Object Details
- Donor Name
- Anonymous
- Carved from white quartz, sometimes called rock crystal, in form of a human skull with hollow cranium. Larger than life size. Per Dr. Jane MacLaren Walsh, 2008: According to its anonymous donor, it was purchased in Mexico in 1960, and its size perhaps reflects the exuberance of the time. In comparison with the original nineteenth-century skulls, the Smithsonian skull is enormous; at 31 pounds and nearly 10 inches high, it dwarfs all others. I believe it was probably manufactured in Mexico shortly before it was sold. The technology used in polishing wasn't available until after World War II as demonstrated by the British Museum analysis (Sax, Walsh, Freestone 2008). References: Walsh, Jane MacLaren, 2008, "Legend of the Crystal Skulls," Archaeology Magazine, 61(3):36-41. http://www.archaeology.org/0805/etc/indy.html Sax, Margaret, Walsh, J.M., Freestone, I.C., Rankin, A.H. and Meeks, N.D., 2008, "The origins of two purportedly pre-Columbian Mexican crystal skulls," Journal of Archaeological Science, 35(10): 2751-2760. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.05.007 . See also: https://web.archive.org/web/20181128182211/https://anthropology.si.edu/crystal_skulls/, and Walsh, Jane MacLaren; Brett Topping (2019). The Man Who Invented Aztec Crystal Skulls: The Adventures of Eugène Boban. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
- Record Last Modified
- 9 Jun 2023
- Specimen Count
- 1
- Accession Date
- 9 Aug 1996
- Accession Number
- 409954
- USNM Number
- A562841-0
- Object Type
- Figure
- Height - Object
- 25.5 cm
- Depth - Object
- 22.8 cm
- Weight - Object
- ca 14.1 kg
- Place
- Not Given, Mexico, North America
- See more items in
- Anthropology
- NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
- Topic
- Archaeology
- Record ID
- nmnhanthropology_8552155
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/37a4f5ebb-21cf-4c06-82db-4215ce984bb1
