Why is the Starchild skull so different from all the skulls?
Discovered in Mexico in the 1930s, the Starchild skull still represents an enigma to scholars. Since 1999 the unusual skull has been subjected to a series of anatomical and biological analyzes which have definitively excluded that it is the skull of a human individual suffering from some deformity. There are those who hypothesize that it could be an ancient human species not yet known and those who believe that the Starchild could be the skull of a human-alien hybrid.
In archaeology, when an unknown object is discovered, the first investigations carried out by scholars aim to establish its provenance. This, obviously, is a very important and delicate phase because it helps to understand if you are dealing with a fake.
However, modern science, with its method and tools, has made it almost impossible to simulate a relic like that of the Starchild skull. Even if the provenance of this curious skull is not entirely clear, the fact remains that it exists and is real, and to date there is no explanation that can reveal its nature.
The history of the Starchild begins in 1930. It was in that year that an American teenager, of Mexican descent, went on vacation with her family to Mexico. During a visit to a small village in the Copper Canyon region of Mexico, the little girl began to explore the territory on her own, discovering the tunnel of an old abandoned mine. Inside the tunnel she found a complete human skeleton lying on its back. Next to it was a loose area of soil, with what looked like a human bone sticking out from inside. Using her hands, the little girl unearthed what she later described as a skeleton that was smaller than the other and apparently deformed.
The young woman collected all the bones and hid them nearby, intending to return later in her vacation. Shortly thereafter, however, there was a flash flood that scattered most of the bones over a large area. The girl managed to find only two skulls, with the deformed one partly damaged. Most of the front of the face was missing, leaving only a small portion of the upper jaw.
After collecting them, she took them with her home to Texas, USA, where they remained hidden for the rest of his life. The story was only told to a few people.
However, when it was possible to analyze the skulls, their coloration confirmed that the normal skull may have been lying on its back and that the deformed skull may have been buried for a long time. Furthermore, chemical analyzes revealed that the inorganic residues on both skulls were consistent with soil from the Copper Canyon region.
After the woman's death in 1990, the skulls were entrusted to some of her friends, who in turn, in 1998, passed them to Ray and Melanie Young, a couple from El Paso, Texas.
Melanie, a neonatal clinical nurse, was very intrigued by the abnormal skull, and decided to find out what condition could have caused the deformity. Young asked the opinions of many of her colleagues at the hospital where she worked. Although everyone recognized a deformity in the morphology of the skull, no one was able to establish what condition could have caused it. This only increased Melanie's curiosity, and she began to suspect that perhaps she was dealing with something completely new to science.
It was then that he met Lloyd Pye, an author and researcher in the field of alternative research, with numerous contacts within the medical profession. After encountering the same difficulties as the experts he knew in determining the nature of the deformity, Pye began to suspect that the skull might not even have terrestrial origins.
In February 1999, Pye created the Starchild Project, a research project organized into a series of independent scientific investigations in three countries (United States, Canada and England), with the aim of ascertaining the nature of the enigmatic skull.
All the researchers involved participate as volunteers and completely free of charge. The only motivation that drives them was curiosity, the true driving force of scientific research.
The independent results of the first analyzes have established some key points. First, carbon-14 dating revealed that the skull was about 900 years old. It is rather lighter, about half the weight of an adult human skull. The cranial capacity is approximately 1600 cm3, approximately 400 cm3 larger than the adult human skull.
The thickness of the Starchild's skullcap measures approximately 3 mm, a third of that of humans.
The researchers then observed more than 10 standard deviations above the human norm, a highly unusual statistic.
Over the years, based on the indications of researchers, some artists have tried to reconstruct the face of the Starchild, with surprising results.
Ted Robinson's contribution
Among the researchers who contributed most to the research project is Dr. Ted Robinson, a retired physician and plastic surgeon, with specialized knowledge in the field of cranial surgery and anatomy and, despite his age, still actively involved in research at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Robinson studied the skull for about two years, involving specialists in different disciplines: radiology, ophthalmic surgery, oral surgery, craniofacial surgery, neurology and pediatric neurosurgery. The final report of the study is truly astonishing.
First of all, Dr. Robinson's experience and skills have allowed him to exclude that the skull deformity can be attributed to one of the known clinical conditions, just as the other specialists have not been able to identify any disease or cultural practice that could explain the shape of the skull.
Secondly, the research team's research highlighted that the skull bone is much thinner, lighter and stronger than human bones. The researchers found it particularly difficult to cut a bone fragment with a standard Dremel blade, so much so that they had to use a diamond-coated blade.
Biochemical and histochemical analyzes conducted in England show a different composition compared to mammalian bones. Furthermore, observation under the Scanning Electron Microscope indicates the presence of strange fibers of an unknown nature, which seem intended to strengthen the bone structure.
Among other things, it has been observed that the frontal sinuses are absent, the bony prominence on the posterior margin of the skull (known as the inion, the point where the nuchal ligament and the trapezius muscle intersect) is absent; the eye sockets are very low, and there are other features of the configuration of the posterior orbital foramina that are highly unusual and differ significantly from that of humans.
Robinson also consulted Paul Tessier, a French pioneer of craniofacial surgery, who admitted to having seen nothing similar, despite being aware of every cranial deformity known to science. Hydrocephaly, a cranial deformity characterized by anomalies completely different from the anatomical characteristics of the Starchild, must also be excluded.
Finally, skull teeth are a controversial topic. Although mainstream scientists maintain that the Starchild is the skull of a deformed five-year-old, the chewing surfaces of the molars show enough wear that would be impossible for such a young child.
Robinson concludes that the skull is a fascinating enigma, unlike any human skull he has ever seen in person or in medical literature. So he writes at the end of his report:
“I am not interested in speculating on the origins of the skull, whether it is human or extraterrestrial. I prefer to base my opinions on scientific evidence. From the studies carried out, it can only be reasonably assumed that the Starchild skull is markedly different from the human skull."
The DNA test
Despite the medical reports and numerous analyzes presented, the data does not seem sufficient to convince mainstream scientists that the skull may not belong to a known human species. Also because, the Starchild suffers from a sort of original sin.
When presented, the anomalous skull aroused considerable interest from the UFO community, who promptly declared that it was the skull of a 'grey alien', or an alien hybrid. The Starchild soon gained presence in a series of television programs featuring it as such. This was enough for the scientific community to distance itself from it and become completely uninterested in it.
Despite its eccentric beginning and suspicion on the part of some scholars, the Starchild has managed to enter the interests of some members of the scientific community, also thanks to the high level of research conducted by qualified experts such as Ted Robinson. However, participants in the Starchild Project are aware that the only definitive way to prove that the skull is not human is through DNA testing.
In 2003, a first attempt was made to identify human DNA present in the Starchild's bones. However, the technology was not advanced enough to work on such ancient genetic material. We had to wait almost a decade to have the technology needed to recover and sequence ancient DNA.
In 2010, the Starchild Project secured the support of a sophisticated laboratory capable of identifying the possible presence of non-human genomes. Preliminary analysis has determined that a significant percentage of the DNA appears non-human, a finding that if verified could indicate the skull belongs to a new species.
In 2012, further analysis managed to identify a fragment of the FOXP2 gene (short for forkhead box P2), a gene involved in the development of tissues such as the brain, liver and gastrointestinal tract. Even in this case the results are surprising.
In normal humans, the FOXP2 gene is 2594 base pairs long and does not vary between individuals. The gene fragment recovered from the skull reaches 211 base pairs (out of 2594 total). The incredible result of the analyzes is that, while all normal humans have exactly the same base pairs, the Starchild gene has a total of 56 variations within the fragment, compared to the human one.
To understand the meaning, if the Starchild was a Rhesus Macaque, only 2 of the 211 base pairs would contain a variation from those of humans. If he was a mouse, it would be 20, if a dog, 27. Seen from this perspective, one might think that the Starchild was truly an unknown humanoid. The presence of 56 variations places him in another set of living species: he is absolutely unique.
The future
The goal is to have the entire genome of the skull sequenced and analyze its contents to determine whether we are really faced with a new species and therefore open a new chapter in the evolutionary history of our planet.
Furthermore, there may be possible scientific and medical benefits resulting from studying the Starchild. One of the most promising sectors appears to be that of developing new treatments for the treatment of bone diseases and new therapies to accelerate the healing of fractured bones.
We look forward to the next developments in research on the enigmatic skull of the Star Child.
