A legend, crystal skulls, Indiana Jones…mix them all together…what do you get? Obviously, the perfect recipe for an exciting new Indiana Jones movie! I remember going to the theater for the first Indiana Jones movie. I was absolutely mesmerized by the story, constant action, setting and characters. I recently read an article on www.msnbc.msn.com that the new Indiana Jones movie was inspired by an ancient Maya legend!

Here’s a quote from that article:
There is a legend that the ancient Maya possessed 13 crystal skulls which, when united, hold the power of saving the Earth — a tale so strange and fantastic that it inspired the latest Indiana Jones movie. The true story of the skulls stretches over continents and hundreds of years, and may be even more extraordinary than the tale portrayed in this fourth installment of the Harrison Ford franchise.

The www.msnbc.msn.com article definitely intrigued me to learn more about these crystal skulls. It appears there are more questions than answers surrounding these sculptured crystal skulls. Firstly, it seems there is a question as to which culture they actually belong or originated from...Aztec or Mayan? Secondly, crystals raise a question or two that can not be verified by scientists. Some believe crystals possess natural healing, mystical or paranormal powers. An example, Charmstone, a crystal, has been used in the Hindu, pre-historic Native American and Australian traditions. And, thirdly, within the crystal skull community, the Mitchell-Hedges skull has been crowned king. Mitchell-Hedges was a British explorer that purchased the artifact at an auction. He then concocted a mysterious story equivalent to the mystery of the piece. He alleged that his daughter found the artifact during an exploration trip to the ancient Mayan ruins of Lubaantun, in Belize. I assume he fabricated the story to enhance the mystery of the artifact??

Another compounding factor to this story, in 1970 the piece was loaned to Hewlett Packard for crystal research and this is a quote from their findings:
HP could find no microscopic scratches on the crystal which would indicate it had been carved with metal instruments. Dorland's best hypothesis for the skull's construction is that it was roughly hewn out with diamonds, and then the detail work was meticulously done with a gentle solution of silicon sand and water. The exhausting job -- assuming it could possibly be done in this way -- would have required man-hours adding up to 300 years to complete.
http://web.archive.org/web/19990218153216/www.parascope.com/articles/0197/skull_01.htm

After doing some reading, I can barely wait to see the new Indiana Jones movie and see how much of this powerful legend was integrated into the movie. And, I hope that I’ve inspired you to do some reading on the subject!