Unmasking the Myths of Crystal Skulls: Fact vs. Fiction

October 15, 2024 by Fredrik Trusohamn

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls
• The Mitchell-Hedges Skull
• Scientific Analysis of the Skulls
• Plastic Shamanism and New Age Appropriation
• Conclusion
• How to Support the Show
• Sources, Resources, and Further Reading

Introduction

Welcome to Digging Up Ancient Aliens. This is the podcast where we examine alternative history and ancient alien narratives in popular media. Do these ideas hold water to an archeologist, or are there better explanations out there?

We are now on episode 72, and I am Fredrik, your guide into the world of pseudo-archaeology. This time, we will look at the mysterious crystal skulls, which, yes, are those crystal skulls. Are they connected to the Mayans, and do they have magical powers? Well, a better question is to see if they are authentic. Join me as we will explore this topic together.

I want to thank all of you who support the show, like Therese. You are really helping out producing this content, and I’m humbled and grateful for your support. If you want to help out, I’ll tell you how to do that and get some bonus stuff at the end of the episode.

Remember that you can find sources, resources, and reading suggestions on our website, diggingupancientaliens.com. There, you can also find contact info if you notice any mistakes or have any suggestions. And if you like the podcast, I would appreciate it if you left one of those fancy five-star reviews I've heard so much about.

Before I get to the good stuff, I just wanted to mention that I’m part of an online project promoting good archaeology. There are many awesome creators who will participate in an online event taking place on the 25th to 27th of October. Just head over to real-archaeology.com, where you can find all the information.

The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls

So the crystal skulls. I think most people have actually heard about these at one point or another. They are even featured in that Indiana Jones movie we don't like to talk about. But if you aren't familiar with these objects, the story Ancient Aliens and others usually present is that these are powerful crystal objects. According to these modern legends, there are supposed to be 13 skulls in the world; only 12 have been found so far. But if these 13 crystal skulls were brought together, something magical or powerful would happen. The effect would differ depending on who is telling you the story. Some will say it can control nature, while others claim it will unlock stored information within the skulls.

As you might suspect, this is just pure fiction. These skulls are modern inventions that can be traced back to Mitchell-Hedges. I will circle back to this a bit later here. Something worth acknowledging, and something that Ancient Aliens even mentions, is that there are thousands of crystal skulls out there, all of them created in our modern time. Philip Coppens even seems to have a moment of sober reflection in the show:

"The crystal skulls have become so famous that the field has been flooded with dozens of modern skulls, and on a number of occasions, people who have possessed these skulls are trying to pretend as if their skull is ancient. And this, of course, is very difficult because, at the same time, we have the skeptics, the scientists, who basically say it is all fake. And so, as a result of which, we're really confronted with a mixture of crystal skulls and a very difficult situation."

So, while the Ancient Alien people seem prepared to admit that there are fakes, they still claim that at least 12 are real. And if you are happy with fakes, there are sites that sell you kits with all 13 skulls. But what skulls are classified as authentic? Well again, they are not too specific due to the chance of being disproven, I believe. At least the Mitchell-Hedges is still viewed as genuine by the believers, even as we will see in a bit that this seems to not be the case.

The Mitchell-Hedges Skull

So what is this Mitchell-Hedges skull, sometimes called the "The Skull of Doom," and where did it come from? If we listen to the Alien narrative, we often get a story that goes something like this:

In 1924, the British adventurer and pulp writer Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges and his adopted daughter Anna were exploring and excavating a site called Lubaantun in Belize. Anna supposedly found this skull in the rubble of a collapsed altar in one of the temples.

The issue with this story is that Mitchell-Hedges does not mention this in any of his notes from the expedition, nor do any others present at Lubaantun at the time. The first time Mitchell-Hedges mentions it is in a letter to his brother, stating that he bought it at an auction in 1943. This corresponds well with the earliest publication mentioning the skull, a 1936 article in the anthropology journal "Man." In this article, we can read that the skull is in the possession of a guy called Sydney Burney, a London-based art dealer. The same art dealer that would, in 1943, sell the skull at an auction to Mitchell-Hedges. Sydney Burney got his hands on the skull, not from some explorer returning from a Maya temple but from a French collector named Eugene Boban.

Boban sold at least two confirmed skulls, according to an archivist at the Smithsonian named Jane Walsh. You might ask, Fredrik, could it not be that this Boban fella got it from an expedition in the Guatemalan Jungles? While it's plausible, the evidence seems to point to the fact that these skulls originated in Germany. Specifically, the town of Idar-Oberstein is renowned for its gemstone refinery. Unfortunately, we don't have hard evidence that Burney got the skull from Boban. It's not like we have a receipt or letters detailing the trade, but there's enough evidence to make a good case for it.

F.A. Mitchell-Hedges didn't talk much about the crystal skull during his life. He mentions it in a paragraph in the first edition of his 1954 biography, "Danger My Ally." In this first edition, he writes that "it is at least 3,600 years old and according to legend it was used by the High Priest of the Maya when he was performing esoteric rites. It is said that when he willed death with the help of the skull, death invariably followed." The section is, however, removed in later editions. Most of the stories we hear today are told by the daughter Anna. She is definitely the one who made the skull famous and brought it to a larger audience.

Scientific Analysis of the Skulls

Is this really what the studies have revealed? First of all, Anna Mitchell-Hedges never let the skull be scientifically tested during her lifetime. Frank Dorland was a freelance art restorer who made numerous claims about the skull, but we should note that he did no scientific testing with modern equipment. He did, however, mention mechanical grinding on the teeth of the skull, possibly by diamonds. It was also suggested that the skull was made of a composite of quartz. Based on his observations, Dorland indicated that the skull was likely 10,000 years old. During Dorland's caretaking of the skull, it caught the attention of writer Richard Garvin, who managed Hewlett-Packard's advertising account. Garvin organized tests at HP's crystal labs in Santa Clara. The labs discovered that, contrary to Dorland's belief, the skull and its detachable jaw was carved from a single piece of quartz crystal. Notably, HP did not investigate how it was made or determine its age.

Mayan Archaeologist Norman Hammond, who had an opportunity to examine it, also reported that some holes seemed to have been made by metallic drills. But this was the extent of the examination during Anna Mitchell-Hedges's lifetime. When she died in 2007, the skull went to her husband, Bill Homann, who, for the first time, let the skull be examined with modern equipment.

Jane MacLaren Walsh, an anthropologist whose expertise is discovering fake pre-Colombian objects, performed the analysis. The tests were performed at the Smithsonian Institute. During this, several different tests and equipment were used, and in 2008 an SEM analysis was made. This would demonstrate that, as Walsh put it, "It seems reasonable to conclude from the SEM images that the Mitchell-Hedges skull was carved in modern times with high-speed, diamond-coated rotary burring and cutting tools of minute dimension."

Analysis of other skulls has shown similar results. In the crystal skull found at the Smithsonian, Walsh found a deposit of silicon carbide, a modern abrasive not used until after 1930. Jane Walsh also compared these skulls with genuine artifacts made out of quartz from the correct time period. For example, a very nice-looking quartz goblet. The tool marks we find there are in line with the tools available to the people of the time and differ entirely from what we see in the crystal skulls. It might be good to mention that no archaeologist has since discovered a crystal skull. And all of those found in museums are later creations. I would suspect this would go for the other skulls in private collections.

Plastic Shamanism and New Age Appropriation

Of course, the Ancient Alien people claim that an advanced civilization or aliens would have these tools. They also try to use historical or legendary sources. Let's hear what Chris Morton has to say:

"Several Native American tribes have similar stories about ancient crystal skulls that were said to have been left behind by the earliest ancestors way back in the mists of time. Some believe that these are ancient artifacts left behind by extraterrestrials or that they were remnants left over from the lost civilizations."

So we have yet again a claim that Native Americans, or as we have learned in previous episodes, any indigenous people, have legends clearly fitting what we see on the screen. A huge issue here for Morton is that, well, this is just not true. This is an invention by the Ancient Astronaut theorists. And while some Native Americans might have incorporated these ideas today, they were not present before these claims were invented by later authors.

We have discussed the use of plastic shamanism in the past. The appropriation of Native American spirituality, especially by New Age groups, has a long and problematic history. Rayna Green's article, "The Tribe Called Wannabee," highlights how Euro-Americans have often romanticized and mimicked Indigenous cultures. This trend dates back to the 1800s with Wild West and medicine shows. This fascination evolved over time, with non-Native groups adopting Indigenous spiritual symbols and practices.

However, the rise of so-called "plastic shamans" didn't gain momentum until the New Age movement of the 1970s. These self-proclaimed spiritual leaders often fabricate stories about being taught by Native American elders despite lacking genuine connections to those cultures. A prominent example is Lynn Andrews, who claims mentorship from fictional Cree medicine women, reflecting a typical pattern in such narratives.

The New Age movement differs from traditional religions in lacking formal doctrines, membership, or structure. It mainly attracts white, middle-aged participants who pay for books, classes, and workshops—often led by other white individuals posing as shamans. These portrayals rely on stereotypes and cherry-picked elements of Indigenous traditions, distorting their true meaning.

Claims of Native American legends like the crystal skulls, for example, are inventions with no basis in authentic Indigenous histories. These myths emerged in modern New Age literature rather than pre-existing Native American traditions. The ongoing misrepresentation of Native cultures, even in popular media, perpetuates a cycle of exploitation and misunderstanding that undermines the depth and diversity of Indigenous spirituality.

Conclusion

Finally, the show is trying to claim that crystals have magical powers. In this, they invoke the legendary Druids; Jonathan Young says:

"The druids used crystal to tell fortunes, to read the future, to do ecstatic mystical rituals. The Scot Highlanders called these "stones of power.""

Again, this is based on pure fiction and fantasy. This seems not to have been the case, and the experts I've contacted have not heard that this would be a thing. But it sounds good, and it creates a historical narrative that sounds believable but is, in the end, nothing more than fiction. But this shows how the proponents of these ideas are not beyond making up arguments and evidence. Everything to sell their books and ideas while criticizing experts for not taking them seriously.

So, to sum up, all the skulls we have found and examined are modern creations. Many are great works of art and should be displayed in that capacity. When it comes to the claims about their origin and potential powers, these are just made up. Every time someone investigates them from a scientific and neutral perspective, things are shown to be far from the fanciful stories told. While it's material for great fiction, these are not evidence of alien interference or lost technology.

How to Support the Show

Until then, please spread the word by leaving a positive review on platforms like iTunes, Spotify, or even among your fellow trench dwellers. For more information about me and my podcast, check out diggingupancientaliens.com.

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Sandra Marteleur created the intro music, and our outro is by the band called Trallskruv, who sings their song "tin foil hat." Links to both these artists will be found in the show notes.

Until next time, keep shoveling that science!

Sources, resources, and further reading suggestions

Music

“Folie hatt” by Trallskruv

Lily of the woods by Sandra Marteleur