The history of the discovery of the Crystal Skulls
A disturbing find brings to light a dark Mayan legend. The Crystal Skull can still reveal immense truths about the people who created it.
It was the summer of 1926, when Anna, the daughter of the archaeologist Mike Mitchell-Hedges, found during an excavation campaign, near an ancient wall in the city of Lubaantun (Yucatan), a strange and disturbing crystal skull, without the lower jaw. The jaw was found a few months later about 10 meters away. When the natives, who were following the archaeological expedition, saw the skull, they venerated it and stated that:
<<it was the god they turned to to be healed of illnesses or to ask to die>>
Immediately afterwards they built an altar at which they prayed and cried for at least two weeks.
The Mayan legend
The mystery of the skull is also enriched by a legend that dates back to the Maya. This legend tells that there are 13 life-size crystal skulls in the world, and when all of them are rediscovered and reunited, they will pass on all their knowledge to men. Legend, however, warns us that this will only happen when men are sufficiently evolved and morally intact. This legend, which is passed down in an almost oral tradition, contributed greatly to the birth of a myth, that of the cursed skulls. All this, among other things, does not remain immune to the fascination that, by their nature, the Maya arouse as a people.
Who were the Maya?
The Maya - the ones to whom the legend refers - were the most advanced population of Central and South America in the past, so much so that they deserved the nickname "Greeks of America" from modern historians. Their science ranged from sculptural art to construction art, from mathematics to geometry, from astronomy to religion. Their writing is made up of so-called glyphs, a sort of hieroglyphics, which are in the process of being deciphered. Of their vast - it is presumed - literary production, little or nothing has remained, due to the unfortunate work of colonization perpetrated by the Spanish. These, boasting of the Christian faith, claimed that all Mayan art was the work of the devil or, at best, was simply inspired by him. One of the greatest crimes ever committed in the name of religion then began to take place: the total destruction of almost all the codes in which all the knowledge of the Maya was contained.
The depth of the loss inflicted on humanity's culture can simply be understood by admiring the famous Palenque slab, a concentration of Mayan knowledge, beliefs and symbolism, made compelling by a complicated intersection of riddles, which capture the mind of the observer. Due to this destructive impetus, which characterized Spanish colonization, the history we have of the Maya is necessarily incomplete. We can only guess at the immense truths that have been lost and, at the same time, we can also tremble in the face of their sinister prophecy that the world could end around December 22, 2012.
How is the Skull made?
Returning to the discovered skull, it is interesting to know that its dimensions are perfectly natural, that is: height cm. 13, width cm. 13, depth cm. 18 and weight 5 kg; except for the weight it reflects the measurements of a human skull. There are no certainties about its real function in the Mayan tradition, but only suppositions and some legends that inform us that
<< [...] the skull was used by a great and powerful Mayan priest to perform esoteric rites and that when the priest invoked death through it, there was no doubt that death would arrive >>
It immediately generated contrasting reactions: some were fascinated by it, some were affected by its presence, some swore they saw it move, some said it gave off perfumes. Even between father and daughter Mitchell Hedges there was no concordance of feelings. Anna was so fascinated by the skull that she enjoyed well-being and company from it (she is still its owner); the father, on the other hand, could not tolerate his presence to the point of adopting behavior bordering on neurosis.
Although the daughter's version of the discovery has been confirmed several times, there is a disturbing passage in the archaeologist's autobiographical story which says:
<< [...] we also brought with us the sinister skull of destiny, about which much is been written. I have good reasons for not revealing how this object came into my possession... It has been described as the representation of evil, but I do not wish to explain this phenomenon >>
At this point, a question arises spontaneously: how was the skull made? It is made from a single quartz crystal, unique for its shine and transparency. Its surface is perfectly smooth and dates back more or less to 3600 years ago (1400 BC). It has been the subject of numerous scientific, physical, anthropological and sociological investigations which have led to surprising results.
The skull of the British Museum
A first investigation was conducted in 1936 by some experts from the British Museum, which already held another crystal skull, less famous but equally mysterious regarding its history. According to British Museum records, the skull was purchased by the famous jeweler Tiffany in early 1898, for around £120. The person in charge of the purchase was a certain Kunz, who in one of his books on minerals, mentions the skull saying:
<<little is known about its history and nothing about its origin. It was brought from Mexico by a Spanish officer some time before the French occupation, it was sold to an English collector, then passed into the hands of E. Boban in Paris >>
Regarding the Spanish officer cited by Kunz, nothing certain is known. In reality the events could be different; in fact, it would seem that the first owner was a certain Boban mentioned by Kunz, who tried to sell it both to the Smithsonian Institution and to the Mexican National Museum. Both institutions rejected the offer and Boban's assets, which had meanwhile fallen into low fortune, were sold at auction in New York.
It is here that in 1826, Tiffany, the jeweler purchased the piece. About 12 years later, the British Museum will come into possession of this skull. The arrival of the skull at the British Museum coincided with a series of strange events. Apart from the rather poorly substantiated claims of sudden movements of objects or sudden invasions of different and inexplicable scents, it was the cleaning staff working at the museum at night who fueled the beliefs that attributed strange occult powers to the skull. The aforementioned staff, in fact, requested and obtained that the skull be covered by a heavy cloth during the night hours, so that the disturbing gaze of that dark object would be hidden. This second skull allowed a comparative examination which demonstrated that the museum skull was a copy of that of Mitchell-Hedges which was far more precise and refined.
In 1950, the skull was examined again and from this examination it was discovered:
- that the skull was Mexican;
- it dated back to 1400 - 1500 AD;
- that the material was Brazilian quartz.
Still different results, and still the mystery remained.
In 1964 the famous Mitchell-Hedges skull was examined again. The tests were conducted by a well-known computer processor company (experts in quartz, therefore). The technicians of that company immersed the skull in benzyl alcohol to study its crystallographic axes. The tests revealed that the skull <<was certainly>> made from a single quartz crystal and that it was almost certainly worked by rubbing fine sand. The most disconcerting fact was that the experts estimated the time needed to complete the work at <<at least 300 years>>.
The powers of the Crystal Skulls
Beyond historical research, it is interesting to know what powers can be attributed to crystal skulls. Is their manifestation of strange phenomena the result of suggestion, actual powers or just the artifices of the ancient executors? Anna Mitchell, still owner of the most famous skull, tells how it << [...] seen from above is a perfect magnifying glass [...]>>. The peculiarity that most fascinates Anna Mitchell-Hedges is that, at times, the skull presents reflections of light from the eyes that seem alive and trembling. The antiquarian Frank Dorland who performed various tests on the skull states that once it was surrounded by a luminous halo for several minutes; other times bells could be heard from it and other times it was possible to glimpse images of strange landscapes. There were also easily impressionable subjects who, after staring at the skull, had mental problems.
But the mysterious stories related to the skull are not over yet. A caption on a photograph of the skull, by Mitchell-Hedges, warned that it
<< was believed to be the personification of all evil; several people who made fun of these statements died and others suffered serious illnesses >>
When the skull was in New York, a group of people - intrigued by the clamor that the skull had created around it - wanted to see it, the director of the museum agreed and instructed his secretary to exhibit the famous find. The girl took the skull with her hands to extract it from her box and a strange sensation pervaded her, to the point of making her believe that the skull was hitting her.
The Skull and the Demon
The pinnacle of the mystery regarding the real nature of the skull can be found in a rather mysterious anecdote. When the skull was in the possession of the antiquarian Dorland, he received a visit from a very eccentric person: Anton Szandor La Vei, the founder of the Church of Satan. He asked the antiquarian for the skull as he claimed it was a creation of the Devil. Dorland refused and dismissed La Vei. During the night the Dorland family's rest was disturbed by numerous creaks. The following morning, several pieces of furniture and furnishings appeared inexplicably moved from their usual locations.
What do we know?
The skull was found in 1926 near Lubaantum.
It had a sinister appearance, also fueled by the attitude that the natives held.
It aroused mixed emotions in those who came into contact with it.
It seemed to be apparently of no practical use.
This last statement gives rise to a simple but effective consideration: why would entire generations of men have done their utmost to create something useless? A utility, isolated or together with other objects, is the basis of any human production, therefore we cannot remain silent about the search for any use of the skull.
The fire ceremony
To evaluate a possible use of the skull for some purpose, we can start from a very important rite among the Maya, namely the fire ceremony. This ceremony was a sort of Mayan New Year, which coincided with the reaching of the Zenith (Point where the vertical of a place (plumb line) meets the celestial sphere) by the Pleiades (group of stars in the constellation of Taurus). For the Maya it was the guarantee that the sun would rise for the entire following year. It was a tradition rich in symbols, among them, the symbol of the renewal of change, of the new. A ceremony that also included sacrifices, all to curry favor with the sun.
The statue of the god on the elbows
In 1873 - around - a statue was found representing a deity or a priest lying on his back with his knees bent and his elbows touching the ground (a rather uncomfortable position, seefigure on the side ). On its belly it holds a square representing the solar disk. There is a lot of mystery around this statue, it seems it is called Chac-Mool, but this name is not accepted by everyone. According to Mayan tradition, the fire of the Fire Ceremony was made to spray from a sacred wooden object, placed on the chest of the sacrificial victim. Is this statue a substitute for this victim? It could be, but this is not the goal of our research. Our goal is to find a practical use for the skull, and we have already laid the foundations for this.
The Skull and the fire ceremony
What had archaeologist Mitchell-Hedges said about the skull?
<< [...] the skull was used by a great and powerful Mayan priest to perform esoteric rites [...] >>
and if one of these rites was precisely the fire ceremony? It could also be reflecting on an important fact in Mayan culture. For the Maya, the sun is undoubtedly the source of life par excellence, but they know very well that the sun itself can become the cause of death. It is the sun that regulates the growth of the earth's products with its rays (and the Maya were skilled cultivators), but a slight imbalance in the solar cycle, a more prolonged exposure to the sun could have compromised entire crops and consequently the life of the man. The equivalence Sun-Life-Death was therefore present in the Mayan culture, also symbolized by engravings in which the sun is represented as a skull from which rays emanate.
The Skull, a burning lens?
At this point we put the data we need in order:
<<[...] the skull was used by a great and powerful Mayan priest to perform esoteric rites [...]>>(Mitchell-Hedges senior);
<<[...] seen from above it is a perfect magnifying glass [...]>>(Mitchell-Hedges daughter)
The ritual according to which the priest set fire to an object placed on the chest of a victim.
Combining these elements we can say that the priest used the skull to perform an esoteric rite that was very important for the Maya. He raised the skull on his head and exploiting its transparency, its refractive property given to it by its convex appearance (it acted as a lens we said), captured a ray of sunlight through which it set fire to the sacred object, placed on the victim's chest . Here, ultimately, the Skull could be a burning lens, which also symbolizes - above all - the trinomial Sun-Life-Death.
The mystery revealed?
Can the thesis that sees the skull as a burning glass be considered satisfying? From a cultural and religious point of view - from the Mayan perspective - yes. But frankly, there remains the halo of legend which says that there are 13 of these skulls, which contain a secret, which man will be able to reveal when he lives in peace with others like him. When will this legend come true? What doors will it open for us? Those of a lost memory, together with a continent that sank into the ocean thousands of years ago? Questions, therefore, only questions, destined - for the moment - to remain unanswered. An answer that perhaps needs to be read or interpreted amidst the sinister silences of the mocking glances that the skull throws at us from the heights of its impenetrable antiquity.
