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Crystal Skulls

Didn't I read somewhere that there were two identical skulls found or is it just my imagination?
 
I dont know if Im talking about the same thing as you but, I have just been reading a book called "The Mayan Prophecies" in it they talk about the origins and possible use of the crystal scull of doom.
It was dicovered in the earliest mayan site "belize", it was perfictally formed and experts say that it would have taken the mayas 150 to make it as perfect as it was using the materials they had present to use.
Far from being a thing of doom it is thought to have been use in one of the most sacred Mayan cerimonies to (possibly) refract the light of the sun through the concaved crystal so that the open mouth would in fact produce the flame giving energy to light their fires.....This combines the two elements of the sun...life giving through the fire to renew the world and the scull a sighn that the sun can destroy us.
Hope this is of some interest to anyone out there.
Definatly recomend this book, Author Adrian G Gilbert. (of the oriion mystery fame.)
 
SomewhereI have read a theory that these skulls were actually made fairly recently in the US by German(?) immigrants. Mitchell-Hedges himself may have hidden one in the pre-Mayan ruins to give his daughter the excitement of 'discovering' it.

I'll try a websearch to see if I turn up more detail.
 
Bagins said:
I cannot belive that the British Musiem would sell any thing that good.
It was NOT sold by the British Museum. The BM actually tried to buy it, but couldn't outbid Mitchell-Hedges, who bought it (there is documentary evidence of his purchase). It was sold by one Sidney Burney, who obtained it from somewhere or other (where is unclear) sometime in 1936.
It was defintly the Mitchell-Hedges Skull that Mitchell-Hedges baught at Sotheby's. It is the one that he passed on to his daughter. There is no evidence that he possessed it before the Sotheby's sale - he told no-one about it, he did not write of it, there are no photos; but as soon as he bought it from Sotheby's, he kept showing it to everybody, relating hair-raising tales about its supposed evil powers. To explain why he bought the skull when he had supposedly discovered it, he claimed that he had given it to Burney as collateral for a loan, which he repaid by buying it. So why didn't he simply give Burney the cash instead of waiting for it to be auctioned, possibly at a higher price than the loan?
 
Gremlinclr said:
Didn't I read somewhere that there were two identical skulls found or is it just my imagination?

Quite few crystal skulls have turned up over the years. There are two near-identical ones called the British Skull and the Paris Skull, both said to have been found in Mexico around 1890. But the Mitchell-Hedges skull is by far the most beautifully carved and anatomically accurate.
 
Annasdottir said:
It was NOT sold by the British Museum. The BM actually tried to buy it, but couldn't outbid Mitchell-Hedges, who bought it (there is documentary evidence of his purchase). It was sold by one Sidney Burney, who obtained it from somewhere or other (where is unclear) sometime in 1936.
It was defintly the Mitchell-Hedges Skull that Mitchell-Hedges baught at Sotheby's. It is the one that he passed on to his daughter. There is no evidence that he possessed it before the Sotheby's sale - he told no-one about it, he did not write of it, there are no photos; but as soon as he bought it from Sotheby's, he kept showing it to everybody, relating hair-raising tales about its supposed evil powers. To explain why he bought the skull when he had supposedly discovered it, he claimed that he had given it to Burney as collateral for a loan, which he repaid by buying it. So why didn't he simply give Burney the cash instead of waiting for it to be auctioned, possibly at a higher price than the loan?

I stand corrected, sill it could expane why the Skull isn`t a Mayan one in shape and the quartz its made from isn`t from South America.

Wm
 
there was a programme on tv about this a few years ago (everyman?) in which the british museum carbon dated the skull of doom and a few others, hoping to prove that the skulls were made in the ninteenth century by some french chap. The programme ended with the museum revealing that the other skulls were indeed made in the ninteenth century, the date of the skull of doom was withheld by the museum, without any reason strangly enough!

excuse me if some of this is wrong but my memory isnt too great
 
dating the skulls

Carbon dating any of the crystal skulls would be a pretty neat trick. IIRC, carbon dating is only useful for certain organic items, not for minerals. There are methods for determing the age of minerals containing radioactive isotopes, but they would only tell when the rock was formed, not when it was shaped into a skull.
 
Chemical analysis of trace elements in the quartz might reveal where it was originally found, since rocks from different areas can have different chemical 'signatures'. This might give a clue to its date (what cultures were active in that area and when, etc.)

But I doubt any owner of a crystal skull would allow material to be removed from it for testing.
 
Spectral annalisis would probably do the trick, as the "colour" of the quartz would be diferent for each source.

Wm.
 
The Crystal Skull Society has lots of info on crystal skulls in general (including where you can buy your very own skull) and the MH Skull in particular. According to them, the Skull is still with Anna Mitchell Hedges, but they are refusing to give out any contact info for her.
 
Skulls for Brains?

Anybody know anything about this lot?

http://www.tobew.com

Obviously mad as a fleet of lorries. I seem to have got on their mailing list, and they're local to me. Any info would be appreciated.
 
The strangest thing is the huge black bit at the bottom of the homepage. This is what it contains:

crystal skull, crystal skulls, crystal, ancient, divina swan, orangebox, orange box, millennium, skully, prediction, prophesy, joshua shapiro, anna mitchell-hedges, sha na ra, max, amethyst, 57lb, windsong, smithsonian institute, british museum, paris museum, museum of mankind, mayan, mexico, egypt, egyptian, mysteries, mystery, pic, pics, pictures, picture, photos, photo, photographs, photograph, naked, nude, nudity, bare, sex, shag, fuck, fucking, shagging, sexual, erotic, naughty, anal, teenage, tits, tit, boobs, breasts, forbidden, taboo, illicit, illegal, dirty, slut, tart, tramp, prostitute, 69, intercourse, rape, torture, whip, whipping, toy, vibrator, dildo, erect, erection, penis, cock, bum, ass, arse, buttocks, scat, shit, dick, clit, clitoris, illegal, dirty, orgasm, cum, sperm, buggary, intercourse, climax, handcuffs, chains, manacles, bondage, homosexual, homosexuality, homo, torture, mutilation, kidnap, hostage, flesh, lubrication, oil, masturbation, wank, toss, jugs, boobs, knockers, double-d, knickers, pants, g-string, panties, bra, suspenders, stockings, tights, gusset, page-three, pin-up, celebrity, star, brittany, spears, all, saints, spice, girls, forbidden, dungeon, pleasure, pain, scarf, asian, chinese, young, girl, girls, college, high-school, gym, skirt, exercise, sweat, rub, rubbing, blindfold, small, slim, petite, nipple, nipples, cleavage, school, sexy, schoolgirl, teenage, and, threesome, group, sex, orgy, masochism, sado-masochism, incest, lust, fellatio, oral, mistress, scar, death, blood, sweat, tears, painful, spunk, taboo, danger, bleeding, sex, tampon, tampax, bum, buttock, buttocks, thrust, fanny, cunt, shaved, shaven, legs, thighs, inner-thighs, labia, vulva, clitoris, clit, shave, pussy, finger, feel, hooker, whore, disgusting, lewd, postcard, XXX, X-rated, triple-X, porn, porno, immoral, indecent, lips, mouth, fetish, toes, mistress, master, dominatrix, dominate, domination, sub-dom, leather, fuck, sex, fear, terror, dread, scary, scared, danger, dangerous, hazard, spook, spooky, crystal, skull, ancient, paranormal, supernatural, ghost, UFO, UFOs, ufo, ufos, alien, aliens, abduction, contact, communication, spirit, guide, astral, master, ascend, ascended, magic, magick, ritual, forbidden, knowledge, tantra, tantric, kaballah, kabalah, kabal, cabal, hebrew, tree, life, the, and, theosopy, eti, extra, terrestrial, mars, atlantis, lost, cilillisation, initiate, initiation, pagan, paganism, wicca, wiccan, witchcraft, black, satan, satanism, heresy, heretical, forbidden, taboo, illegal, illicit, atheme, wand, yoga, yogic, mystic, mysticism, prediction, divination, tarot, card, cards, ball, crystal, trance, hypnotism, hypnotise, mesmerise, mesmerism, fetish, oujia, board, poltergeist, demon, imp, gremlin, monster, monsters, ghoul, fiend, daemon, ancient, geomancy, i, ching, king, punish, punishment, destiny, fate, fortune, voodoo, tribal, curse, cursed, hex, spell, broomstick, besom, fly, flying, drug, drugs, mushroom, mushrooms, candle, wax, oil, sacrament, holy, flyagaric, liberty, cap, hallucination, vision, dream, dreams, pyramid, egypt, orion, star, god, sirius, ra, isis, horus, thelema, thelimic, oto, aleister, crowley, meditation, mantra, chant, tom-tom, tom, beat, rhythm, triangle, coven, whip, whipping, lash, thrash, pain, torture, chain, chains, discipline, dowse, dowsing, tesla, nicola, fire, sacred, jehova, god, lord, messiah, chosen, one, maya, mayan, peru, mexico, human, heart, knife, blade, plunge, spear, sacrifice, death, infanticide, infant, truth, spirituality, inner, guardian, guide, angel, cherrub, succubi, incubus, possession, exorcism, cross, stake, garlic, sun, moon, astrology, sign, omen, portent, aries, taurus, gemini, cancer, leo, virgo, libra, capricorn, saggitarius, capricorn, pisces, aquarius, earth, water, fire, spirit, air, deja, vouz, dream, nightmare, mercury, venus, mars, jupiter, saturrn, neptune,

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uranus, pluto, aspect, house, cusp,
It's all for the benefit of those search engines out there. Weird as tits on a banana!

Niles "Granite Skull" Calder
 
Too true, Niles, when I tried to have a look at the black void, I got this, ! Oh no you dont, matey!
 
BM crystal skull

While rooting about at work the other day, I found a leaflet for a 2002 BM exhibition called Unidentified Museum Objects. Curiosities from the British Museum.

It's got the crystal skull in it, and this is the comment:
Since they were first acquired for public and private collections in the late 19th century, rock-crystal skulls have continued to fascinate and inspire speculation about their origin and use. Initially they were identified as rare examples of Aztec or Mixtec art made in Mexico prior to the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century. As artefacts from lost civilisations, the skulls were thought to have religious significance and even magical power. It is known for certain that the British Museum bought this skull from Tiffany and Co., N.Y. in 1897, making it, at the very least, about 100 years old. Recent scientific research at the Museum has determined that a European jeweller's wheel was used to incise the lines that form the teeth on the skull. This analysis suggests it could have been made in the post-Conquest period and may be an example of Colonial Spanish cathedral art. Yet it also remains feasible that the skull was made at an earlier date and then reworked. Whatever its origins and former function, the skull - carved from a single piece of crystal - remains a striking piece of skilled craftsmanship.

That said, the short description also says rock crystal, origin and date uncertain, possibly European, 19th century ad?

The exhibition also had an Egyptian prosthetic toe, carved stone balls, Chinese jade cong and bi, and the Nimrud lens - I can post about some of those later if anyone's interested.
 
Thread here about it.

Link is dead. Not archived at the Wayback Machine.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks, sometimes with general topics and then particular areas such as this, it's a little hard to know where a particular thread is.
 
http://www.crystalskullexplorers.com/

http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/cs.html
One of the most mysterious artifacts that has been discovered upon our planet are known as the Crystal Skulls. A Crystal Skull is simply defined as an ancient artifact discovered made from various type of quartz crystals that has the appearance of a human size (or larger) and shaped skull. Most of these ancient Crystal Skulls have been uncovered near or within ancient ruins located in Mexico or Central America, possibly linked to the Mesoamerican cultures of this region. However within recent years, crystal skulls are now surfacing or being reported in other parts of the world such as in South America, Europe and Asia.

Joshua "Illinois" Shapiro
Co-founder of V J Enterprises and the Chairman of the Board of the World Mystery Research Center, Joshua Shapiro, has been involved in investigating and sharing information about the Crystal Skulls since 1983. At that time, he saw his first ancient crystal skull in San Jose, California, made from amethyst quartz crystal. Over the years, Joshua (now working closely with his wife Desy Shapiro) has been able to visit with a number of other interesting crystal skulls as well as has offered public presentations throughout the U.S., a number of countries in Europe, some parts of South America and also in Australia.
In 1985, Joshua met the co-authors of the first book written about the crystal skulls and through this association became aware of the Mayan Crystal Skull , the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull and the Texas Crystal Skull ( also known as "MAX"). In March of 1989, the three co-authors released their book entitled: "Mysteries of the Crystal Skulls Revealed", which was also published in Brazil in 1992.

Moving in the 1990's and beyond, Joshua became acquainted with several other skulls including "ET", "Windsong", "Rainbow" & "Madre", "Synergy", "Skully" and had a chance to visit with British Museum Crystal Skull (with Desy). In 1999, he received his own crystal skull as a gift , a 10 lb. smoky quartz skull made in Brazil which is known as "Portal de Luz".

The Crystal Skulls are considered to be one of the world greatest mysteries. Some of these artifacts have been researched by Hewlett Packard ( reported in Richard Garvin's book, "The Crystal Skull", 1973) and continue to baffle the modern scientific community. There have been a number of phenomena associated with the crystal skulls including:

Individuals receiving a healing in the presence
Psychics and sensitives channeling or receiving impressions
Holographic Images forming inside of the crystal skulls
A Powerful energy measured within or around the skulls when activated

Etc.:)
 
To go back to the pharohs curse, I was under the impression that it was a story made up by the Daily Mail as Howard Carter had sold exclusive rights to The Times and they were trying to cash in on the story.

Some people have been very sick indeed after visiting King Tuts tomb, but it is a very rare effect from breathing in a type of fungus.

Don't you love the Discovery Channel! ;)
 
The mystery of the British Museum's crystal skull is solved. It's a fake

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_b ... ory=598446

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
07 January 2005

Some say it has mystical powers derived from its ancient origins as an Aztec symbol of death. Others believe it is one of 13 crystal skulls that will foretell the destiny of humankind when brought together in the same place.

Whatever legends are attached to the crystal skull of the British Museum in London, one fact stands out. No other object in the museum's extensive collection has acquired such a cult following from New Age devotees.

Now, however, science can finally set the record straight and, in doing so, shatter one of the most enduring myths of an object steeped in historical fantasy. The crystal skull is a fake.

A detailed analysis of the skull's surface has revealed that it was cut and polished with the sort of rotating wheel common in the jewellery houses of 19th-century Europe but absent in pre-Columbian America.

Historians and scientists believe that the skull was cut from a piece of Brazilian rock crystal by a lapidary in Europe, possibly Germany, and then sold to collectors as a relic from the ancient Aztec civilisation of Mexico.

Doubts about the authenticity of the crystal skull - a near life-sized sculpture - first surfaced more than a decade ago. Tests have now confirmed that it is almost certainly not a genuine Aztec object, said Professor Ian Freestone of the University of Wales at Cardiff and a former head of scientific research at the British Museum in London.

"We are not at all sure that there is a rock source in Mexico that would produce a rock crystal of this size. There is strong circumstantial evidence that it comes from Brazil," Professor Freestone said. "When you look at known, genuine Aztec rock crystals, they have a much gentler polish. This has the harsh, polished look you get with modern equipment," he said.

These two findings alone do not prove a fraud, but when scientists began to investigate the surface of the skull under a powerful electron microscope the doubts about the skull's origins began to be confirmed.

The scientists took impressions of the skull with the same flexible resin used by dentists to take precise impressions of teeth. This revealed minute rotary scratch marks around the eye sockets, teeth and cranium and was clear evidence that the sculpture had been cut and polished with a wheeled instrument - and the Aztecs never used the wheel.

"The evidence coming together suggests that it was late. To me the case is overwhelmingly against it being of earlier, Aztec origin," Professor Freestone said.

Further work by an archivist, Jane Walsh of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, points the finger of suspicion at Eugene Boban, a 19th-century collector of pre-Columbian artefacts who appears to have been instrumental in selling at least two crystal skulls purporting to be ancient.

Not much is known about Boban except that he was a French citizen who spent more than two decades of his life in Mexico, Dr Walsh said.

Documents unearthed by Dr Walsh reveal that it was Boban who had acquired the skull that was eventually sold in 1897 by Tiffany's, the New York jeweller, to the British Museum. She also found that it was Boban who some years earlier had tried to sell the same skull to the Smithsonian. And it was Boban who sold a similar crystal skull to a collector who later donated it to the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, where it still is today.

For Boban to come into possession of two crystal skulls purporting to be of pre-Columbian origin may be a coincidence too far, especially in the light of the new scientific evidence suggesting a fake.

Colin McEwan of the British Museum said that the skull, which is going on display this Christmas in the museum's Wellcome Trust Gallery, has been the subject of some peculiar rituals over the years when it was in the Museum of Mankind. "We had people going into seances and talking in tongues," Dr McEwan said.

One native American legend tells of the existence of 13 such skulls which are supposed to contain information about the origins and destiny of humankind. At a time of great need all the skulls would be rediscovered so that they can be brought together in one place to reveal their secrets, so the legend goes.

Interestingly, there are now about a dozen large crystal skulls known to exist in the world, and all but three of them are in private hands.

Some of those who believe in these legends have accused the museum of trying to hide the skull from public view, or of "trapping" the cosmic energy contained in it, Dr McEwan said. "We've had extensive petitions claiming that damage has been done to the object because it has feelings, it's imprisoned, it's not allowed to fulfil its destiny, and so forth."

Joshua Shapiro, an author who believes the skull has mystical properties, said it was difficult for him to comment on the findings. "It sounds like they wish to discredit the significance of their crystal skull and the possibility that it could have been carved or fashioned by the Meso-American people in Mexico where it was purportedly discovered," he said. "These questions might not even be as important as what this crystal skull represents within this field of study... Even if its origins or who made it are unknown, it helped to give people in the world an awareness that such objects do exist, and that they are revered by the indigenous people in the world."

Professor Freestone accepts that the latest findings are unlikely to convince those who believe that the crystal skull is anything but a fake. "As soon as we say that one part of it has been polished in a certain way, someone else says it's because it's been touched up later on. It's hard to make a cast-iron case, to be honest," he admitted. "You've only got to look at the shroud of Turin to see that some people will be hard to convince even in the face of overwhelming evidence."

Nevertheless, even if it is a fake, the skull in London still commands a lot of interest from the public. As Professor Freestone says: "Whatever you think of it, it's a fantastic object. Even if it was made in Germany at the end of the 19th century."
 
"Whatever you think of it, it's a fantastic object. Even if it was made in Germany at the end of the 19th century."

Yes, whatever it is, it's fascinating, fake or not. That's all I can say, having read a book about the Crystal Skulls, which I found very hard to swallow, the findings don't surprise me.
 
i thought it was established already that this was a fake made in germany?
 
How long before the nutters claim that this is, in fact, evidence that the pre-Colombian Aztecs used electricity and rotary carborandum grinders!
 
well there is that picture in which an aztec prince appears to have a large lightbulb in his hand, thus implying they had electricity....
 
Light bulb or butt-plug. Scientist or pervert. Let the public decide...
 
I thought that was an Egyptian picture, with the wire which looks as if it's leading to some sort of fuse box? Or is that something else?
 
Aha! Now you've stumbled across my discovery that Egyptians and Aztecs were actually one and the same, merely using their teleportation devices which ultimately caused the Flood and the destruction of Atlantis.
*Matron increases medication...*
 
Good point, Storm. :lol:

We 'met' a crystal skull at the Museum of Mankind. The curators were the laziest, most unhelpful bunch I've ever seen and wouldn't even let us drag a chair over to it so the younger kids could have a look. I had to bodily lift 4 strapping youngsters up for several minutes at a time. It was the famous one too, featured on the front of one of Arthur C Clarke's books.

Fakes eh. Tch. :roll:
 
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