In May of 2008, producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg released the fourth film in the popular adventure series, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. The movie, although a fictional treatment of the subject froth with fantasy, revived interest in the real phenomenon of crystal skulls—a subject of great interest for many researchers, including myself, for decades.
I have been involved in crystal skull research since 1979, a fact which now makes me one of the senior investigators in the field. To coincide with the Indiana Jones movie, my publisher and colleague, David Hatcher Childress, and myself, published our book on the subject, The Crystal Skulls: Astonishing Portals to Man’s Past (Adventures Unlimited Press, 2008). I document in my section of the book how I came to experience and research this phenomenon and the results we reached. As a credentialed archaeologist and prehistorian, I was employed as a Staff Research Scientist for the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, in San Jose, California from 1978-1980. In November of 1979, material concerning crystal skulls was brought to our attention in the Research Department—thus began the odyssey of crystal skull research that continues to this day. During these initial research efforts, I was fortunate and blessed to work with and learn from the two giants in the field, Dr. Marcel J. Vogel and F.R. ‘Nick’ Nocerino.
What are crystal skulls? They are objects carved out of rock crystal in the shape of a human skull, sometimes anatomically accurate, sometimes stylized. They range in size from a marble, ping-pong ball, baseball, softball—to full human size and larger. We have seen them in all forms of crystal and gemstones, most popular being clear or cloudy quartz, smoky quartz, citrine, amethyst, jade, ruby, malachite, rose quartz etc. They also have been carved in wood, metal, diamond and lead crystal. How they were carved and when are areas of continued speculation and research. Most that have been found—that are not modern carved—have come from tombs in Mexico or Central America, and were associated with the Mayan and Aztec cultures. The crystal skulls were an important aspect of these peoples, but some skulls may be so ancient that these indigenous cultures don’t know who made them.
We believe the ancient skulls were used as computers, to store information and energy, were used as "power" objects for shamans, and played a major role in healing practices. For the purposes of research, based on the work of Nick Nocerino, crystal skulls have been divided into three categories: ancient, old and contemporary. A contemporary skull is one that has been carved in the last 50-100 years. An old skull is one that has been carved in the last few hundred years. Finally, a genuine ancient crystal skull is one that was carved into skull shape over 1,000 years ago. I have personally examined and tested 4-9 skulls that could be declared ancient artifacts. Nick Nocerino, the dean of crystal skull researchers, told me he had seen as many as 18 possible ancient crystal skulls. The mystery of exactly how, when and who created them still continues.
Stephen S. Mehler, MA is the author of, The Crystal Skulls: Astonishing Portals to Man’s Past