Anthropology Abounds: Dr. Jane Walsh

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PEOPLE CROWD around a glass case at the Natural History Museum staring in awe at a massive milky quartz crystal skull. Walsh has been working with crystal skulls for more than a decade, trying to debunk myths about the fascinating relics. Some of the more colorful theories posit that they play a part in a Mayan "doomsday" clock, that they were used by priests or that they have supernatural powers. As a scientist, Walsh was just interested in whether the captivating craniums were even crystal (no; they're quartz) or ancient (nope; they're fakes). Now, in honor of the latest "Indiana Jones" adventure, the Smithsonian's skull is on display and its real, if checkered, history is attracting crowds.

» EXPRESS: How did you get involved with the crystal skulls?
» WALSH: It started in 1992 when I got a call over from someone in American History that they had just received a package that had the crystal skull in it. ... I didn't know much about the skull other than that it was sent anonymously and the guy who sent it wrote a note saying that he'd bought the skull in 1960 in Mexico City and he was told that it was part of the Porfirio Diaz collection. ... So it was kind of interesting, because Diaz started being dictator [of Mexico] in, like, the 1800s — around the time the other two skulls appeared.

So when I started doing research, I discovered that the two other skulls — the famous skulls, the one in the British museum and the one in Paris — had both been sold by the same dealer, Eugène Boban. The other thing about it is as far as anyone knows, no archaeologist has ever dug one up.

» EXPRESS: The English adventurer F. A. Mitchell-Hedges claimed his daughter found the first crystal skull in a Mayan Temple.
» WALSH: Well, definitively I think Mitchell-Hedges bought it. ... There are letters from the guy he bought it from trying to sell the skull to a couple of museums in the U.S. None of the stories ever jibe.

» EXPRESS: How many other crystal skulls exist?
» WALSH: Of the ones that are in museum collections, the ones that I know of, there's maybe 10, and there are maybe 10 small ones.

» EXPRESS: Will you go looking for more skulls at some point?
» WALSH: No, my interest lies with museum collections because it's more controlled. I think, for most of them, the same guy, Eugene Boban, sold them.

» EXPRESS: Do you think there is any truth to a Mayan "doomsday" theory?
» WALSH: Basically, it's just a calendar, a very sophisticated calendar. The cycle is up in 2012 and, theoretically, if the Mayans were still around calculating, they would start a new cycle, not say everything is going to end. People come up with stuff.

» EXPRESS: Why do you think people are so enamored with the crystal skulls?
» WALSH: For the same reason that they were sort of an item that Europeans bought in the 19th century — because we're in love with the idea of ourselves and we're also fascinated by notions of our own mortality.

» Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 10th Street & Constitution Avenue NW; exhibit ongoing, 202-633-1000. (Smithsonian)

Written by Express contributor Adaora Otiji
Photo courtesy Smithsonian