A British Museum study in fact pinpointed the manufacture of most of the skulls to an area of Germany famous for manufacturing intricate quartz and crystal designs in the late 19th century.

Crystal skulls arrived on the archaeological scene in the 19th century. No one knew who made them. Eventually, they all turned out to be clever fakes.

When we contacted experts at the British Museum about the Mitchell-Hedges skull, we learned, to our surprise, that they had long had a crystal skull of their own. Bought from Tiffany's in New York ...