Crystal skull
From MysteryWiki
A crystal skull is a hardstone carving of a human skull.
Specific Skulls
Amethyst Skull
British Skull
Mayan Skull
Mitchell-Hedges Skull
Perhaps the most famous such crystal skull, the Mitchell-Hedges skull (also referred to as the "Skull of Doom") first receives mention in a 1936 article by Adrian Digby in Man (Walsh, "Ancient Mexico, Hollywood and the French Connection") within which it was compared with the British Skull (Digby 108). The article refers to the Mitchell-Hedges skull as the Burney skull instead, as it was brought to the attention of the British Museum by London art dealer Sydney Burney that same year (Walsh "Legend of the Crystal Skulls").
Burney claimed that he obtained the skull in early 1933, by his own attestation, but it is unknown how Burney managed to acquire it in the first place. In February of that year, he attempted to sell the skull to the American Museum of Natural History, insisting that the specimen had originated in Mexico (Walsh, "Ancient Mexico, Hollywood and the French Connection"). Due to his failed sale, Burney remained the owner of the crystal skull until 1943.
On 15 October 1943, Burney sold the skull at Sotheby’s in London[1] to Frederick A. Mitchell-Hedges (Walsh "Legend of the Crystal Skulls").
Paris Skull
Notes
- ↑ Sotheby's is still located in the same residence as when this sale took place, 34-35 New Bond Street, according to their website.
External Links
- Crystal skull - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
- Crystal skull - Wikipedia
- Crystal Skulls - National Geographic
References
- "Crystal Skull." The Mitchell-Hedges Official Website. The Mitchell-Hedges Official Website, 2009. Web. 16 Jan. 2012.
- Digby, Adrian. "Comments on the Morphological Comparison of Two Crystal Skulls." Man 36 (1936): 107-09. Print.
- Laycock, Joseph P. "The Controversial History of the Crystal Skulls: A Case Study in Interpretive Drift." Material Religion 11.2 (2015): 164-88. Print.
- Sax, Margaret, Jane M. Walsh, Ian C. Freestone, Andrew H. Rankin, and Nigel D. Meeks. "The Origins of Two Purportedly Pre-Columbian Mexican Crystal Skulls." Journal of Archaeological Science 35.10 (2008): 2751-760. Print.
- Walsh, Jane MacLaren. "Ancient Mexico, Hollywood and the French Connection." Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 14 July 2016.
- Walsh, Jane MacLaren. "Legend of the Crystal Skulls." Archaeology 61.3 (2008): n. pag. Print.
- Walsh, Jane MacLaren. "The Skull of Doom." Archaeology Magazine Archive. Archaeological Institute of America, 27 May 2010. Web. 14 July 2016.