The BBC is reporting that a new study demonstrates that the two best known examples of crystal skulls — one at the Smithsonian and the other at the British Museum — are modern forgeries. The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, found that the skulls were made using tools and abrasives that did not come into usage until the 19th or 20th century. The study did not examine all twelve known skulls, but the findings cast doubt on their authenticity.

Of course, this is not the first study that has shown the skulls to be fakes. Previous studies have also found that several of the skulls were carved using modern rotary tools. And despite claims to the contrary, there are no legends concerning mystical skulls with magic powers in any pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture.

Archaeology magazine also has an online article by Jane MacLaren Walsh. Walsh has spent years studying the skulls and tracing the dissemination of these fakes to different museums around the world. She has outlined several generations of the forgeries and can trace their points of origin and how they were acquired by different collectors.

And lest we forget that this is all about Indian Jones, Walsh’s article contains this tidbit of trivia: Remember the idol that Jones finds at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark? It was based on a supposed Aztec statue of a goddess. Walsh has examined the original goddess statue and found that it is a 19th century fake as well.

Of course, we can’t blame Indy for all of this. After all, electron microscopes were not in widespread use back in his day.

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