All language subtitles for Truthseekers.S01E10.Crystal.Skulls.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

[flames crackling]

[majestic music]

[narrator] A team of
truthseekers is on a mission.

Scientists.

Historians.

Archaeologists.

All on the trail of
history's enigmas.

[dramatic music]

Searching for the truth
behind the greatest mysteries

known to humanity.

Some of the most
iconic artifacts

of the last 200 years.

The incredible crystal skulls.

With only a handful
in existence,

explorers have
searched for them,

collectors have sought them,

and both scientists
and the occultists alike

have tried to unravel
their mysteries.

But who carved these
exquisite objects,

and what were they
designed to do?

Ward off death,
bring forth disaster,

or unite the world
and bring about a new age?

In London, our team assemble.

Our four truthseekers combine
decades of experience

in different fields,

but they all have one goal:

to apply their knowledge
and reveal the truth.

There are mysteries,
and then there are mysteries.

I have always loved uncovering
the secrets of the past.

We need to go back and unpick
the untruths from the truths.

Age-old problems that
we've been asking ourselves

over 100 years, really,
can now be solved.

[narrator] They'll follow
the clues left behind,

unravel the secrets of the past,

separate fact from fiction,

and together,
they'll uncover the truth

behind the greatest
mysteries ever.

[dramatic music crescendos,
then fades]

Crystal skulls are mesmerizing.

They're alluring,
even a little disturbing.

And what is fascinating
is why millions of people

believe that these objects
have enormous power.

I think people are fascinated
by the crystal skulls because

it is that kind of inescapable
connection with death.

You can't look at them
and not think about

the world ending
or the end of life.

[narrator] Whether it's because
of their mysterious origins

or the claims
they harbor special powers,

they have captivated and
fascinated in equal measure

since they first appeared
in the mid-19th century,

and they continue to do so.

What I find so interesting
about these crystal skulls

is that they've commanded the
attention of some of the world's

most venerated
museum institutions.

The British Museum,
some of the institutions

in the United States,
for instance.

At the same time, I see these
skulls also as a representative

of our interest in
the occult, but also,

it bridges the world of the
sciences with the occult.

On the one hand, we've used
scientific techniques

to try to better understand
these skulls,

but also at the same time,
we see them as

mysterious artifacts that sort
of bridge another dimension

or another universe
perhaps even with them.

[narrator]
Each skull we know of

was carved from
a single piece of quartz.

That alone
makes them noteworthy

as the craftsmanship involved
is quite remarkable.

One scientist asked to analyze
them could not fathom a process

that could carve such delicate
materials so perfectly.

He claimed the skulls
simply shouldn't exist,

leading others to claim
that they were perhaps

not of this world at all.

[Tony] Through an ancient
process called scrying,

it's believed that you could
look through these skulls

and see knowledge

of extraterrestrial contact
in the past,

and of civilizations
long lost on Earth,

and even under the oceans,

that this information is
held within the skulls.

[narrator] To anyone without
a belief in the occult,

that concept sounds incredibly
farfetched, but unbelievably,

there is some scientific
basis for these claims.

[Tony] In our modern
digital society,

we know that
crystals have power.

We use them in
computers, for example.

So, the idea of quartz storing
memory isn't so far-fetched.

The claim is that these
skulls, being made of quartz,

therefore do store memory,

that it is a form, if you want,

of ancient technology.

[narrator] In fact, when tested,

some of the skulls
were found to be made

from a particular
kind of quartz,

which generate electricity

when subjected to
physical stress.

This type of quartz
also has

a greater memory capacity
than others.

Although there is currently
no technological way

of accessing any information

that may be stored
in the skulls,

the scientific confirmation
of their potential

only added to their
mystery and their appeal.

[Tony] Crystal skulls
have really captured

the imagination of
new-age communities

who believe that these skulls
possess enormous knowledge,

that they are portals
to other realms,

and that if all of them
were brought together,

they would bring about
an enormous explosion

of love and understanding.

[narrator] That is
the firm belief

of the growing number
of skull devotees.

But these objects have been
fascinating people

since their very
first appearance.

Could they be the result of
hundreds of years of carving,

generation after generation

working to produce each
perfect, beautiful piece,

or are they too delicate
to have been carved

by human hands at all

and are actually evidence

that we are not alone
in the universe?

Can our truthseekers succeed
where so many have failed

and finally discover the truth?

Anthropologist Dr.
Karen Bellinger

is an expert on the
connections between artifacts

and ancient societies.

I'm Dr. Karen Bellinger.

I've traveled the world
exploring sites

from prehistory
to the modern day

in search of what it means
to be human.

[narrator] And for her,

some of the most
interesting elements

of the crystal skulls

are the culture they are
claimed to have emerged from:

the Mayans of Central America.

[Karen] The Maya thrived in
the area of modern-day Mexico,

Guatemala, and Belize
around 8250 to 900,

and they were expert agriculturalists,

mathematicians, and astronomers.

They also were amazingly gifted
Artisans working in stone,

including jade, pyrite,
obsidian, and crystal.

[narrator]
The Mayan civilization

thrived for centuries

before coming
to an abrupt end.

Their stunning cities were
lost to the rainforests.

It wasn't until the 1830s

that explorers sought to
discover what remained,

and they found some of the most
famous and spectacular ruins

in human history.

On these, they discovered
macabre decorations

and sculptures

because like many
of the civilizations

that had gone before them,

the Mayans were obsessed
with the human skull.

The human skull was central
to Mayan belief systems

and practices.

From appearing across
monumental carvings

to playing a key role in
their ceremonies and rituals,

including human sacrifice,

to the point that there was
very little in daily life

for the Maya that did
not revolve around

skulls and their imagery.

[narrator] Each new
expedition to Central America

brought new discoveries.

The salons of intellectual
circles of Europe

were hooked on this new culture.

As tales of temples
dedicated to human sacrifice

and decorated with
human skulls were told,

its grip only tightened further.

The significance of
skulls was obvious.

The crystals were also seen
to have played a key role

in Mayan society.

We know that crystals were
deeply significant to the Maya,

and particularly crystals that
were found in cave contexts.

And that's because
caves themselves

were very important locations.

They were liminal spaces
between the earthly world

and the world of the
gods or the ancestors.

[narrator] We believe today
that Mayan crystals

were used for scrying,

the practice of staring
into a reflective surface

until your mind clears

and you reach a higher
state of consciousness.

[Karen] For the Maya,
scrying involved

trying to peer beyond
the everyday world

into the metaphysical
for the purposes of

obtaining guidance or prophecy.

[narrator] The stories
emerging from

the jungles
of Central America

began to transcend
simple curiosity.

They spoke to a deeper need
for the European audience.

It was the perfect
discovery for the time.

So, the myth of
the crystal skulls

really starts in the
mid-19th century,

and this is a time
of incredible war,

the Crimean War,
American Civil War,

and also terrible
death, disease.

These epidemics mean
that death is everywhere.

[narrator] With thousands
being lost to war,

famine, and disease
on a weekly basis,

the new discovery
of a lost society

that had temples dedicated
to ritual sacrifice

spoke to the people of the age.

They also had a shared symbol.

Skulls have always been a
motif in European culture,

from pirate flags to
literature, and art,

but in the start of
the 19th century,

we start to see these
amazing diableries.

And in France especially,

they kind of ate for the
court of Louis Napoleon.

Now, these depict skulls and
skeletons at parties, at plays,

and in politics.

So, it's really a kind of motif

for the danger of political
corruption at the time.

[narrator] The
skull and skeleton

were powerful symbols in Europe
and used in many contexts.

They were nothing
out of the ordinary.

Today, we might view skulls
is quite a rare thing,

but we have to
understand that

in our past,
skulls were everywhere.

They were on churches,
they were on temples,

we see them in the
ancient Maya culture,

we see them across
European culture,

and it's something that people
were very connected to.

[narrator] The pieces of the
jigsaw were coming together.

The recent rediscovery of
the Mayan civilization,

the obsession with
death and skulls,

the belief that the Mayans

had a mystical relationship
with crystals.

Looking back, what happened
next appears almost inevitable.

Into this world of death
and drama, in 1856,

British Museum acquires

what we think might be the
first-ever crystal skull,

and it's from a collection

by Henry Christy,
who's a banker.

[narrator] Little is known
about the origins

of this ornate skull
about an inch tall,

but it was merely the first.

More were to follow.

They would be bigger
and more striking,

but their origins all
equally mysterious.

In fact, even those
who own the skulls

seems to know very little,

including the French
antiquities trader

who soon became a
world authority.

One man stands out above all the
rest for importing, trading,

and knowing about the crystal
skulls, and that's Eugene Boban.

[narrator] But who was
Boban, what did he discover,

and can his story
help our truthseekers

solve the mysteries
of the crystal skulls?

The mystery of the
crystal skulls.

A handful of
near-life-sized pieces.

Each perfectly carved from
a single piece of quartz.

As beautiful as
they are haunting.

But where are they from?

Who made them?

When? And why?

Some believe
they are centuries old

and possess incredible powers.

The hunt for the truth
has been underway

since they first appeared
in 1856.

Can our truthseekers
get to the bottom

of the many mysteries
of these crystals

and explain how they
captured the imagination

of the public and experts alike?

The crystal skulls
burst onto the scene

just as the old antiquarianism

was giving way to this new
science called archaeology.

The line between art collectors
and museum curators

was still blurry.

[narrator] The mid-19th
century saw a revolution

in the way people
thought about the past.

Antiquarianism, the hobby
of accumulating ancient

and intriguing artifacts
in private collections,

was being replaced by the
structured scientific study

of items in curated museums.

This new study
was called archaeology,

and represented a desire
to preserve the past

and learn from discoveries.

Museums have been
around for centuries,

but by the 19th century, they
evolved into something very new.

Genuinely ancient artifacts

are flooding out of Central
America at this time,

and Europeans are starting to
realize just how sophisticated

these cultures actually were.

[narrator] And at the heart
of this flood of artifacts

were the crystal skulls.

Europeans have always been
fascinated by skulls,

and we've often referred
to them as memento moris.

Now, memento mori
is a Latin term

that simply means
remember death,

and it's using the motif
of the skull in art,

in jewelry to remind
you that living

is the most important
thing you can do.

[narrator] With an established
interest in decorative skulls,

Europe was the
perfect marketplace

for the work of
the ancient Maya.

As shipments of
plundered artifacts

made their way
across the Atlantic,

collectors battled one another
to land the perfect piece.

It was a lucrative market,

and one of the biggest
contributors to it

was Eugene Boban.

Eugene Boban was a Frenchman
who was born in 1834,

and he arrived in
Mexico in 1857,

and just fell in love
with the culture.

He wanted to know
everything he could

about the ancient world
that Mexico was sitting on.

[narrator] Unusually
for an antiquarian,

Boban came from a
humble background.

Born to working-class Parisians,

his success was
entirely self-made.

He would go on to become
the foremost expert

on pre-Columbian culture

through his hard work and
his passion for the subject.

Boban absolutely immersed
himself in the world of Mexico.

He learned Spanish.
He even learned Nahuatl,

which is the Aztec language,

so that he could better
communicate and understand

all of these wonderful cultures

that he was falling
in love with.

What's fascinating is
that this also gave him

the best opportunity
to find artifacts

and then trade them to Europe.

[narrator] His obsession with
the Mayan and Aztec cultures

combined with a natural
entrepreneurial spirit.

This meant he could
soon support himself

through sales of ancient pieces,

and he was about to get
the career opportunity

of a lifetime.

France invades Mexico in 1862,

and this gives Boban that
immediate opportunity

to kind of inveigle himself

into the new French regime.

He does this by
becoming connected

to the scientific commission,

which was investigating
the archaeology

and anthropology of Mexico.

[narrator] Overnight,
he went from being

a guest in a foreign country

desperately seeking permission

to investigate sites,

to being one of the leading
figures in a commission

that could go anywhere
and take anything.

It was an opportunity
too good to turn down.

[Fern] Boban really
was a man of the age,

and so he was able to
use this connection

to the scientific commission

to market himself as
Antiquarian to the Emperor,

which means that all of the
goods that he was collecting

and trading would suddenly
become very useful

and of great interest to
people back in France.

[narrator] With
his new connections

and the endorsement of
Emperor Napoleon III,

Boban's rise became stratospheric.

His authority on
Mesoamerica was established,

his knowledge revered,

and his artifacts
in great demand

by Europe's elite.

[Fern] The height
of this came in 1867

when part of Boban's collection

was sent by the scientific
commission back to Paris

to be displayed in the
Exposition Universelle.

[narrator] The
Exposition Universelle,

known outside of France
as the World's Fair,

was a global event featuring
over fifty thousand exhibitors

from 42 countries.

It featured art, culture,
the latest inventions,

and the greatest scientific
and archaeological discoveries

from around the world.

It was the perfect place for
Boban to announce his expertise

on the world stage.

Just two years later,

he returns to Paris

with his vast collection

and opened his own shop.

Boban's shop,
Mexican Antiquities,

is directly opposite
the Musée de Cluny

and just around the corner
from the Sorbonne.

So, it's in the heart
of kind of

the intellectual
world of Paris,

which means he's going
to have customers

who are scientists,
historians, anthropologists,

and his expertise is going to
become known really widely.

[narrator] It was here, with a
seemingly bulletproof reputation

and an unquestioned authority,

that Boban introduced the world

to something that
nobody had seen before.

In 1881, Boban markets
something very new.

It's a life-sized
quartz crystal skull,

the first one of its kind.

[narrator] But it's apparent

that even for Boban,

the skulls' origins
were mysterious.

And what's so fascinating about
this is for all his expertise,

he doesn't know
where to place it.

So, in his catalog, it's not
under Mexican antiquities,

it's under kind of "other."

So, he's obviously a bit
confused or a bit suspicious

about its origin.

[narrator]
The skull was a hit.

With an incredible price tag

of 3,500 Francs,

around 30,000 Euros today,

it unsurprisingly
didn't sell,

but it drew many to his shop

to marvel at
the exquisite carving

and to speculate
on its origins.

In this time of discovery,

to own something new
and mysterious

was a real coup.

[Mark] As the 19th
century wore on,

people were looking for more
and more fascinating objects.

The crystal skull myth
really takes advantage,

or represents in some
ways a kind of space

between archaeology as a science

in an age when people were
really collecting objects

for collecting object's sake,

kind of collections,
if you will.

Cabinet of Curiosities,
as it was once called.

So, these skulls
come from a time

when people were simply
looking for artifacts

of great interest and
wanted to collect them.

[narrator] It would
be easy to believe

that the fascination
with the crystal skulls

was limited to the distant past
when knowledge was more limited,

but fast forward 60
years to the late 1940s,

and the next big name in crystal
skulls enters the story.

Interestingly, shortly after
the end of World War II,

in another era
dominated by death,

our understanding of
the world and of history

had moved on leaps and bounds,

but we still had room
for a mysterious tale.

Enter Frederick Albert
Mitchell-Hedges.

Mitchell-Hedges trod a fine
line between fact and fiction.

He was an adventurer, but also
a storyteller and a journalist.

When Mitchell-Hedges
went deep-sea fishing,

he found sea monsters.

When he went to the jungle,
he found lost civilizations.

According to Mitchell-Hedges,

he gambled with JP Morgan,
the great banker,

he shared a room
with Leon Trotsky,

the Russian revolutionary,

and he had a punch-up
with Pancho Villa,

the legendary American
political leader.

[narrator] And it was in 1949

that Mitchell-Hedges confided
in his local newspaper

that on one of his incredible
adventures in the 1920s,

he had discovered a
life-size crystal skull

almost identical in size
and design to Boban's,

which was now held at the
prestigious British Museum.

It was the greatest discovery
of his extraordinary life.

In his version of events,

which he wrote in a book
called "Danger My Ally,"

Mitchell-Hedges claimed
that he found the skull

in a Mayan temple in a
place called Lubaantun,

British Honduras,
what's now Belize,

and that this
skull had been used

by the Mayan high
priests in their rituals,

and it had possessed
deadly power.

Now, Mitchell-Hedges owned it.

[narrator] His claims
about the original purpose

of the crystal skull

played into the public's
continued fascination

with the Mayan practice
of ritual sacrifice.

The public appetite
for antiquity

may have dulled
since Boban's days,

but this story of a carved skull
that was the embodiment of evil

was still compelling.

Mitchell-Hedges' crystal
skull was known as

the Skull of Doom,

and he claimed that if anybody
so much as looked at it

or even laughed at it, worse,

they could be killed
by its sheer power.

[narrator] But how could
such a powerful item

have come into being?

And how would a
foreign adventurer

be allowed to take
it from its home?

He claimed in his book that
the skull had been dated back

to at least 1600 BC

and had been gifted
back to him as a mark of

respect by his Mayan hosts,

who had told him of
its deathly origins.

To explain how
the skull was made

all those thousands
of years ago,

Mitchell-Hedges came
up with a theory

that it was gradually eroded
into shape using sand.

So, this rock crystal
object was fashioned

generation after
generation into a skull.

[narrator] This
process, he claimed,

took at least 150
years to complete.

And so, the legend grew.

This incredible act
of human dedication

was added to the remarkable
skill and craftsmanship

already on display.

The Skull of Doom's
remarkable similarity

to the authentic British Museum
skull was believed by some

to be an indication
that it was a forgery,

a theory that was
compounded by the fact

that it had identical measurements

to a crystal skull auctioned
at Sotheby's in 1943,

but if the skull
was a modern copy

or had been bought at auction

and not discovered in Mexico,

Mitchell-Hedges and his family
certainly weren't admitting it.

After Mitchell-Hedges' death,
his daughter, Anna,

kept the story of the
Skull of Doom alive

throughout her long life.

In 1972, claiming that she
had discovered the skull

in a Mayan temple
under the altar,

the jawbone first, and
then the rest of the skull.

And she stuck by the story

that she had found it on
the first of January 1924,

on her 17th birthday,

and she never deflected
from this account.

[narrator] Could it be possible
that two almost identical

ancient crystal skulls were
discovered half a century apart?

Both in pristine condition,

both willingly relinquished
by the descendants

of their Mayan creators?

Or were the doubters correct?

Were the public, collectors,
and experts alike

being fooled by some
incredible works of forgery?

Could scientific analysis
discover the truth?

The stunning crystal skulls.

Claimed to be centuries old

and to have taken
generations to carve,

believed to carry the power

to see beyond
the realm of man

and to summon death itself,

owned by the great academic
institutions of the age,

and thought to be some
of the greatest artifacts

of the pre-Columbian era,

but were they clever forgeries

that had simply been introduced

at the most opportune
moments in history?

To me, the crystal skulls

represent a really
interesting time

in the history of
archaeology as a discipline

and the emergence of Museum
culture in the 19th century.

It sort of was
a perfect storm between

the desire to believe in
these amazing artifacts,

and the possibility that they
could have magical properties,

and that they did represent
this ancient culture

that was indeed very skilled
in the working of stones

such as crystal.

[narrator] But there had always
been unanswered questions

and those who simply
didn't believe.

It wasn't just Mitchell-Hedges
and the Skull of Doom

that stood accused of duplicity.

Back in the 19th century,

Boban and his original skull
had faced similar claims.

Boban tries to sell it
for 3,500 francs.

No one wants it.

And then, in 1885,
he returns to Mexico,

and he takes the skull with him.

In Mexico, he displays the skull

amongst other human skulls,

and he tries to sell it
to the Mexican Museum.

Unfortunately for Boban,
when the curator examines it,

he declares the skull
is not made from quartz,

but pure glass and that
Boban himself is a fraud.

[narrator] Even in the
early days of archaeology,

the prominence of an item
was considered vital.

That Boban hadn't been able to
name a find site for his skull,

that there was no
historical record

of anything even remotely
similar before his discovery

had created significant doubt.

Now, for the first time,

Boban had been accused
of fabricating his skull.

In an industry where
reputation was paramount,

it was a fatal blow
to his prospects.

So, Boban's reputation
has been trashed.

And he packs up his things,
he flees to New York,

and sets up a new auction house.

Here, he manages to sell the
skull for the first time

to Tiffany's for $950.

[narrator] This 1886 purchase,
$30,000 in today's money,

revealed more about the
claimed history of the skull.

It had allegedly been sold
to an English collector

or by a Spanish officer who
had taken it from Mexico

before the French occupation,

and Boban had acquired it
after the collector's death.

This revelation only served
to deepen the suspicions

around Boban,

and he became one
of the focal points

in a broad campaign
against the growing market

in forged pre-Columbian
artifacts.

In the 1880s, there
is this huge push

towards trying to
oust fakes and fakers,

and things like the Science
Journal make fantastic articles

talking about this trade
in spurious antiquities.

[narrator]
And Boban, formerly

one of the most
respected experts

on Mayan and Aztec

cultures and artifacts,

was now irrevocably
linked to forgery.

He continued to work
with museums,

but his reputation
would never recover.

Over his career,
Boban is believed

to have sold six crystal skulls
of various sizes,

but by 1900,
he went so far as

to condemn them
in a newspaper,

cleverly exonerating himself
in the process.

Numbers of so-called rock
crystal, pre-Columbian skulls

have been so adroitly made
as almost to defy detection

and have been pawned off as
a genuine upon the experts

of some of the principal
museums of Europe.

We know the 19th century had a
huge trade in fake antiquities,

and the question is, was
Boban a willing participant

or someone who fell
victim to that?

We know when his
reputation was trashed,

all he could do is try to
prove his authenticity,

and he does that by selling a
huge amount of his collection,

but there's no real answer
to whether or not the skulls

are authentic that he
is able to give people.

[narrator] While he once
saw the crystal skull

as a path to fame and wealth,

Boban was quick to abandon them

in order to salvage
his reputation.

Yet still, at the turn
of the 20th century,

there was no proof
of any forgery.

Despite the accusations
leveled at Boban,

all the mysteries of
the skulls remained,

and there were many who
still chose to believe.

Many people may be skeptical
about the crystal skulls,

but we should remember that some
of the world's foremost museums

believed in them at
one time, bought them,

even invested in
their incredible age.

Why was that?

And what made them
change their mind?

[narrator] The search
for the definitive truth

turned to science.

As quartz is millions
of years old

and cannot be carbon-dated,

there was no way
of knowing exactly

when the skulls were created,

but investigators
quickly established

that the key could be
how they were carved.

In 1936,
the British Museum

decided to compare
its crystal skull

with a crystal skull
held by Burney.

[narrator] Sydney Burney
was a well-established

British collector.

And with more of
these larger,

more dramatic skulls

coming onto the market
into institutions

who had staked their
reputations on their validity,

risked making
themselves look foolish.

So, in the name of truth
and scientific rigor,

they put their
reputation on the line.

When they compare
these two skulls,

the kind of structural way,
they notice that, actually,

they're carbon copies
of each other.

However, they weren't very
conclusive in saying that

one or the other was
actually a forgery.

In fact, they left it
open that potentially,

these artifacts were
original or ancient even.

[narrator] However
unlikely almost identical

ancient crystal skulls are,

they are not
scientifically impossible.

We're looking for
kind of a closure

on this subject
of crystal skulls.

The report actually, effectively,

leaves a small crack
in the door open

where the myth creators
effectively burst in

and leave this mystery
wide open for us.

[narrator] That small
crack in the door

allowed for an entirely new
mythology to be introduced,

an entirely new life for
their crystal skulls.

It allowed the Skull of
Doom to enter the fray,

a skull many believe was the
same one held by Sidney Burney

and later auctioned
at Sotheby's.

For nearly two decades,

there would be no further
scientific investigation.

In the 1950s,
the Mitchell-Hedges skull

was taken to Hewlett Packard,
a well-known company

that actually was
the largest user of quartz

for industrial purposes.

So, they were
effectively the experts

on these kinds of
quartz crystals.

And in their study,
they did not actually

lead to any
definitive conclusion.

In fact, they state that these
skulls were created in a way

that no machine can
possibly create them,

that no human or known
machine can create them.

So, this kind of conclusion
only furthered the mystery.

It created even more
mythology, effectively,

around these skulls.

[narrator] Far from
proving anything

about the Skull of Doom,

the Hewlett Packard investigation

opened a new possibility,

that the skulls were not
created by human hands at all.

This fed into existing,
though marginal,

theories that the
ancient Mayans and Aztecs

had been visited by aliens

and that their technology is
responsible for the skulls.

Believers in these theories
exist to this day.

[Mark] We often look to science
to give us definitive answers,

clear-cut responses, effectively,

to questions that we have,

but science really
is about giving us

the kinds of answers
that we can produce

using the techniques
that are available to us.

So, that means we don't always
get definitive answers.

Sometimes we get the
best answer we can get

out of a given
technique or machine

that is available to us.

So, we don't always know
what really is the truth,

and that creates the possibility
for myths to be created around.

[narrator] Some argue that

if the greatest experts
on quartz in the world

couldn't reach a conclusion,

it was because the skulls
were timeless, undatable,

beyond the measure
of human science.

To an extent, they were correct.

[Mark] Now, one of the issues
is that you can't really date

the skulls using standard
types of techniques.

For instance,
radiocarbon dating.

Radiocarbon dating depends
on organic content,

which unfortunately, you can't
find, or don't usually find,

organic content on
quartz or crystals.

[narrator] As the search
for answers continued,

it was the turn of those
who argue that the skulls

held otherworldly power to
seek scientific support.

Chief among them was self-
proclaimed paranormal expert

Nick Nocerino,

who claims to have
come into contact

with three different yet-to-
be-discovered crystal skulls

during his deployment in Britain
and France in World War II.

The experience had a
profound impact on him.

Nick Nocerino, for decades,

was the foremost authority
on the crystal skulls,

and from the second
world war onwards,

conducted research using
multidisciplinary teams

of anthropologists,
archaeologists, scientists.

In 1955, founding the Society of
Crystal Skulls International,

and his objective was to
find a scientific basis

for the otherworldly
power of these skulls.

[narrator] Despite
being widely discredited

by the greater
scientific community,

his claims of strange powers

brought to him partly by his
own crystal skull, Sha Na Ra,

gave him a dedicated following
in the new-age community.

His practice of
psychic archaeology

may not be acknowledged
or respected

outside of his own believers,

but it is accepted that he
knew more about crystal skulls

than anyone else on the planet.

Though, some of his
theories were outlandish.

By means of scrying, of
seeing through, if you want,

the eyes of the skulls,

he believed that
he found evidence

of extraterrestrial contact
and of civilizations

unknown to us on earth
and under the oceans,

that the skulls
were repositories

of thousands of years
worth of knowledge.

[narrator] These were the
most extreme claims yet,

and they were met with
astonishment by his followers

and derision by scientists.

With science leaning more
and more towards the idea

that these skulls were
most likely forgeries,

those who believed in
their age and power

were becoming more
and more marginalized.

While mainstream
academic opinion

scoffs at the crystal skulls,

let it never be forgotten
that the British Museum,

and the Branly Museum in Paris,

and the Smithsonian believed
that the skulls that they had,

that they bought, were the
real thing for many years.

[narrator] Could science
put an end to the debate

once and for all?

Will our truthseekers
discover the origins

of the enigmatic
crystal skulls?

Or will their mysteries persist?

Once believed to be genuine
historical artifacts

many centuries old,

they were held by some of
the most famous museums

in the world.

New age believers claim

they were made by aliens

and store memories
of other worlds,

and scientific efforts
to refute these theories

have yet to produce
conclusive proof.

The skulls have been
doubted, but never debunked.

But could it be that science

has finally caught up
with the crystal skulls?

[Mark] We can use
modern techniques

to begin to at least come
close to dating the dates

when these skulls may have
been actually created.

For instance, using microscopy,
we can look at the structures

that relate to the construction
of the skulls

or even chemical
inoculum techniques,

which allow us to trace
where the components,

the crystals themselves,

may have originated from.

[narrator] These new
technologies and techniques

emerged in the 1990s.

Now, all it required was a
willingness to test the skulls,

and that came from two experts
at the Smithsonian Institution

and the British Museum.

[Mark] Thankfully, the
techniques that are needed

to help determine the
authenticity of the skulls

do eventually come along.

So, thanks to
Jane McLaren

and Margaret Sax,

we are able to actually then
determine if these skulls

were authentic or not,
and we finally get

a definitive answer.

[narrator] Jane McLaren Walsh

of the Smithsonian
Institution in the US,

one of the most respected
scientific institutions

in the world,

is itself the owner

of a massive skull,

10 inches high

and weighing in at 15 kg.

It was gifted to them
anonymously in 1992

and became part of
their Aztec collection.

McLaren Walsh teamed
up with Margaret Sax

of the British Museum at the
latter's research laboratories

in London in 1996.

There, they subjected both
skulls to extensive tests.

They began by putting them

under one of the world's
strongest microscopes.

[Mark] Pre-Columbian carvers
often left marks on their works,

which were effectively irregular,

not clearly defined in
any kind of a sort of

uniform way at least.

And so, these kinds of
patterns are quite different

from modern machinery,
which often leave

quite regular,
straight markings.

For instance, very
regularized types of patterns

that are clear to us.

[narrator] By comparing
the markings to those

on a crystal goblet that
was known to be genuine,

the difference was
immediately apparent.

The irregular
marks on the goblet

were the result of hand carving.

Those on the skulls
displayed irregularity

that only comes from
machine working.

The tales of hand
carving over generations

could now be dismissed.

The skulls could not
be pre-Columbian.

Even if they had been made
on one of

the first rotary wheels
in the Americas,

they would only date
to the 1500s.

In all likelihood, they were
much younger than that.

It was a devastating blow
to the mythology

of the crystal skulls,
and more was to follow.

[Mark] Scientists apply
a technique called

Raman spectroscopic analysis,

which effectively allows them
to determine

the chemical composition
of the crystals.

[narrator] Already reclassified
from ancient to old

by the venerable
institutions testing them,

this revelation was
another crushing blow

to those who believed
in the skulls.

Geologically speaking,

the crystal in these skulls
has been traced to Brazil

and Madagascar,

which is miles away from Mexico,

and neither do either country
have any sort of record

of trade routes with
the ancient Maya.

[narrator] Not only
were they not made

in the claimed time period,

there was now a strong chance
that at least one of them

wasn't even from
the same continent.

If the skulls hadn't been
carved in Central America,

then where?

[Mark] We do know that carvers
of crystals in general

from Germany and France did
actually get their crystals

from Madagascar and Brazil.

[narrator] It was becoming clear
that far from being

mystical,
ancient sculptures,

these skulls were actually
just brilliant pieces of art

endowed with an ingenious
backstory or provenance.

Worse was to come for
the Smithsonian skull,

when microscopic trace elements
were found on its surface

that meant it was carved in the
1950s at the very earliest.

There was no doubt,
the skulls were fake.

[Karen] Personally, I
don't believe for a second

that any of these crystal skulls

were produced by the ancient
Maya for so many reasons.

We can rule that out,

but I do think that
they are testament

to the enduring
power of Maya culture

and its appeal worldwide.

[narrator] Indeed, even today,
more than two decades after

the indisputable
scientific findings

removed even
the remote possibility

of the skulls being Mayan,

there are some who prefer
the myth to the truth.

For the scientific-minded
though,

there are still
questions to be answered,

mysteries to be solved.

[Karen] So, where did
this first generation

of crystal skulls come from?

Smithsonian Anthropologist
Jane Walsh has suggested that

they might have been collected
from old Mexican churches

or that they were produced by
a single artisan or workshop.

[narrator] History is
littered with opportunists

taking advantage of
archaeological trends

and fashions.

Italian tradesmen

making dubious fortunes

trading in
less than legitimate

Roman antiquities

or the Egyptian bazaars
of the early 20th century

full of tomb artifacts
of questionable age.

Looking at this from
the point of view

of local artisans

who may well have held
a great deal of pride

about their own Maya roots,

yeah, it's just not hard to see
how this market swelled

and how they might have
jumped to fill that need.

I mean, those Europeans,

they were desperate
for these artifacts.

And, you know, one can convince
oneself of just about anything

in a situation like that.

[narrator] As with any fraud,
this required

two willing participants.

It seems that European
and American collectors

were all too willing to believe

to retain the hope
of capturing a unique

and mystical piece of history.

What is less clear is whether
the original advocate

of the crystal skulls
was in on the deception.

Recent evidence has shown

that there was a village
creating crystal skulls

at the time that
Boban was in Mexico.

So, the question now remains

is this a trade he was
knowingly part of,

or was he duped?

[narrator] Whilst
it's hard to believe

that someone with Boban's
undeniable depth of knowledge

about Mesoamerica

could be taken in
by such a fanciful tale,

it's equally hard to imagine

that he would risk
his entire reputation

for one single piece,

a piece he didn't even list
as a Mexican antiquity.

Despite the strong suspicion
that he knew what he was doing,

the jury is out on Boban,

who was undoubtedly a
devoted expert to his field

and was badly damaged by
the accusations of fraud

leveled at him.

History is likely to be
somewhat less generous

to British Adventurer Frederick
Mitchell-Hedges, however.

Now, Mitchell-Hedges claims
to have found

a crystal skull
in the lost city, Lubaantun.

The problem with that,
of course, is Lubaantun

was already discovered
some decades

before Mitchell-Hedges

claims to have made
this discovery.

So, it's not really a lost city

when someone else
has discovered it.

So, this was a man
who loved telling stories,

telling tales, and shall we say,
embellishing the truth a little.

[narrator] And with the Skull
of Doom still having admirers

and believers right
around the world,

this was undoubtedly the
greatest story he ever told.

Yet, despite the thorough
scientific debunking

of their supposedly
mysterious origins,

these crystal skulls continue
to fascinate the general public

and academics alike.

Not a single one
has come out of

a properly-documented
archaeological site.

And yet, I still
am so curious about

how they have continued
to hold the imagination,

and they still have
pride of place

in museum collections worldwide.

[narrator] Some skulls
continue to be displayed

in respected museums.

These curios from a bygone era,

perhaps more suited to a gallery
than a scientific institution,

are abiding proof that even
those who know their history

want to believe in
something magical.

The British Museum and the
Smithsonian have, however,

relegated their skulls,

the skulls that finally
solved the mysteries,

to locked cabinets

far away from the
eyes of visitors.

[Mark] So, one question
that emerges is

why do reputable institutions,

such as the British Museum
or the Smithsonian,

still hold collections
of crystal skulls?

And I think the answer is
that these crystal skulls

have their own history.

Although they have now been
determined to be fakes

and the museums have
indicated as such,

the fact that they've been in
the collections for so long,

and they had this long
history of analysis,

the way they were obtained,
and the characters involved,

and how these crystal skulls
were obtained

makes him fascinating
to know about.

And sometimes
collections themselves

can be quite interesting
in terms of

how they are obtained, the way
in which they were obtained,

and also the history
behind archaeology

and the way it developed
as a field.

[narrator] Our team have
uncovered the truth.

The ancient
Mayan crystal skulls

were, in fact, modern pieces,

most likely carved in Germany
by master craftsmen.

They were never used in
rituals by high priests.

They were not gifted
to us by an alien race.

They store no memories
of forgotten worlds

or other dimensions.

The only power they have

is exposing
the endless human desire

to believe in the extraordinary
and supernatural.

[epic music]

I don't believe for a second

that there's any sort
of magical property

that adheres to these artifacts,

as beautiful as they are.

I'm really interested in them
as the fakes that they are.

I love the story of
the crystal skulls.

This is such a moment
of modern world

combining with the ancient world

and creating something new.

[Tony] Well, I came
to this subject

with a huge amount
of skepticism.

As we've become more familiar

with the story of
the crystal skulls,

one begins to understand
how people were drawn in.

Something about the imagery
of those objects,

even the stories,

is so appealing
on many levels,

and for millions of people
around the world,

the crystal skulls
are absolutely true,

are absolutely powerful.

[closing credits music]

[music ends]