Crystal skulls verdict in: not old

They've been under suspicion for a long time, with the London and Washington examples being the most likely if any to be genuinely old. But no:

Two of the best known crystal skulls - artefacts once thought to be the work of ancient American civilisations - are modern fakes, a scientific study shows. . .

Their results show the skulls were made using tools not available to the ancient Aztecs or Mayans.

Archaeologists say the work, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, should end decades of speculation over the origins of these controversial objects. . .

Professor Freestone said the work did not prove all crystal skulls were fakes, but it did cast doubt on the authenticity of other examples: "None of them have a good archaeological provenance and most appeared suspiciously in the last decades of the 20th Century. So we have to be sceptical," he explained.

Posted by David on May 22, 2008 2:43 PM