had crept back in to try to reclaim its former captive and by now the ancient pyramids were only just about discernible. But we couldn’t help noticing that the individual stones from which each of the structures was made were not the simple rectangular blocks of stone used at Tikal. Instead each stone was quite unique and slightly rounded or curved to fit in with all the other stones around it. So there were no simple and uniform straight lines, no horizontal or vertical layers. Instead each building was curving and flowing, almost a living work of art, with areas that bulged and receded almost as if the structure were actually breathing. Indeed, each one was constructed so carefully in this almost organic fashion that it seems the builders had no need for cement or any other type of binding material.
Now, however, these beautiful pyramids were very dilapidated. As Catarino explained, this was due to the fact that a later party of explorers in the 1930s had tried to discover what was still inside them using the fastest and most modern technique available to them – dynamite – at the same time giving a whole new meaning to the name ‘the City of Fallen Stones’!
As a result, Catarino explained, the city was no longer one of the best examples of the achievements of the ancient Maya, about whom he proceeded to tell us a little more. Theirs had, it seemed, been a highly developed civilization. Although considered Stone Age people, living on peasant agriculture close to the land, with few material possessions or technical instruments, they were expert architects, astronomers, scientists and mathematicians. They possessed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing and numbering. They also built up a vast network of independent city states, linked by roads and boasting some of the most magnificent cities the world has ever seen, with towering pyramids, exquisite palaces, temples and shrines, all decorated with the most elaborately carved stone ‘stelae’. Each city was a distinctive work of art, expertly planned, designed and executed, with many buildings, including astronomical observatories, carefully aligned with the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars.
The whole system came complete with its own form of government, politics and administration, its own science based on the movements of the planets and the stars, and a whole religion based on the rhythms of the natural world. The ancient Maya believed in a complete pantheon of gods and super-heroes who demanded regular tribute of ceremony, religious ritual and the occasional human sacrifice. They were also great believers in clairvoyance and divination. They were avid watchers of the skies and the movements of the heavenly bodies and placed great emphasis on their own powers of prophecy and prediction. Through their complex system of calendrics they were even able to predict eclipses accurately.
The Mayan civilization flourished for over 1,000 years from around 300 BC. Dynasties grew, royal leaders were adorned with elaborate costumes, priests gave guidance and performed strange esoteric rituals, local wars were fought and peace was brokered. And then suddenly the cities were abandoned. Around AD 830, well before the arrival of the Europeans in the Americas, the ‘Classic’ Maya simply left their great cities to be taken over by the jungle and slowly crumble to dust. As far as anyone could tell from the evidence left behind, no famine or drought had taken place, no disease and no great war had broken out. It was a mystery – over 1,000 years of development, of growth and refinement, and a culture that reached extraordinary spiritual, scientific and artistic heights … and then nothing, with no explanation at all.
In fact nobody really knew where the Maya had originally come from or, for that matter, where they had got the advanced knowledge necessary to build their great civilization in such a short space of time. There remained many mysteries about the ancient Maya.
As we wandered around the crumbling pyramids pondering why the ancient Mayan civilization had simply disappeared, Catarino spoke again. ‘One of the strangest things the Maya left behind was found right here at Lubaantun.’
He reached in and pulled something out of his pocket. It was an old black-and-white photograph that had definitely seen better days.
‘This was discovered in the 1920s by Mr Mitchell-Hedges’ daughter Anna when she was 17 years old.’
He handed us the dog-eared photo. My eyes were immediately drawn to the image. It was unmistakably a photograph of a real crystal skull. It was an extraordinary object, at once horrifying and yet beautiful. Even in that tattered old photo, the skull had a strange, mesmerizing quality. As I stared into those hollow crystal eyes, I was captivated.
As Chris handed back the photo, I wanted to know more. The image of the skull had drawn us in, raising questions that demanded answers. Who had made such an object and why? Where was it now? Were there any others like it and if so, where? Was this one of the 13 skulls of legend? The questions raced through my mind. Now we knew for sure that a real crystal skull did exist we felt compelled to find out more.
The first question was, where had Catarino got this photo? We were a little surprised when he said it was Anna Mitchell-Hedges herself who had given it to him. After all, this was the woman he said had originally discovered the crystal skull way back in the 1920s. How could this be?
Catarino explained that Anna Mitchell-Hedges had subsequently returned several times to visit the place of the skull’s discovery and her last visit had been in 1987. We worked out that if Anna had discovered the skull as a teenager in the 1920s, she would probably now be in her late eighties. But was she still alive?
According to Catarino, when Anna had made her last trip back she had been a very elderly woman. He had got the impression that she had come back to see the site one last time before she died. Given these words, it now seemed very unlikely that she was still around to tell the tale.
As Catarino was speaking, the shadows started lengthening across the ancient ruins and we realized it was time to leave. We thanked Catarino for his patience with our questions and wandered back to our vehicle, wondering how we could ever track down this old lady. We were just climbing into the truck when Catarino came rushing over.
‘Wait, wait,’ he said. ‘I remember. Anna Mitchell-Hedges did give me her address, but it was a long time ago and I don’t know if I’ve still got it.’
But we had to leave there and then. Our driver was getting impatient. So we swapped addresses with Catarino and he assured us he would look for Anna’s address and send it on to us if he found it.
As we made our way back to the coast for the last few days of our holiday, the whole story began to seem somehow unreal. A young girl on an archaeological dig finding an ancient artefact known only in legend seemed so unlikely, so impossibly romantic. In any case, we didn’t really expect to hear anything more from Catarino and it was soon time to put the whole idea of crystal skulls out of our minds as we returned to the everyday realities of life in Britain.
But we had only been home for a few weeks when a letter did arrive from Belize. It was from Catarino. He had found Anna Mitchell-Hedges’ address. It was in Canada. We were delighted and wrote to her, albeit with some trepidation. We were unsure we would get any answer and half expected that if we did it would only be to inform us that Anna had now passed away. So when a letter did arrive back from Canada, we opened it nervously. As we read its contents, we were thrilled to find that Anna Mitchell-Hedges, now aged 88, was still living happily and healthily – and complete with her crystal skull. Not only that, but she would be only too pleased to tell us the story of the skull’s discovery.
Anna had enclosed a copy of her father’s autobiography, Danger, My Ally,1 and from this, together with subsequent telephone calls to Anna, we were able to piece together the remarkable tale.
The story began in the Britain of the 1920s, with Anna’s father, Frederick Albert, or ‘Mike’, Mitchell-Hedges (1882-1959), a real Indiana Jones-type figure, who had adopted Anna when she was a young orphan. For many years Anna’s life remained inextricably linked to that of her father. She had never married and had accompanied
