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Some of us learned a peculiar piece of archaeological trivia after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull released to much fanfare only to promptly retreat without any. However, the proverbial dirty unwashed apes did learn that hyper-intelligent aliens had supposedly gifted the crystal skulls to communicate. The Smithsonian seeks to delve deeper into this myth in their new documentary, The Legend of the Crystal Skulls, which is now available on DVD.
The original artifact was presneted to the world for the very first time in the 1940s by explorer and artifact hunter, Frederick Arthur Mitchell-Hedges, who rather humorously referred to the artifact as The Skull of Doom. His daughter, Anna, later proclaimed that she discovered the object while exploring Mayan ruins in the 1920s. Eventually, more details Anna’s tale, along with the skull’s “secret” powers, started to emerge, leading to the discovery of other crystal skulls by many different people.
The documentary by the Smithsonian really helps wrap up the narrative and keep track of the believers up to the present. At first, it mostly concentrates on Anna’s story and the many people that think the skull has some possibly alien superpowers. Their beliefs regarding the skull are quite extreme, to say the least, and deeply religious. To put it bluntly and remain unambiguous: these people are insane. And by insane, I mean crazier than a nuthouse on a free nuts Wednesday.
Anna now claims that the crystal skull is able to predict global disasters, while others interviewed express their firm belief that the crystal skull can only be referred to as an alien computer that one can talk to without using a keyboard (do they happen to have minesweeper?). Others still maintain the view that the artifact was first bestowed by aliens on the most important rulers of Atlantis where, as folklore has it, the dopehead merpeople still dance and play to this day. There are a few images of the skull in its prime in the 70s, placed under a huge metallic pyramid while devotees meditate ecstatically in its general vicinity, rather than jump headfirst down from cultic heights which, for all practical reasons, is Anna perched on not so far away hill. Head over hills, gaping in admiration from the comfort of her arm chair.
In any case, the documentary ended up bringing science in towards the end, with the work of examining the facts as well as the skulls themselves. In the 1990s, there was a shred of research conducted wherein the so-called tool work on the alimentary surface of the skulls was studied with the aid of powerful microscopes. Without leaking too much of the juiciest detail of the study and its findings because that would spoil it all, I shall say that it came to light that all of the skulls, Anna’s and copy cats alike, were of much more recent origin than the believers comfortably assume.
With mystic artifacts such as the crystal skull, legends surrounding them have never failed to capture the audience’s attention right from the get go. It is good to note that she believed this hoax for most of her life and only died after the age of 100 in 2007. Because this story had become so engrained into the woman’s life, it makes all the sense in the world that she died truly believing it to be real.
As it seems to be the norm with DVD release of these documentaries, there are no extras. For your enjoyment, a few promotional pieces for Smithsonian’s HD channel have been provided.
The Legend of the Crystals Skulls is expertly crafted and offers a balance in supports and narratives. The supporters of Anna and her Skull of Doom were allotted ample time to put forward the case for the artifact and the scientific evidence countering the myth was put forth in a rather drab but effective manner which respectfully ensured that the truth came out. This documentary supports the idea that the Indiana Jones legend is unfortunate, considering that there are equally compelling plot elements like crop circles and Bigfoot, that are not so well known, but still lets down the film.
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