The Crystal Skulls

Check out www.archaeology.org.

The Crystal Skulls are a hoax, but are quite popular in today's fantasy literature. For example, Cussler's Atlantis Found makes great use of them, as did the latest Indiana Jones movie.

Read the complete article at: http://www.archaeology.org/0805/etc/indy.html

Legend of the Crystal Skulls Volume 61 Number 3, May/June 2008
by Jane MacLaren Walsh

Along with superstars like Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, and Shia LaBeouf, the newest Indiana Jones movie promises to showcase one of the most enigmatic classes of artifacts known to archaeologists, crystal skulls that first surfaced in the 19th century and that specialists attributed to various "ancient Mesoamerican" cultures. In this article, Smithsonian anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh shares her own adventures analyzing the artifacts that inspired Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (in theaters May 22), and details her efforts tracking down a mysterious "obtainer of rare antiquities" who may have held the key to the origin of these exotic objects.

In 1992, this hollow rock-crystal skull was sent to the Smithsonian anonymously. A letter accompanying the 30-pound, 10-inch-high artifact suggested it was of Aztec origin. (James Di Loreto & Donald Hurlburt/Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

Sixteen years ago, a heavy package addressed to the nonexistent "Smithsonian Inst. Curator, MezoAmerican Museum, Washington, D.C." was delivered to the National Museum of American History. It was accompanied by an unsigned letter stating: "This Aztec crystal skull, purported to be part of the Porfirio Díaz collection, was purchased in Mexico in 1960.... I am offering it to the Smithsonian without consideration." Richard Ahlborn, then curator of the Hispanic-American collections, knew of my expertise in Mexican archaeology and called me to ask whether I knew anything about the object--an eerie, milky-white crystal skull considerably larger than a human head.

I told him I knew of a life-sized crystal skull on display at the British Museum, and had seen a smaller version the Smithsonian had once exhibited as a fake. After we spent a few minutes puzzling over the meaning and significance of this unusual artifact, he asked whether the department of anthropology would be interested in accepting it for the national collections. I said yes without hesitation. If the skull turned out to be a genuine pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifact, such a rare object should definitely become part of the national collections.

I couldn't have imagined then that this unsolicited donation would open an entirely new avenue of research for me. In the years since the package arrived, my investigation of this single skull has led me to research the history of pre-Columbian collections in museums around the world, and I have collaborated with a broad range of international scientists and museum curators who have also crossed paths with crystal skulls. Studying these artifacts has prompted new research into pre-Columbian lapidary (or stone-working) technology, particularly the carving of hard stones like jadeite and quartz.

Crystal skulls have undergone serious scholarly scrutiny, but they also excite the popular imagination because they seem so mysterious. Theories about their origins abound. Some believe the skulls are the handiwork of the Maya or Aztecs, but they have also become the subject of constant discussion on occult websites. Some insist that they originated on a sunken continent or in a far-away galaxy. And now they are poised to become archaeological superstars thanks to our celluloid colleague Indiana Jones, who will tackle the subject of our research in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Details about the movie's plot are being closely guarded by the film's producers as I write this, but the Internet rumor mill has it that the crystal skull of the title is the creation of aliens.

The author and Scott Whittaker, director of the Smithsonian's Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Facility, examine the "Mitchell-Hedges Skull." Silicone molds of the skull's carved features were analyzed by SEM for evidence of tool marks. (James Di Loreto/Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

These exotic carvings are usually attributed to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, but not a single crystal skull in a museum collection comes from a documented excavation, and they have little stylistic or technical relationship with any genuine pre-Columbian depictions of skulls, which are an important motif in Mesoamerican iconography.

They are intensely loved today by a large coterie of aging hippies and New Age devotees, but what is the truth behind the crystal skulls? Where did they come from, and why were they made?

Museums began collecting rock-crystal skulls during the second half of the nineteenth century, when no scientific archaeological excavations had been undertaken in Mexico and knowledge of real pre-Columbian artifacts was scarce. It was also a period that saw a burgeoning industry in faking pre-Columbian objects. When Smithsonian archaeologist W. H. Holmes visited Mexico City in 1884, he saw "relic shops" on every corner filled with fake ceramic vessels, whistles, and figurines. Two years later, Holmes warned about the abundance of fake pre-Columbian artifacts in museum collections in an article for the journal Science titled "The Trade in Spurious Mexican Antiquities."

French antiquarian Eugène Boban with his collection of Mesoamerican artifacts at an 1867 Paris exposition. Among the objects on display were two crystal skulls. At his feet rest a pot and a battleaxe Boban exhibited as Aztec. Both are fakes. (Courtesy Jane Walsh/Museo Nacional de Historia, Mexico City)
The first Mexican crystal skulls made their debut just before the 1863 French intervention, when Louis Napoleon's army invaded the country and installed Maximilian von Hapsburg of Austria as emperor. Usually they are small, not taller than 1.5 inches. The earliest specimen seems to be a British Museum crystal skull about an inch high that may have been acquired in 1856 by British banker Henry Christy.

Read the complete article at: http://www.archaeology.org/0805/etc/indy.html

Bonaparte...more than just Napoleon

There's no mystery to be found in Charles Bonaparte's life, as far as I know, but I'm always on the lookout for something to hang a plot on.... although I had read much of Napoleon Bonaparte and his military genius, I've never spent much time investigation the rest of his family.

Of course Napoleon sold the "Louisiana Territory" to Thomas Jefferson to finance his war with England. And of course Napoleon III attempted to set up Maximilian I as Emperor of Mexico during the US Civil War... now there's the idea for a story....

Anyway:

Charles Joseph Bonaparte (June 9, 1851 – June 28, 1921) was a member of the United States Cabinet, serving appointments by President Theodore Roosevelt as Secretary of the Navy, then as Attorney General of the United States. He created the Bureau of Investigation, which would later become known as the FBI.

Biography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the son of Prince Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte (1805-1870) and Susan May Williams (1812-1881), from whom the American line of the Bonaparte family descended, and a grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte, who was briefly King of Westphalia and the youngest brother of the French emperor Napoleon I.

After graduating from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where he would later be appointed a university overseer, he practiced law in Baltimore and became prominent in municipal and national reform movements.

On September 1, 1875, Bonaparte married the former Ellen Channing Day (1852-1924), daughter of attorney Thomas Mills Day and Ellen Cornelia (Jones) Pomeroy. They had no children.

In 1899 Bonaparte was the key note speeker for the 1st graduating class of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. In his speech he addressed "The Significance of the Bachelor's Degree"

Today, and here for the first time in America, a Catholic college for the education of young ladies bestowsthe bachelor's degree...

The Style of Scholorship...which benfits the recipient of the bachelor's degree has two distinctive and essential marks. It implies in the first place a broad, generous sympathy with every form of honest, rational and disinterested study or research.

A Scholar who is also, and first of all, a gentleman may be...specially interested is some particular field of knowledge, but he is indifferent to none. He knows how to value every successful effort to master truth; how to look beyond the little things of science...to the great things - God's handiwork as seen in nature, God's mind as shadowed in the workings of the minds of men.

Young ladies, of this degree has such meaning for your brothers, what meaning has it for you?...

He was a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners from 1902 to 1904, chairman of the National Civil Service Reform League in 1904 and appointed a trustee of The Catholic University of America.

In 1905, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Bonaparte to his cabinet as United States Secretary of the Navy. From 1906 until the end of President Roosevelt's administration he served as United States Attorney General. He was active in suits brought against the trusts and was largely responsible for breaking up the tobacco monopoly. In 1908, Joseph founded the Bureau of Investigation (BOI).

He was one of the founders, and for a time the president, of the National Municipal League.

Bonaparte died in Bella Vista (originally built as "Mount Vista Estates", Baltimore County, Maryland, and is interred at Baltimore's Loudon Park Cemetery. Cause of death was "Saint Vitus Dance" -- today known as chorea. A nearby street in Baltimore County bears the name of Bonaparte Ave.

Mr. Bonaparte drove the 15 miles every day to Baltimore to do business in his coach pulled by four stout draft horses, and was timely enough that the local residents would be able to tell time by his passing by. The Mount Vista Mansion site can be seen by driving north on Maryland Route 147 and is not the original home on Mount Vista Estates since the original "Bella Vista" property burned in the 1930s and was replaced by a poured concrete structure built upon the original location of Mr. Bonaparte's Bella Vista home. The original Bella Vista was not electrified since Bonaparte refused to have electricity or telegraph lines installed due to a dislike of technology, verified by his use of horse-drawn coach until his death.

Bibliography
Bishop, Joseph Bucklin (1922), Charles Joseph Bonaparte: His Life and Public Services, New York: C. Scribner's Sons
Goldman, Eric F. (1943), Charles J. Bonaparte: Patrician Reformer, His Earlier Career, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press

Gold Shows - schedule

If you want to get a taste of prospecting for gold and other treasure, check out these Gold Shows:

StartDate EndDate Location City State
04/17/2010 04/18/2010 South Point Hotel and Casino Las Vegas NV S
05/15/2010 05/16/2010 Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis IN
05/22/2010 05/23/2010 Oklahoma State Fair Park Oklahoma City OK
10/16/2010 10/17/2010 Cumberland Fairgrounds Portland ME
10/23/2010 10/24/2010 State Fairgrounds of West Virginia Fairlea WV
10/30/2010 10/31/2010 Georgia Mountains Center Gainsville GA

From the Gold Prospector's Website:

George “Buzzard“ Massie started the Gold Shows more than 35 years ago to expose the public to modern day prospecting and treasure hunting. He and others educated in the field conducted lectures on prospecting and taught attendees about the equipment they needed and how and where to look to begin their venture in the search for gold. Those same concepts are present at today’s gold shows, although the master of prospecting is no longer with us. His sons and other experienced miners have carried on educating the public with their search for the “yellow gold” with lectures at all of the shows. Today’s new concepts and equipment make it much easier to find that yellow metal that so many yearn to attain. You will learn there is more gold today to find than the old-timers found in the 1800’s. The vendors have it all… the equipment from yesteryear to today’s latest and most advanced on display at the shows. Gold Prospecting and Treasure Hunting has become a very popular and family oriented hobby. You will find at the shows there is something for just about every family member to do in the search for gold and treasure.

Magazine: Gold Prospectors

Gold Prospectors: The Magazine for Gold, Gem & Treasure Hunters.
Featured on the Outdoor Channel.
www.goldprospectors.org

The magazine is published by the Gold Prospectors Association of America. It's published bi-monthy, for $20 a year.

I've just picked up the Mar/Apr 2010 issue.

Here's the table of contents:

Features
Metal Detecting 4 Gold, Coins & Relics
Prospecting Australia's Corner Country
The Golden Ankh
Wedderburn: A marvelous Australian Gold Town
Prospecting Business Struggles to Overcome SB670 (California)
The $50,000 American Gold Coin

Departments
Editor's Note
Miner's Mail
Approved Dealers
Upcoming Events
Members Page
How To...
Classifieds
Miner's Madness
Chapter Contacts

Columns
Buzzardite Jr.
Mountain Millie
Treasure Hunter's University
Field Test
Donkey Prospector
Mining the Internet
Outings Roundup
Gold Grubbin' Gourmet (recipes)

Here's the TV schedule on the Outdoor channel (from the Gold Prospector's website)

04/12/2010 2:30 PM Alaskan 30 min
04/12/2010 3:00 PM Gold Fever 60 min
04/14/2010 6:00 AM Gold Prospecting 30 min
04/15/2010 3:30 AM LDMA 30 min
04/17/2010 6:00 AM Gold Fever 60 min
04/17/2010 12:00 PM Gold Fever 60 min
04/19/2010 2:30 PM Gold Prospecting 30 min
04/19/2010 3:00 PM Gold Fever 60 min

A site for Cussler (or his ghostwriter) to showcase

If you're thinking of writing a techno-thriller on the order of a Clive Cussler novel, which typically begins with some historical event that will end up being of importance to the present day, why not think about the setting of Armenian Rock Art, which British Archaeology magazine Mar/Apr 2010 profiles:

"Within an extinct volcano (I love volcanoes - hence the name of this blog) beside a glacial lake at 3300 m above sea level between the Black and CAspian Seas, is one of the world's most extraordinary outdoor galleries of ancient art."

This art, located in Armenia, is "prehistoric carvings pecked on smooth surfaces of glaciated rocks and boulders.

A joint UK-Armenian team set out to study the art. Although the art is little known outside Armenia, inside Armenia it is a tourist attraction, and like tourists everywhere, people come, they see, they take souvenirs, so the sites are gradually being destroyed.

"The motifs" [of the art] "include long-horned bezoar goats (still occasionally seen in Armenia) as well as deer, cattle, wolves or dogs, human figures, "snakes" and what are described as a "number of peculiarly expressive leopards."

It has been suggested that the petroglyphs date from the 5th to the 2nd millenia BC. Depictions of wheeled transport may depict a Bronze Age (3500-1200 BC).

A video of Armenia today

Ever heard of Seahenge?

Here's the description from Wikipedia:

Seahenge or Holme I is a Bronze Age monument discovered in 1998 just off the coast of the English county of Norfolk at Holme-next-the-Sea. It is sometimes described as a timber circle but bears only a superficial resemblance to this monument type.

Before I continue on with what Wikipedia has to say, let me get straight to the reason why I'm mentioning it here at Volcano Seven.

There's a couple of paragraphs about the site in the British Archaeology: The Voice of Archeology in Britain and Beyond magazine, March/April 2010:

"On January 30, Lynn Museum, Norfolk, near the site where Seahenge was excavated in 1999, closed for four months for the installation of the main timber. While split posts from the apparent funereal oak ring dated to 2049 BC went on display in the musuem in 2008, the central component - an upturned tree stump - had remained at the Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth until conservation was complete."

Description of the site
The site consisted of an outer ring comprising fifty-five small split oak trunks forming a roughly circular enclosure around 7 m by 6 m. Rather than being placed in individual holes, the timbers had been arranged around a circular construction trench. Their split sides faced inwards and their bark faced outwards (with one exception where the opposite is the case). One of the trunks on the south western side had a narrow Y fork in it, permitting access to the central area. Another post had been placed outside this entrance, which would have prevented anyone from seeing inside. The timbers were set in ground to a depth of 1 m from the contemporary surface although how far they originally extended upwards is not known. In the centre of the ring was a large inverted oak stump.

It is possible to date the creation of Seahenge very accurately through dendrochronology since the rings on the trees can be correlated with other overlapping tree ring variations; the date of felling the oaks was found to have been in the spring or summer of 2049 BC. The upturned central tree stump was 167 years old when it was felled. Between 16 and 26 different trees were used in building the monument with palynological evidence suggesting they came from nearby woodland. Analysis of axe marks on the timbers indicates that at least 51 different axes were used in working the timbers. The largest axe was used to cut the central tree and not any of the other timbers. The excavators interpret each unique axe as representing a different individual, and thus consider it likely that Seahenge was a community endeavour. Holes in the central stump indicate that it was pulled onto site by rope. Pieces of the rope, made from honeysuckle stems, were found under the stump.

Discovery
The site was discovered because of the actions of the tide on Holme Dunes, which is gradually wearing away the peat layers to reveal the landscapes laid down many thousands of years ago. In this instance the wooden posts and stump had been preserved in the peat and were revealed at low tides. Since the entire structure had been in an anaerobic waterlogged state for several thousand years, the logs had survived with little damage. In the early Bronze Age, the site was probably a saltmarsh environment, between the sea and the forest before the ocean encroached to form the modern coastline. Tidal action had scoured away overlying sediment which had built up in the intervening centuries revealing the timbers for the first time since prehistory.

Exposure to the air put the timbers at immediate risk; as the seawater which has slowly seeped into the timber over time began to drain away, it left the wood to dry out and crumble. Local archaeologists from the Norfolk Archaeological Unit and volunteers worked in the exhausting intertidal conditions to conserve and record the site.

Purpose
Researchers were unable to determine activity at Seahenge in the centuries after it was built, and its purpose is consequently unknown. However, the presence of Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery at the site suggests that it became a focal point again several centuries after construction.

Theories about the site have focused on the idea of inversion, as represented by the upside-down central tree stump and the single post turned 180 degrees from the others within the circle itself. The theme of inversion has been noticed in some Early Bronze Age burials. Not all the split posts can be accounted for and it has been suggested that another structure was built nearby using them.

Seahenge is so named by analogy with Stonehenge and does not possess an extant henge and appears to have had little functionally in common with its namesake. The contemporary ground surface associated with the monument has long since been washed away meaning no associated features survive and the silt Seahenge stood in when found considerably postdates the timber circle. It is thought that Seahenge was a mortuary enclosure for the use of excarnation rather than a henge.

Controversy
Most archaeological excavations in Britain do not attract much public attention or controversy, but Seahenge became the subject of a very public debate. The photogenic and ephemeral nature of the location attracted national media attention. Some people objected to the excavation – some local people felt they had not been consulted about the fate of part of their local heritage and that it should be left alone, complaining that Seahenge would most likely be transported to London where it would be displayed, out of its local context, in the British Museum. Although the precise function of the site is unknown, some neo-Druids objected on religious grounds; and some people were not aware that the circle was really at risk from the sea. A great many people were attracted to the site to see it, or to protest, and the presence of such large numbers itself contributed further to the risk of damaging the site.

The Seahenge case has demonstrated several contentious subjects in the field of heritage management. Issues such as the views of local people and other interested groups compared with the aims of academia and the decisions that have to be made over what to preserve and what to leave to nature have had to be tackled by the archaeologists and government agencies connected with the site.

Preservation
In 1999, English Heritage arranged for the wood to be transported 50 miles to Flag Fen near Peterborough, where it was continually soaked in wax-emulsified water to slowly (over years) replace the moisture in the wood with wax. It was later transferred to Portsmouth where maritime archaeology experts at the Mary Rose Trust continued the programme at their purpose-built site. Conservation work is complete, with a recreated Seahenge near its original site, at the refurbished Lynn Museum in King's Lynn and opened to the public in April 2008 [1].

Holme II
One hundred metres east, another older ring has been found, consisting of two concentric timber circles surrounding a hurdle lined pit containing two oak logs. Known as Holme II, it dates to the centuries before Holme I (c. 2400-2030 BC) although the two sites may have been in use together. Although also threatened with destruction by the sea, this site has been left in situ and exposed to the tidal actions of the sea. Archaeologists have suggested that this decision by English Heritage relates to the controversy over digging Holme I.

Ecological disaster for some, shipwreck boon to others

Okay, the title is deliberately sarcastic.

The story of the tragedy of the destruction of the Aral Sea is only one, unfortunately, in a long line of ecological disasters that are going to end up dooming mankind, because it seems that nobody, in any country, can ever learn from the past, or utlize any amount of common sense.

The Aral Sea disaster happened in Russia, but China and various countries in the Middle East are also destroying whole regions for short-sighted economic goals... while the US gets all the blame for "polluting the earth" it is these other countries that are putting the earth's climate at risk.

So, what's the Aral Sea disaster, and why are shipwreck enthusiasts interested?

The Aral Sea catastrophe is “one of the planet's most shocking disasters”

Once the fourth largest lake in the world, now 75% of it is only a desert filled with ghost ships! The Aral Sea catastrophe represents “one of the planet's most shocking disasters” said the United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who called for urgent actions.

Located between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea used to be the fourth largest lake in the world that used to be fed by 2 rivers. However, in the early 1960's the Soviet Union diverted water from the inflowing rivers to irrigate cotton crops and increase rice production in Central Asia.

Therefore, over the years the Aral Sea experienced a severe drop in water levels pushing the shoreline to recede by 100 km, pushing the salt content to increase, thereby becoming a hostile marine environment, killing all known 20 fish species that used to live in the Aral Sea. Now the water level has dropped by 16 meters and the water volume fell by 75%.

After the fish population declined, almost 60,000 fishermen lost their livelihoods. Meanwhile drinking water supplies decrease dramatically, and the remained water is contaminated with toxic chemicals (resulted from pesticides used for decades by farmers which can also spread by wind for thousands of kilometers), as well as bacteria and viruses, pushing people to become ill.

Yet the environmental disasters of the Aral Sea catastrophe did not stop there. One of the most serious effects was suffered by the climate in the region. This once vast lake used to absorb summer heat and keep winters mild. Now that the climate became extreme, the summers are longer and the winters are colder.

This desertification ended up in shortening the growing season for crops. Scientists warn that by 2015 the Aral Sea could dry up entirely. It is estimated that now 75 million tons of toxic dust and salts every year are spread across Central Asia, and the Aral Sea will dry up completely, 15 billion tons of salt will be left behind.

Now the ghost ships are the most dramatic example of the Aral Sea catastrophe induced by man. This sight determined the United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon who visited Uzbekistan as part of a six-day trip through former Soviet Central Asia (a region troubled by poverty and human rights violations), to consider it “one of the planet's most shocking disasters”.

Thereby, he urged Uzbekistan to fulfill its international human rights commitments since it previously signed international agreements on torture and civil and political rights and asked all Central Asian leaders to "sit down together and try to find the solutions". Ban said "It is time to deliver, time to put them fully into practice”.

He also added, “It is important that Uzbekistan act upon these recommendations as soon as possible so that civil society may flourish, so that your people can enjoy the benefits in their daily lives… Millions of people have lost their places, their livelihoods were destroyed.... I was so saddened to see this for myself”.