In October of 1964, art conservator, restorer and expert on religious icons, Frank Dorland was given permission by Anna Mitchell-Hedges to conduct six years of testing and experiments on the crystal skull. The results from his studies were published in the book “Holy Ice, Bridge to the Subconscious”. Most of the information below was extracted from his book.

The first time that the Mitchell-Hedges skull was tested was in a comparison study with the British Museum skull.

There was a scholarly report comparing the Mitchell-Hedges skull to the British Museum crystal skull that can be found in Morant, G. M. “A Morphological Comparison of Two Crystal Skulls.” Man 36 (July 1936): 105-107. The British Museum Crystal Skull is currently residing in the British Museum in London, England, and has been there since 1898. It is a one-piece full size clear quartz crystal skull.

The British Crystal Skull is said to have been bought by mercenaries in Mexico in the 1890s. In comparison to the Mitchell-Hedges skull, the British Museum skull is made of cloudier clear crystal and is not nearly as finely sculpted. The features are superficially etched and appear incomplete, without distinctly formed jawbones.

Following is a summary of this document prepared by anthropologist Dr. G.M. Morant, Adrian Digby and J.J. Braunholtz of the British Museum in London.

Dr. Morant writes that there are only two known authentic life-size representations of the human skull carved in solid rock crystal: the British Museum skull and the Burney skull. (the Sydney Burney skull and the Mitchell-Hedges skull are one and the same.)

Dr. Morant states that both skulls were remarkably similar in size and shape. Furthermore, it was curious that neither of them had suture (the immovable joints between bones of the skull) marks normally found on all human skulls. Using very technical terms, Dr. Morant felt that both skulls showed suggestions of ‘femaleness’.

Owing to the absence of sutures, few of the usual measurements can be taken accurately. The most reliable ones are for the glabellar-occipital length 177mm, 174mm (the reading for the British Museum specimen given first); maximum calvarial breadth 135mm, 140mm: cephalic index 76.3mm, 80.5mm; bizygomatic breadth 117mm, 117mm; nasal breadth 22mm, 24mm; breadth of left orbit 34.5mm, 37.5mm; height of left orbit 37mm, 33.5mm; left orbital index 107.2mm, 89.3mm. None of these measurements would be at all exceptional for an actual skull except for the orbital index on the British Museum specimen. The Mitchell-Hedges skull weighs approximately 11 pounds, 7 ounces. It measures 4-29/32 inches wide by 5-13/16 inches high and is 7-7/8 inches long.

It was noticed that the only marked difference between the two skulls was that the British Museum specimen was in one solid piece, but the Mitchell-Hedges skull had a removable jawbone with teeth. It was further declared that the British skull was a crude representation, while the Mitchell-Hedges skull was far more successful in being anatomically accurate and lifelike. Dr. Morant concludes that the two skulls obviously could not be of independent origin because of their remarkable similarities of size, shape and technical measurement. Both had to be representations of the same human skull. This original skull used as a model did not have the usual European cranium. However, it easily could have been of native-American extraction.

Digby went on to write that there was no trace of identifiable tool marks on either skull. In 1965, however, Dorland found and identified parallel repeating scratches made by a rotary tool device. These tool marks were found only on the face of the teeth in the removable jaw of the Mitchell-Hedges skull.

In the 1930s, Digby believed that both skulls might have been Mexican in origin. He went on to say that the two skulls may somehow be related but it would be rash to conclude that they were modeled from the same human skull. He expressly noted the height of the British skull was greater than that of the Mitchell-Hedges skull, and he believed it would be unwise to assume any definite conclusions on either skull.

Dorland does point out that, if the British skull were taken to a skilled lapidary and had the jaw piece cut loose, the loss of material from the saw cut, the sanding, polishing and finishing of the jawbone would account for a substantial loss of rock crystal. After completion of this procedure, the height of the two skulls would be practically identical.

H.J. Braunholtz of the British Museum concludes the paper by affirming that the British skull is entirely in line with the other known, authentic Aztec specimens, therefore it might be quite acceptable as an example of pre-Columbian Aztec sculpture. Braumholtz further stated that the Mitchell-Hedges skull was so realistic that it had the character of an anatomical model in a scientific age.

An Unreported Prism and other Unusual Features

The British report in the Man journal never mentioned the existence of a most extraordinary flat prism surface carved in the roof of the mouth in the Mitchell-Hedges skull. This would be a major, time-consuming lapidary feat. All the work would be hidden from normal sight unless the skull was turned upside down. The prism was carefully positioned to reflect light from below, which would then be plainly visible in both eye sockets.

The report also ignores two small drilled holes, one on the right and one on the left side in the lower mastoid process area. These two small holes could act as support-bearing surfaces. This means that the crystal skull could be balanced upright resting on two slender pins inserted in the two holes, thus allowing the skull to be viewed as a moving, nodding oracle if the owners so wished. These two, tiny holes indicate a carefully and precisely engineered scheme of a very high intelligence and not the result of accident or coincidence.

While both skulls represent a high degree of workmanship and anatomical knowledge, (although much more so in the case of the Mitchell-Hedges skull), neither has the suture marks on the pates, which each should have and could easily have had if the artists had been seeking merely to fashion replicas of the skull of some famous person. And since suture marks on any skull are one of the most impressive things about it, it seems strange that the reason for their absence should not have been questioned in the study.

During this time Dorland made many scientific models of the skull and separate jaw piece in order to facilitate more extensive studies. Dozens of accurate copies were made and sliced into sections, allowing for more precise measurements of the configuration and mass of the skull.

Other studies by Dorland show that the zygomatic arches (the arch of the bone that extends along the front or side of the skull) are relieved and separated from the skull itself. These arches, using principles amazingly similar to our modern optic technology, act as ‘light pipes’ to channel light from the base of the skull into the excavated eye sockets. Here they terminate in miniature concave lenses that focus the beam to the rear of the sockets themselves.

Evidence of an even more mysterious nature is found in both the hand-ground and natural prisms and lenses, which also channel illumination from the base and distribute images and light.

These facts among others are why Dorland was positive that the crystal skull had to be much more important than the British Museum curators seemed to believe. It seemed to represent substantially rich material dealing with spiritual beliefs reaching far into the very soul of mankind.

The Skull at Hewlett-Packard

Another remarkably unusual feature of the Mitchell-Hedges skull is its removable jawbone. If we were to suppose that the jawbone had originally been attached and part of the skull and then later cut loose, it would be of major importance. This stems from the fact that to cut the jawbone loose from the skull and carve it to shape would be many times more difficult than merely carving a separate jawbone from another chunk of crystal.

Not only would it have been unimaginably difficult and hazardous to cut the jawbone from the skull, but also there was the implication that the skull was a major religious object requiring the utmost care, regardless of time or cost. Dorland’s research had to determine whether the jaw piece was originally a part of the solid block of crystal from which the skull was carved.

Hewlett-Packard, a major electronics company of international reputation, is located just south of San Francisco in the famous Silicon Valley. Dorland arranged to visit them, and, in November 1970, took the skull to their facilities in Santa Clara for testing because Integrated Circuits, IC’s, or chips, are built on sliced layers of crystals. HP had research scientists who could offer the most state-of-the-art testing.

The skull was immersed in a tank of benzyl alcohol which closely matches the refractive index of quartz crystal. The tank had glass sides to allow light projection and viewing. The skull was barely visible, because when crystal is immersed in a matching refractive liquid it tends to become invisible. Polarized light was then projected through the tank and skull, and viewing was done through a polarized screen. Wavy stress lines could be seen easily throughout the face of the skull and jawbone, which resembled moiré patterns.

The lines went from the skull to the jaw piece in a perfect continuation of pattern without the slightest flaw or mismatch. There was no possible doubt. The jaw piece was once an integral part of the skull and was later cut loose so it could be a separate piece.

Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Morton, authors of “The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls”, visited the HP labs to try and find out what else the scientists had discovered during the testing process. They were able to speak to the current principle scientist at the lab, Jack Kusters, and the former engineering manager for quartz devices, Charles Adams, who had been present during the tests. Between them these two men have over 50 years’ experience of working with crystal. The following findings are taken from their book:

In one of the tests the skull was submersed in a glass chamber containing benzyl alcohol of exactly the same density and refractive index as pure quartz. As the skull was lowered into the tank it seemed to disappear. This proved that it was made of the most incredibly pure type of quartz. But not only was it pure, it was also natural “rock crystal supplied by the earth”. Polarized light was directed at the skull in its chamber and vague shadows or ‘veils’ then appeared, which showed that the skull was of natural origin. These shadows, tiny variations in the growth pattern of the crystal, somewhat akin to rings on a tree, are removed in the precisely controlled environment of manufactured quartz. So the skull was not made from any type of plastic or glass, nor was it made from modern synthetic crystal.

The presence of the veils also revealed something else quite remarkable about the crystal skull. Given its size, unusually large for a natural piece of quartz, some had suspected that the skull had been made from several pieces of crystal carefully pieced together. But the polarized light test proved beyond doubt not only that the main cranium was made from only one piece of crystal, but also that the detachable jaw-bone was carved from exactly the same piece of rock crystal.

The investigating team was absolutely astonished by this for pure quartz crystal is one of the hardest materials in the world. On the Mohs scale of hardness, used by gemologists, it is only slightly softer than diamond. This makes rock crystal an incredibly difficult material to carve, particularly given that it is also somewhat brittle and has a tendency to shatter. The workmanship on the skull was so exquisite the team estimated that even if the carvers had used today’s electrically powered tools with diamond tips, it would have taken at least a year to carve such an incredible object. But the team concluded something even more surprising than this. They felt that it would have been almost impossible to make such an exquisitely carved object using any known type of modern diamond-tipped power tool. This is because the vibration, heat and friction produced by such tools on such a delicate object as the lower jaw would actually have caused the skull to shatter – a fact which apparently led one member of the team to comment, “This skull shouldn’t even exist!”

But the original investigating team’s belief that the skull had not been made with modern tools was more than just a hunch. It was borne out by further tests. Even under extreme magnification of the surface of the skull there was no evidence of modern tool markings, no evidence of the usual tool ‘chatter’ or the tell-tale pattern of repetitive parallel scratch marks. Given that any such markings would have been extremely difficult to remove, these findings seemed to confirm what the team had already begun to suspect – that the crystal skull had actually been made by hand or by some advanced machine or tool we are unaware of.

This was phenomenal, as the only hand-carving techniques for crystal currently known take an incredible length of time. The scientists could only assume that the skull had been carved by slowly and patiently rubbing the original block of quartz down by hand, probably using a mixture of river sand and water. Even with the use of copper rods or hand-held carving ‘bows’, the team concluded that the crystal skull must have taken several generations of effort to carve! Whilst the precise length of time this had taken was impossible to confirm, the Hewlett-Packard staff magazine Measure put the nearest estimate at ‘300 man-years of effort’!

As Jack and Charles explained, whoever made the skull would have had to have started with a huge chunk of angular quartz crystal around three times the size of the finished skull, and when they first started carving they would have no way of knowing whether the inside was pure or full of fractures and holes. They would have had to carefully grade the sand by the size of each of its grains, starting with the largest grains to rough out the overall shape and gradually reducing their size as the work became more detailed, right down to a microscopically fine grain size, like powder, to finish off the final smooth polish. What is more, if they had made a mistake at any point, they would have to start again from scratch. If even a single grain that was too large had fallen onto the surface on which they were working as they neared completion of the skull, they would have to start again. This must have been a truly formidable task.

Here was what appeared to be proof positive, using the latest techniques that the skull had been made entirely by hand and without the use of any kind of modern metal age tools.

However, it was absolutely impossible for the scientists to tell exactly when this had been done. For, as Jack and Charles explained, quartz crystal does not age. It does not corrode, erode, decay or change in any way with time. This is actually one of the many unusual properties of quartz that makes it so vital to the modern electronics industry, but it also makes it impossible to carbon date. With other materials, even if there are no visible signs of aging, as in the case of the crystal skull, scientists can usually work out very accurately both the age of the original material and any workmanship thereon by measuring the degree of radioactive decay in the carbon atoms of which it is comprised. When you are dealing with quartz crystal, however, this is just not possible, for it contains no carbon atoms, just silicon and oxygen.

So, for all the team’s scientific knowledge, up-to-the-minute technology and specialist expertise, there was absolutely no way of knowing how old the crystal skull really is. It could have been hundreds or even billions of years old. For all the scientists know it can be as old as the Earth itself, or even older. It can even date back to the beginning of time.

Physical Properties of Quartz Crystal

But the scientists at Hewlett-Packard were able to uncover one more potential clue to the mystery of the crystal skull. Other tests showed that the skull was not only made from a single piece of natural quartz, but from ‘piezo-electric’ silicon dioxide, precisely the type of naturally occurring quartz that is so widely used in modern electronics.

As Jack explained, the piezo-electric properties of some kinds of quartz were only discovered towards the end of the nineteenth century by Marie Curie’s husband and brother-in-law, Pierre and Jacques Curie. Piezo is Greek, meaning ‘to squeeze’, and electrose means ‘to get a charge from’. The fact that the crystal skull is made from this type of quartz means that it actually has a positive and negative polarity, just like a battery. It also means that if you apply pressure to the skull, or ‘squeeze’ it, it is actually capable of generating electricity! Alternatively, if you apply an electric charge to the crystal skull it actually changes its shape, without in any way affecting its mass or density.

But, like all piezo-electric quartz, the crystal skull is anisotropic in this as well as every other respect, which is to say that all of its properties, other than its mass, are different in every direction. In the case of its electrical properties, its precise orientation is defined by its X-Y-Z axis; in other words, it can carry an electric current, but only in six particular directions relative to this X-Y-Z axis. In any other direction it acts as an insulator.

In the case of the crystal skull, the scientists found that it was ‘vertically piezo-electrically oriented’, which is to say that its X-Y-Z axis runs directly through the center of the skull, from top to bottom. This means that if you apply an electric charge to the top of the crystal skull, not only does its shape change microscopically along the X-Y axis, but also the electric current passes only in the direction from the very top of the skull’s head straight down in a line defined by the top-to-bottom or the Z axis. Was this merely coincidence, or did the makers of the skull have this X-Y-Z axis in mind as they planned the skull’s orientation? In the case of squeezing the skull to generate electricity, strangely enough, if you reverse the direction of pressure, the direction of electrical polarity in the crystal also reverses.

The Hewlett-Packard team also examined the skull’s unusual optical properties, such as its ability to channel light impinging the skull from below, so that it is focused out through the eye sockets. Apparently, this is only possible due to the orientation of the skull’s optical axis, as quartz crystal has an optical as well as an electrical axis. What this means is that the light actually travels quicker through the skull in one direction than another. Jack explained that not only was the skull able to perform these incredible tricks with normal multi-directional light, but also that if you shine directional, or polarized, light at the skull, not only does the light pass along its optical axis quicker than in any other direction, but the skull actually rotates that light as it travels along its axis.

Another characteristic of the skull is that it is incredibly environmentally stable. This is another of the properties of piezo-electric silicon dioxide that makes it so invaluable for use in modern electronics. What this means is that the crystal skull is highly resistant to chemical changes. Most similar natural materials are slowly attacked by various chemicals, whether acids or even just plain water. The crystal skull, on the other hand, is resistant to chemicals. As Jack explained, ‘Quartz crystal is highly stable, physically, chemically and temperately, and whilst it does not respond to light and electricity, this is precisely what makes it so useful to electronics.’

For modern science has also established that one of the particularly unusual properties of piexo-electric quartz is that it can function as an excellent oscillator or resonator. Jack explained this as follows: ‘If a thin slice of crystal is cut parallel to its electronic axis and subjected to an alternating current, the crystal can be made to vibrate. The dimensions of the cut crystal are such that it will vibrate most strongly at the a.c. frequency. At this frequency, the mechanical motion of the crystal will reinforce the a.c. Voltage.’

In other words, crystal, unlike other materials, has an amazing ability to hold electrical energy under control and to oscillate at a constant and precise frequency. Extrapolating from this property this suggests that, in theory at least, the crystal skull may actually be able to hold electrical energy, potentially a form of information, and send out electrical impulses, or vibrating waves of information.

This ability to oscillate is yet another of the many unusual properties of this type of quartz that makes it so invaluable to the modern electronics industry. Its use in oscillator circuits for example, makes it vital to any piece of equipment where extremely accurate control of electronic frequencies is required. It is particularly important in precision electronics, especially in those instruments used for time keeping. Indeed, quartz crystal is now found in almost every piece of equipment from wristwatches to clocks. It is even used in the atomic clock, which is the most accurate clock in the world, the one by which all others are measured. It is accurate to three seconds every million years (although its manufacturers only guarantee it for the first three years). The atomic clock, for example, has been used to test Einstein’s theory that time actually travels more slowly as the speed of light is approached. This clock is also vital to research into measuring seismic (or earthquake) activity on distant planets. And the whole device is based on a simple quartz crystal.

But quartz is not only found in the most advanced time keeping instrument, it is also vital to the fields of information technology, telecommunications and mass communication, not to mention navigational equipment, radar and sonar systems, and the latest medical and ultrasonic technology. Its incredible electrical properties mean that it is now found in all manner of electronic devices, from radios to computers, from terrestrial television systems to even the most advanced telecommunication satellites that now orbit the earth in space. All of these use quartz crystals in one form or another. Even the vast information super-highway has only been possible thanks to recent developments in the field of crystal research and technology.

So crystal today is at the very forefront of scientific advance. It lies at the very heart of the modern computer, electronics, telecommunications and mass communications industries. Indeed, the power of crystal has quite literally changed the face of society. We now live in a world where electronically-based information and communications are now an everyday part of life, a world where even the time of day is determined electronically. We are able to communicate instantaneously with people thousands of miles away and to store and retrieve vast quantities of information from all over the world quite literally at the touch of a button. Crystal has been at the core of one of the greatest technological revolutions the world has ever seen. We have become so dependent on all devices containing quartz crystals that it is now even vital to our civilization.

Why had the crystal skull been made from precisely the type of quartz whose properties and potential we have only just begun to recognize?

The Face on the Crystal Skull

During the many years of Dorland’s research where he personally displayed either the crystal skull or the models and photographs of it to thousands of viewers, the common reaction was silence and perhaps even awe. But occasionally a rare soul would turn to him and say “Wouldn’t it be marvelous to be able to see a face?”

One way to put a legitimate face on the crystal skull is through a science known as forensic reconstruction, which has been defined as creating a portrait indicating the original appearance of a former person. The portrait is built on the foundation of the skull or its remnants. This science has made great advances in the last few years and has reached high levels of legal acceptance due to incredible accuracy.

In this connection, Frank Joseph, a historical writer in Olympia Fields, Illinois, contacted Dorland in 1986. Joseph suggested showing a model of the skull to Dr. Clyde Snow, who is a renowned physical anthropologist at the University of Oklahoma. Snow’s comments would have been of great help, so Dorland gladly shipped his plaster cast of the crystal skull to Joseph so he could proceed with Snow on the project.

Joseph reported that Snow minutely examined the cast and, after careful deliberations, stated the skull was definitely not simply an artist’s conception of a skull, as many had claimed. Quite the contrary, the skull was a carefully made copy of an actual skull of a young female being. This classification by Snow added fuel to Joseph’s project, and he was even more intent to find a top forensic scientist who would undertake a reconstruction of the face on the skull.

Months later, Dorland received a telephone call from Joseph who told him that he had found what may be the top forensic team today. Furthermore, they agreed to make a preliminary study to determine if they could sensibly go ahead with a facial reconstruction.

The team was Peggy C. Cadwell, collaborator with the anthropology department of the Smithsonian Institute, and detective Frank J. Domingo, composite artist with the New York Police Department. Joseph forwarded the plaster cast to them while Dorland sent a set of 8” x 10” glossy photographs of the skull to help them in their work.

In due time, Dorland received a report of the preliminary examination, which showed that the skull was a copy of a real skull of a young female of the Mongoloid* race who was between the ages of 25 and 29. The team could now proceed with the actual reconstruction of the face, which would have been pointless if the skull had turned out to be merely an artist’s conception.

The actual facial building process is quite detailed and lengthy. A simple explanation might indicate that known anatomical reference points and the tables of various depths of soft tissue are carefully followed. The layers of muscle, flesh and skin are laid over the bare skull until the facial features are finally complete. After a few weeks, Dorland received a final report from Peggy Caldwell and a photo of the drawing made by detective Frank Domingo.

Tags: crystal skull | Frank Domingo | Frank Dorland | Hewlett-Packard | Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull

Posted: 04|26|08 at 8:08 am. Category: The Skull: Research.
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