British Museum Crystal Skull

This quartz skull is on display in the British Museum. Its past is murky and its authenticity is in doubt. Legend holds that this skull possesses special powers and is an ancient Aztec artifact. Its like was featured in the last Indiana Jones chronicle. The Smithsonian believes that it was manufactured in 19th-century Germany. Its material precludes carbon dating, but microscopic abrasion patterns indicate its machined origin.

Aztec Turquoise Mosaic Mask

This is not the only such skull. Enough of them were made so that its origin can be tracked to a particular town in Germany. Turquoise masks, like the one pictured are authentic Aztec and could have inspired these skulls. What I find interesting is the question of why George Lucas and Steven Spielberg chose an archeological hoax as the basis for their film. This iteration of the Indiana Jones franchise performed poorly, compared to its predecessors. So, choosing a hoax as its focus maybe isn’t all that remarkable, but is indicative of the now worn state of this once great series.

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In other news, I got our taxes done. We couldn’t itemize, what with the new much larger standard deduction. Still, we came out a little better than last year. We should get money back from the Feds, eventually. With another looming government shutdown, the timing on when that will occur is questionable. We owe the state. So, there is no rush with them. I got a scare when I printed out a copy of the forms. the state’s payment forms had a watermark on them that said, “Do Not File—Forms Not Final”. I had just filed our taxes. Further investigation uncovered that the state was the culprit here and not me. The offending forms are scheduled to be updated next week. Like I said there is no real rush here.