At times, the Ancients did indeed reflect on the crystalline nature of our body and
spirit, for they imitated the human form and its energy patterns by carving it in solid
crystal.
Without a doubt the most famous and enigmatic piece of ancient crystal discovered to date
is the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull. One day in 1927, adventurer-explorer F.A.
Mitchell-Hedges was clearing debris from atop a ruined temple at the ancient Mayan city of
Lubaantum, located in British Honduras, now Belize, when his seventeen-year old daughter
Anna, who had accompanied him, suddenly saw something shimmering in the dust below. Anna
found an exquisitely carved and polished skull made of rock crystal, with the jaw piece
missing. Three months later, she located the jaw in an excavation about 25 feet from the
first site.
The skull was made from a single, unusually large block of clear quartz crystal, and
measured 5 inches high, 7 inches long, and 5 inches wide, weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces. It
closely corresponds in size to a small human cranium, with near perfect detail, even to
rendering the skull without the globular prominence or superciliary ridges, which are
characteristics of a female.
In 1970, art conservator and restorer Frank Dorland was given permission by the
Mitchell-Hedges estate to submit the quartz skull to tests conducted at the
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories at Santa Clara, California. From these tests, and from
careful studies done by Dorland himself, the skull revealed a whole array of anomalies.
When submersed in a benzyl alcohol bath, with a beam of light passing through, it was
noted that both the skull and jaw piece had come from the same quartz block. What was
astounding to the testers, however, is they found that the skull and jaw had been carved
with total disregard to the natural crystal axis in the quartz. In modern crystallography,
the first procedure is always to determine the axis, to prevent fracturing and breakage
during the subsequent shaping process. Yet, the skull's maker appears to have employed
methods by which such concerns were not necessary.
The unknown artist also used no metal tools. Dorland was unable to find signs of any
tell-tale scratch marks on the crystal, under high-powered microscopic analysis. Indeed,
most metals would have been ineffectual, for the crystal has a specific gravity of 2.65,
and a Mohs hardness factor of 7. In other words, even a modern penknife cannot make a mark
on it.
From tiny patterns in the quartz near the carved surfaces, Dorland determined the skull
was first meticulously chiselled into a rough form, probably using diamonds. The finer
shaping, grinding and polishing, Dorland believes, was done by applying innumerable
applications of solutions of water and silicon-crystal sand. The big problem is, if these
were the processes used, then, as Dorland calculated, it would mean that a total of 300
man-years of continuous labour was spent in making the skull. We must accept this almost
unimaginable feat, or admit to the use of some form of lost technology in the skull's
creation the likes of which we have no equivalent today.
The enigma of the skull, however, does not end with just its making. The zygomatic arches
(the bone arch extending along the sides and front of the cranium) are accurately
separated from the skull piece, and act as light pipes, using principles similar to modern
optics, to channel light from the base of the skull to the eye sockets. The eye sockets in
turn are miniature concave lenses that also transfer light from a source below, into the
upper cranium. Finally, in the interior of the skull is a ribbon prism and tiny light
tunnels, by which objects held beneath the skull are magnified and brightened.
Richard Garvin, who authored a book about the crystal skull, believes the skull was
designed to be placed over an upward shining beam. The result, with the various light
transfers and prismatic effects, would illuminate the entire skull and cause the sockets
to become glowing eyes. Dorland performed experiments using this technique, and reported
the skull 'lights up like it was on fire.'
Still another finding about the crystal skull reveals knowledge of weights and fulcrum
points. The jaw piece fits precisely onto the skull by two polished sockets, which allow
the jaw to move up and down. The skull itself can be balanced exactly where two tiny holes
are drilled on each side of its base, which probably once held suspending supports. So
perfect is the balance at these points that the slightest breeze causes the skull to nod
back and forth, the jaw opening and closing as counter-weight. The visual effect is that
of a living skull, talking and articulating.
The question, of course, is what purpose did this serve? was it only designed by its
artist as a clever toy or conversation piece, or, as Dorland believes, was the talking
skull meant to be used as an oracular device, through strange phenomena associated with
the crystal skull, that defy logical explanation.
Observers have reported that, for unknown reasons, the skull will change colour. Sometimes
the frontal cranium clouds up, looking like white cotton, while at other times it turns
perfectly clear, as if the space within disappears into an empty void. Over a period from
5 to 6 minutes, a dark spot often begins forming on the right side and slowly blackens the
entire skull, then recedes and disappears as mysteriously as it came. Other observers have
seen strange scenes reflected in the eye sockets, scenes of buildings and other objects,
even though the skull is resting against a black background. Still others have heard
ringing noises emanating from within, and at least on one occasion, a distinct glow from
no known light source surrounded the skull like an aura for up to six minutes.
The sum total of the skull appears to take in all five physical senses of the brain. It
changes colour and light, it emits odours, it creates sound, it gives off sensations of
heat and cold to those who touch it, even though the crystal has always remained at a
physical temperature of 70 degrees F under all conditions, and has even produced
sensations of thirst and sometimes of taste in a few cases.
Dorland is of the opinion that what is happening in all this phenomena is that the
'crystal stimulates an unknown part of the brain, opening a psychic door to the absolute.'
He observes, 'crystals continuously put out electric-like radio waves. Since the brain
does the same thing, they naturally interact.' He has found, too, that periodic happenings
in the crystal skull are due to the positions of the sun, moon and planets in the sky.
Researcher Marianne Zezelic agrees that the skull was primarily used to stimulate and
amplify the psychic abilities in its handlers. She observes: 'Crystal serves as an
accumulator of terrestrial magnetism. By gazing at the crystal, the eyes set up a harmonic
relation stimulating the magnetism collected in that portion of the brain known as the
cerebellum. The cerebellum therefore becomes a reservoir of magnetism which influences the
quality of the magnetic outflow through the eyes, thus setting up a continuous flow of
magnetism between gazer and crystal. The amount of energy entering the brain eventually
increases to such a proportion as to affect the poles of the brain, a region extending
just above the eyes, contributing to psychic phenomena.'
Going a step further, Tom Bearden, an expert in the field of psychotronic studies,
believes that, in the hands of a skilled meditator and mental focaliser, the crystal skull
also served not only as a vehicle to transform life field energy into electromagnetic
energy and other physical effects, but also aided in healing, by the altering of its
crystalline resonance to match that of a patient's mind and body frequencies, and
affecting curing energies on the skull that would manifest in the patient's auric field.
The skull should thus be used as an amplifier and a transmitter of psychic and earth
energy forces.
When looking at the sum total of skill and knowledge incorporated in the Mitchell-Hedges
skull, modern science is stumped as to how to explain it. Author Richard Garvin summarised
the findings in these words: 'It is virtually impossible today -- in the time when men
have climbed mountains on the moon -- to duplicate this achievement. The lenses, light
pipes, and prisms alone display a technical competence that the human race only achieved
recently. In fact, there is no one on the globe today who could attempt to duplicate the
carving. It would not be a question of skill, patience and time. It would simply be
impossible. As one crystallographer from Hewlett-Packard said, 'the damned thing simply
shouldn't be.'
But it does exist, and while we cannot explain it in terms of any known form of
technology, we can explain it only as the product of a technology far advanced to our own,
but which vanished and was forgotten long ago -- the technology of a Golden Age.
Back to Home Page