Mysterious Crystal Skulls On Display At Smithsonian

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WASHINGTON -- Some mysteries are such fun you almost don't want to know thetruth. That may help explain why people are fascinated with crystal skulls .
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 thanthemselves," Smithsonian anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walshsaid, and crystal skulls are mysterious and beautiful.
The skulls "are a fascinating example of artifacts that havemade their way into museums with no scientific evidence to provetheir 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 thecreation of ancient Mesoamericans -- Aztecs, Mixtecs, Toltecs,perhaps Maya.
The skulls were claimed to represent the art and religion of thesepeoples. Some even said the skulls had special, even supernatural,powers.
Scientists say it ain't so.
Nonetheless, the giant crystal skull that mysteriously arrived atthe Smithsonian 16 years ago is out of its locked cabinet inWalsh's office and will be on public view until Sept. 1.
Studying this skull led Walsh to extend her investigation intocrystal 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 beancient," she said. After all, why would someone go to thetrouble of faking one?
Still, she is glad it arrived at her doorstep and prompted thestudy. "This particular object has told us a whole newstory," she said.
The museum's director, Cristian Samper, said people often ask himif there is a real Indiana Jones doing archaeological work.
"I tell them there are several," he said. "Peopledoing field work that is every bit as interesting."
Of the many crystal skulls in museums and private collectionsaround the world, the Smithsonian's is one of the largest, at 10inches high and weighing 30 pounds. It was mailed to the museumanonymously, accompanied by a note claiming it was of Aztec origin.
It isn't, Walsh said.
The skulls were carved from blocks of quartz -- sometimes calledrock crystal -- and show the marks of modern carving tools. Thatmeans they were not made before the 19th century. The Smithsonianone, she said, seems to have been made between 1950 and 1960.
Indeed, no crystal skulls have ever been found at an archaeologicalsite.
True, skulls appear in Aztec and Toltec art. But, as scientistspoint out, they always were carved in relief in basalt, a darkrock.
Scientists think the crystal skulls were made in Europe and Mexico,most in the 19th century, a period when there was a thriving marketin 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 andfascination since they began to surface in public and privatecollections during the second half of the 19th century. The BritishMuseum views the skull in its collection as an enigmatic object ofgreat interest but with no supernatural properties."
None of this, though, discourages movies from featuring crystalskulls or museums from joining in. Indeed, in addition to puttingits skull on display, the Smithsonian is reporting on the topic inSmithsonian Magazine's July issue and featuring the skulls in adocumentary 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.