls: The Truth Behind Indiana Jones's Latest Quest" by Jan MacLaren Walsh, Archaeology, May/June 2008
Comments (27)
You describe these skulls as "fakes". The claim that they are of Mayan or Aztec or Extra-terrestrial origin might be fanciful, incorrect, or a lie, but the objects themselves are real, since they exist.
Posted by PeeCee on July 2,2012 | 07:15 PM
Research conducted at the crystal skulls were resolved this mystery and found that about 200 years old. So no 3 600 years, not 12 000 years, but come the second half of the nineteenth century. Several people were well-earned on them. The first is Mr. Eugene Boban who sold skulls as artifacts or objects of great value. . Another person who has raised capital, was Mrs. Ann Mitchell-Hedges who was on his tour lobanju.Kristalne charged views on the skull are still a good business. Sales are nicely packaged fraud.
Posted by Ratko Krsmanovic on February 19,2011 | 10:28 PM
i got a quick question for my reasearch paper, have any of the real skulls been uncoverd yet; or have they all been fakes?
if you got an answer e-mail me @ brendenpatriots@yahoo.com
thank you
Posted by brenden johnson on November 12,2009 | 02:06 PM
Uncle found a skull face carved on brownish rock, hand size, and the back of the rock is smooth. The skeleton face is very detailed; teeth, eyes, nose, and was found in known mound areas in a deep water hole near the Illinois river. Any knowledge or thoughts?
Posted by CAROLYN HALL on September 8,2009 | 03:22 PM
I understand that people would be skeptical of such a brilliant piece of art. What do you think about the phenomenom of some crystal skulls changing in weight and color? Is this just an outright lie?
Posted by todd A. on January 20,2009 | 09:49 PM
ive long to here about unusuall artifacts but the key i belive to be light or maybe a low denity light source it is possible that they may find something just a thought try it who knows it is hypothsis it may infact show somrthing just think projection
Posted by jeremy crossno on January 8,2009 | 01:03 AM
I loved it. I saw Indiana Jones & the kngdome of the chrystal skull last night so it made me look it up online to see if it was true!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Kylie Richards on November 8,2008 | 10:39 AM
This is what I believe, that no one will ever know the true power of any of the skulls until they are brought together. Until then they are just items collecting dust in a museum. If they do hold some kind of supernatural power not know to earth, then maybe its been hidden for a reason , or maybe its complete "b.s." Does anyone even know where the skulls came from?
Posted by willie on October 26,2008 | 04:34 PM
Its my belief that its the design and shape of the skull that is the center of its function. It seems to me that it is a instrument of sort that works off sounds or frequencys.Notice that the human skull itself, contains sight, hearing, and speech. Experiment how light, vibration, and magnets refract against it.
Posted by david cisneros on October 2,2008 | 02:48 AM
i love what skeptics buy into. i also love what gullible people need proof of. more power to asking questions i guess. long live the search for knowledge.
Posted by gerald delaney on September 22,2008 | 05:18 PM
I have no doubt that the crystal skulls lurking in various museums are of relatively recent origin, but I'd like to know more about a much smaller skull set in the base of a Mexican reliquary which is believed to be from 17th century. This object was part of the "Mexico -- Splendors of Thirty Centuries" exhibit which toured the U.S. in the 80's and a picture of it appeared in the exhibit book.
Posted by Jojo Jones on July 10,2008 | 10:15 AM
Very cool! I really enjoyed this article!
Posted by Chris Broersma on June 19,2008 | 12:17 AM
A real skull Has been found and shown on ng tv with marking on it of a map in south america to Africa and then to south Africa.. She then said it will go to a collector. I later found the skull in a rock shop being told that it was a geode. I still have the item today and it looks real to me, A little to real.
Posted by Michael Cline on June 17,2008 | 08:01 PM
Apparently, two key pieces of information regarding the Mitchell-Hedges Skull are missing from the Owen Edwards story. First, the surprising high-tech results from the Hewlett-Packard laboratory investigation. Second,the belief by some that M-H left the skull in London with someone who had loaned him money for an expedition, only to find on his return the latter had arranged to sell (or re-sell) it through Sothbey's, which forced an angry M-H to purchase (or re-purchase) it for £400 in 1943. Perhaps joint investigation by the Linnaeus Society and Sothebey's is needed to clarify the core issue, namely, the highly advanced technology evidenced in the M-H Skull, leaving aside all Atlantis, 2012, UFO and pre-colombian attachments?
Posted by Stan Hall on June 16,2008 | 05:23 AM
It's a shame that cultural promoters use Hollywood's movies like "Indiana Jones" to attract the masses to museums, art galleries, and other cultural activities, but what the heck! some how is necessary to achieve the impacts of art in society and its surroundings.
Posted by Jordi Prat on June 12,2008 | 12:09 AM
Now why should the movie industry bring out an 'authentic' archaeological film? In reality, for outsiders, a dig is tedious, boring work usually done for little money or recognition. Nobody wants to pay money to see a movie about people sitting on the ground and scratching away at the dirt, or cleaning and numbering endless amounts of non-descript pots sherds. IF you are lucky and hit a big find, it's another story of course. However, most archaeologists work to advance knowledge about a particular era, and are largely ignored outside the field they work in. More power to Indy and his perhaps-sucessor. Anything that gets people interested in history, and the need to research and preserve it it great.
Posted by D.W. Murphy on June 11,2008 | 01:57 PM
Yes, I agree this movie gets people thinking about history, archeology, ancient civilizations, adventure and the need to find the real thing, that's great! But, I also saw Hollywood bring out the next "Indy" (his son), to carry on. Hope the adventure can continue, with “some” authenticity.
Posted by Carol on June 8,2008 | 09:02 PM
Yes, I agree with Tia Hunt.... I am a teacher, and anything that promotes inquiry and dialogue in students is valuable tool ... I hope there is another Indiana Jones in our future and I look forward to what archaeological interest it sparks.
Posted by Lucinda lamb on June 7,2008 | 12:45 PM
I took my 7-year-old grandson to see the movie and he thought it was great! So did I! If a family movie like this gets him thinking about history, archealogy and adventure, then more power to it! And yes, it wets the appetite to find out more about the "real" thing, authentic or fake.
Posted by Tia Hunt on June 6,2008 | 12:04 PM
the facts and the fun need not be mutually exclusive! most will take the film as intended, not literally, and anything that inspires one to actually then look at history and archaeology and the real passions therein, is a brilliant thing in my book.
Posted by kate ryan on June 5,2008 | 08:27 AM
Hey, the Crystal Skull saga continues to be a 'Kick' - and I love all the interest that it has generated. I will be in DC next Wednesday (at the Morrison House in Alexandria) and would like to see the "skull" if possible. Where - when, etc. Eleanor A. Hannemann
Posted by Eleanor A. Hannemann on June 4,2008 | 11:17 PM
I SAW A PROGRAM ON TV RECENTLY & I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS MUCH MORE TO IT ALL SOMEHOW !!!!!!!!!
Posted by STEVE LEVY on June 4,2008 | 06:48 PM
Silliness? Owen, the boss probably won't be pleased. You may want to start looking for an new day job.
Posted by IJ on June 4,2008 | 10:53 AM
Silliness is right. The skull from the Indiana Jones movie looked like plastic (I'm sure they'll be on sale soon for everyone to buy) and the movie explained it came from human beings with elongated heads or extraterrestrials, take your pick. The whole story was muddled and unengaging.
Posted by Carolyn Watanabe on June 3,2008 | 06:19 PM
There is a crystal skull pictured on the cover of the last issue of "Archaeologist." Although I have not read it yet, the skull looks a lot different. You can almost see through it. This skull is opaque. Now to find my issue and see what the difference is. Apparently, the movie has brought attention to the "crystal skull" at least to have it appear in two prestigious magazines.
Posted by Barbara Harrison on June 3,2008 | 05:00 PM
Good article sadly alot of "new Age Items turn out too be FAKES and SCAMS...... I hope this educatues Us to use discretion and Knowledge too see past the Faux and Shine
Posted by James Minium on June 3,2008 | 05:00 PM
Glass skulls, cone heads and pumpkin heads are a lot of fun but their archaeological value is naturally questionable. Some people have far too much time on their hands. However, I saw "Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls" and thought it was,also, a lot of fun. I would hope that no one would think it portrayed anything real.
Posted by Charles Ivie on June 3,2008 | 04:56 PM
I totally enjoy Smithsonians articles on archaeology. Although being a retired special ed. teacher , I always loved this subject. Keep it up !!! GW
Posted by George F.Willwerth on June 3,2008 | 04:24 PM
GOOD ARTICLE ON THE CRYSTAL SKULL DELEMA People are still foragers after 2 million years and are always looking for something that will bring them fame and fortune. We must realize that rulers of the past needed to control the ignorant masses of people and certain objects invoked fear and obedience in order to control societies. Look what Happened to Socrates and Jesus for telling people That they should think for themselves.
Posted by Peter Langes on June 3,2008 | 04:22 PM
great article but you need more info. You hve plenty to convince me but you need more proof.
Posted by Sierra Kiper on June 3,2008 | 03:33 PM