The new Indiana Jones movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes out on May 22, 2008.
Artist Damien Hirst's platinum cast of a human skull is shown covered with 8,601 ethically sourced diamonds and is estimated to be worth over 50 million pounds.
Photo Credit: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd / Getty Images
I totally appreciate the Indiana Jones movies, even if they're not what you might call science. What the high-octane combination of adventure and fantasy does is fuel their viewers with a fascination for the past. Maybe not specifically the scientific archaeological past, but the historic past of the 1930s, the mythological past of legends and religion, and even, sometimes, a little science and culture. That's always good.
This year's movie is subtitled Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, something archaeologists know a little bit about. Crystal skulls are generally small (not more than a few couple inches in height) stylized replicas of human skulls, made of polished quartz, glass or resin. Although there is considerable debate about their origins outside of scientific archaeology, the earliest ones were likely made in Mexico in the 19th century, perhaps by (or for) the French antiquarian Eugène Boban. The history of the crystal skull art form is fascinating--and brought to us by Archaeology magazine this month in an online story called Legends of the Crystal Skull, written by Jane MacLaren Walsh.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be out on May 22, 2008. I'll be there!
- Legends of the Crystal Skull, Jane MacLaren Walsh in Archaeology magazine
- Indiana Jones official home page
- Damien Hirst's For the Love of God, Sean O'Hagen in The Observer
The take on crystal skulls by modern artist Damien Hirst (no relative of mine) is titled For the Love of God, and it is a platinum cast of a real human skull, and encrusted in diamonds. According to forensic archaeologists, the original owner of the skull was a 35-year old male probably of European origin. Radiocarbon analysis suggests that he lived some time between 1720 and 1810. The skull is part of Hirst's Beyond Belief exhibition at White Cube 3, in London.
Comments
Although I wasn’t willing to include it in the main post, I wonder if there isn’t a relationship between 19th century Mexican crystal skulls and those little sugar skulls you get on the Day of the Dead. Both heavily stylized but based on Roman Catholic & Aztec features, both only a few inches tall, and both white. I’ve done no research, but thought I’d throw it out there.
Kris
yet another IJ without a biblical artefact… tsh tsh
Damien Hirst skull contemporary art but already part of our visual culture mythology
Rock painted Damien Hirst skull