Crystal skulls
From SkepticWiki
Contents |
[edit] Definition
Crystal skulls are realistically carved skulls in rock crystal or other types of quartz, such as amethyst; usually a little smaller than life size; and attributed to lost Mesoamerican cultures.
[edit] Provenance
Crystal skulls are first reported in the mid-nineteenth century. None of them has any verifiable archeological provenance. As other Mesoamerican depictions of skulls are highly stylized, rather than realistic, they have no cultural or artistic provenance in Mesoamerica either.
[edit] Discussion
A number of arguments are given for the ancient provenance of the skulls, turning on claims that a modern forger would not have the skills, the tools, or enough hours in a lifetime to produce such an item as a fake. The claims are:
- That the skulls are made out of "the second hardest substance in the world."
The skulls are, in fact, made of quartz (crystals of silicon dioxide) which rates a mere 7 on Mohs' hardness scale (which goes up to diamond at 10). The second hardest substance in nature is crystalline aluminium oxide, with a hardness of 9.0. (commonly known as ruby, sapphire, corundum or emery).
- That the skulls must have been worked with diamond tools.
This would put their manufacture beyond the scope of a nineteenth-century artisan working before the synthesis of industrial diamonds. However, although diamond saws are used to cut quartz today, there are alternatives, and the manufacture of rock crystal ware goes back many centuries: it was certainly possible in the nineteenth.
- That bringing the stones to their present state of polish must have required between 150 to 300 years (depending on who you listen to).
This, again, would make any forgery an exceptionally pointless activity, to be passed down from father to son almost from the discovery of America to the "discovery" of the skull. However, it does not take that long to polish quartz. The miscalculation may be based on the supposition that the skulls had been polished by hand: however, inspection of several crystal skulls by experts at the British Museum revealed that they showed the distinctive microscopic scratch marks that are left by a polishing wheel.
- That the crystals are carved "against the grain" of the crystal, and that this is impossible even for modern sculptors, who "always take into account the axis, or orientation of the crystal's molecular symmetry, because if they carve "against the grain," the piece is bound to shatter -- even with the use of lasers and other high-tech cutting methods."
On the contrary, modern sculptors will sell you exact replicas of the crystal skulls in rock crystal or other forms of quartz; and, as we have observed, the art of lapidary sculpture goes back many centuries: and an object such as a rock crystal vase, or indeed a crystal ball, must necessarily be carved "against the grain."
- That these conclusions have been confirmed by "scientists", and in particular by experts at Hewlett Packard Laboratories.
We associate Hewlett Packard with computers. An interest in silicon chips might have led them to hire a crystallographer, but not an expert in lapidary sculpture. Even if this examination took place, it's not clear that any weight should be given to it.
[edit] Supernatural Claims
It is thought by some that crystal skulls possess some supernatural powers. These claims have been most attached to a famous example, the so-called "Mitchell-Hedges" skull, which was either found in a Mayan ruin, or purchased at a Sotheby's auction, depending on whom you believe. Its current owner and alleged discoverer, Anna Mitchell-Hedges, attests that it originated in Atlantis.
It is claimed that this skull changes color spontaneously, and appears to contain dark objects; neither of which is surprising for an irregular transparent object refracting the surrounding light. It is claimed that the skull may feel alternately hot or cold, regardless of its true temperature, and that it emits odors and sounds. As one might expect, this strange behavior of the skull is tied to the motions of the planets. [1]
Frank Dorland, an art restorer who has studied the skull, provides a simple explanation for these phenomena: the skull “stimulates an unknown part of the brain, opening a psychic door to the absolute.” [2]
Free-energy researcher Tom Bearden has weighed in on the issue, proposing that the skull could be used to transform life field energy into electromagnetic energy (See: Piezoelectricity), making it a transmitter of psychic and earth energy. He proposes that it may have been used for healing, by matching the crystalline resonance to the mind and body frequencies.
Modern science, of course, is at a loss to explain any of this. Or indeed, to verify any of it.
