The Crystal Skull, by Luis Pancorbo

On a corner of gallery 24 in the British Museum, dedicated to Life and Death, there is a display case holding something that shines. From a distance, it looks like a crystal ball. Is it possible? A crystal ball is something intriguing to gaze at, especially during New Year's, as it might conceal something inside. As you approach, you see that the shiny object is in the shape of a skull. It is a quartz crystal skull resembling those that appear in an Indiana Jones movie. The British Museum, being one of the most reputable in the world, does not return the Parthenon friezes to Greece, not even to lawyer Amal Alamuddin, wife of George Clooney, who has involved herself in that dispute. However, one thing is colonial abuses, like that of Lord Elgin, who bought the Greek statues from the Turks for the English's final glory, and another is for the British Museum to exhibit a crystal skull that seems to have sprung from Spielberg's fevered imagination.

There must be a strong reason; the museum admits this confidently: that skull is a great archaeological hoax. Nonetheless, it is displayed as a form of atonement. It is no secret that the museum acquired this crystal skull from Tiffany & Co. in New York in 1897. They did so through the expert George Frederick Kunz, who recounted that a Spanish officer took it out of Mexico and other incidents. The owners of Tiffany naturally believed the skull was genuine, meaning ancient and Aztec; what else would they say if they were deceived by the person who sold them the piece, a wealthy Mexican art collector named Eugéne Boban? This man broadcast that the magnificent quartz skull was found in Belize, thus it had to be Mayan. What he didn't say was that he himself had bought it at a Sotheby's auction in London.

And there it is, the fake skull, in that temple known as the British Museum, inside a display case. This skull, neither Mexica nor Mayan, was industrially carved in the late 19th century. The quartz crystal likely came from Brazil. Thankfully, the British Museum denies any extraterrestrial, magical, healing, or any other kind of nonsense qualities it might possess. A powerful microscope scan of the skull reveals tool marks, like those from a circular saw, which could not possibly have been used in Mexico before Hernán Cortés. Additionally, the skull shows traces of having been treated with silicone, which removes all romanticism from it.

It is not certain that in ancient Mexico, nor in Central America, ceremonial crystal skulls were carved. Another legend claims they were used to place under a crucifix. However, their fame grew significantly between the 19th and 20th centuries, partly thanks to the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull, which, he claimed, came directly from Atlantis, thus its powers. It didn't matter if it came from Guatemala, where other objects like the coyote crystal were found, or from Lubaantún (British Honduras). Nevertheless, some people prefer to connect the British Museum's crystal skull with a specific scene from Spielberg's film. The skull found in the tomb of Orellana, the conqueror of the Amazon, was another ball, as the Spaniard disappeared in 1546 without leaving a trace or tomb. At the British Museum, they seem to enjoy this game of mystifications, and in a way, they playfully poke fun at themselves by showcasing their particular crystal ball, a new kind of bald skull.