Probably some of the most iconic archaeological artifacts to come out of Central America, the famous Aztec crystal skulls have inspired countless theories about alien sculptors, psychic technologies, and magic stones. In reality, however, these presumed pre-Columbian ruins may be cheap imitations made by a nineteenth-century French swindler.
There are thought to be a dozen skulls in museums and private collections around the world, ranging in size from a few inches to about the size of a bowling ball. These shiny skulls first appeared in 1856 when the British Museum purchased a miniature skull said to have been made by the Aztecs, but it was unclear where exactly this piece came from.
The British Museum later purchased a second crystal skull in 1897, and this piece is on display in the museum today. Although the museum initially believed the skull was pre-Columbian, it says “attempts to verify this on technological grounds have not been successful” and the origin of the piece is “very uncertain”.
Other crystal skulls of varying sizes soon appeared in the collections of Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology and the Smithsonian Institution. In the 1950s, however, a Smithsonian mining expert named William Foshag realized that the piece had clearly been created using modern jewelery making tools, and turned it out to be fake.
Skulls hold an important place in Aztec iconography and are often found carved on the walls of ancient temples or depictions of gods. However, no crystal skulls have been found in archaeological excavations in Mexico or elsewhere, and none of the specimens in museum collections are associated with an excavation project.
In the early 2000s, archaeologists began to suspect that most, if not all, Aztec crystal skulls were fake.
Finally, in 2008, definitive proof emerged when an unidentified donor mailed a skull to the Smithsonian Institution, claiming to have purchased it in 1960 and insisting that it previously belonged to Mexican dictator Porfírio Díaz.
This fragment, the largest of the crystal skulls, was delivered to an anthropologist named Jane MacLaren Walsh, who, together with Margaret Sax of the British Museum, analyzed both the Smithsonian skull and the specimen found in London. Using a scanning electron microscope, the duo determined that both skulls were carved with rotating wheels and therefore could not have been produced using Aztec technology.
Walsh and Sax then analyzed the liquid and solid streams in the quartz from which the skulls were made, and determined that the rock had been hammered in a “mesothermal metamorphic environment.” This excluded Central America as a source and indicated that the crystal most likely came from Brazil or Madagascar, neither of which were on Aztec trade routes.
So Where Did the Crystal Skulls Come From?
While it is not possible to trace the history of all skulls, records are originally from Tiffany & Co., for example, in the British Museum. It shows that it was purchased by a French merchant named Eugène Boban.
Boban exhibited two more crystal skulls at the Exposition Universelle, held to showcase his findings as the official archaeologist of the Mexican court of Maximilian at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. However, Boban was not a professional archaeologist despite being a member of the French Scientific Commission in Mexico, having spent most of his youth doing his own unofficial excavations in Mexico.
The reality now emerging is this: the production of crystal skulls was first initiated by Boban in the nineteenth century – at a time when the first true Aztec artifacts began to appear in museums around the world and the public had a fascination with this mysterious ancient civilization. The fact that no crystal skulls have been uncovered in any archaeological dig did not deter Boban from citing them as genuine Aztec relics, and most museums were content to believe their claims for their authenticity, knowing that a crystal skull would undoubtedly reveal something.
Despite this, the skull, which eventually went to the British Museum, was rejected in 1885 by the director of the Museo Nacional de Mexico, who accused Boban of being a fraud. Undeterred by this failure, Boban quickly found an alternative seller, and the world was soon filled with fake Aztec crystal skulls.
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