Petra: Ancient City of Rock Petra: Ancient City of Rock By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | September 13, 2012 01:29pm ET MORE Located about 115 miles (185 km) southwest of Amman, Jordan, Petra was an ancient city that was literally carved into red desert cliffs. Its ornate ancient architecture and natural beauty attract people from all over the world. Part of the film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was filmed in Petra, bringing it more popular attention. Petra's temples, tombs, theaters and other buildings are scattered over 400 square miles. Credit: Vitalii Nesterchuk shutterstock Until its annexation by Rome in 106 A.D., Petra served as a capital for the Nabataeans, a people who wrote using an Aramaic language and controlled caravan trade throughout the region. The earliest mention of these people is from 312 B.C., when they apparently withstood an assault by Antigonus, one of Alexander the Great's successors.

In these early years the Nabataeans are believed to have lived a nomadic lifestyle, and Petra was likely a place of tents and simple structures. This would change as the caravan trade developed, with Petra serving as a center of trade between Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. The city reached its peak about 2,000 years ago with a population estimated at 20,000 inhabitants. The Siq, a narrow slot canyon, serves as the entrance passage to the hidden city of Petra. Credit: Robert Paul Van Beets shutterstock In time, after the Roman annexation, the caravan trade petered out. Although the city was occupied in the Middle Ages, it was hit by a series of earthquakes and was eventually abandoned. It was "rediscovered" by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812 and today it is a major tourist attraction. Contrary to the plot of the Indiana Jones movie, Petra is not located in a "Canyon of the Crescent Moon" and it is not the location of the Holy Grail.

Homes and water Analysis of housing remains at ez-Zantur, within Petra, suggests that people were building houses out of stone by 2,100 years ago, heralding a period of urbanization. This process would see people abandon their tents for more permanent stone dwellings, in some instances carving them into the cliffs. In time freestanding homes for the elite would be created containing columns and multiple rooms. Petra’s main street, referred to today as the colonnaded street, would be built on the south side of the Wadi Musa (a riverbed that sometimes has water). Walls would eventually be built on the north and south side of this wadi which, combined which Petra’s cliffs, made the city very hard to invade. A sophisticated plumbing system would also be built with a system of channels, pipes and cisterns to bring water to the people. Archaeologists recently found evidence of this system during a geophysical survey of an area beside Petra’s main street. All these developments, however, are today overshadowed by the design of the city’s tombs and temples. The Khazneh, or Treasury, is an ornate tomb in Petra.

Credit: Aleksander Todorovic shutterstock The 'Treasury' Petra contains numerous tombs, most of them built at the edge of the city, beyond the main street. Some were simple, containing multiple burials in an unadorned rock chamber, while others were more spectacular. The best known tomb at Petra is called the “Khazneh,” which is Arabic for the “Treasury.” It is called this because at one time local people believed it contained hidden treasure. Today, archaeologists regard it as a two-story high tomb, albeit a masterful one. Its facade measures 82 feet (25 meters) wide and 128 feet (39 meters) high. Mainly Greek in appearance, the columns are in a Corinthian style, the entrance flanked with reliefs depicting Castor and Pollux, a pair of mythical twin brothers. At top center is a draped woman who may be a version of Isis, the Egyptian goddess. Also depicted at top are six axe-wielding Amazons, mythical warrior women who were well-regarded in the ancient world.

Also shown are griffins, eagles, two winged creatures known as “victories” and depictions of natural vegetation such as poppies, grapes and pomegranates. Rosettes, a symbol of royalty, are also shown, indicating that this was the tomb of a king. The interior of the tomb is relatively simple, containing a vestibule that branches off into three chambers, the largest one at center being 40 feet (12.5 meters) by 36 feet (11 meters) and about 32 feet (10 meters) in height. Three niches suggest that there were originally three sarcophagi. There are no inscriptions, so it is not known who was buried in the tomb or when exactly it was built. King Aretas IV, who died in 15 A.D. and had two wives, is a candidate, notes researcher Andrew Stewart, in a section of the book "Petra Rediscovered" (Thames & Hudson, 2003). Ancient temples Petra’s ancient inhabitants maintained a rich spiritual life. Three temples located near the main street are believed to date to the city’s zenith, about 2,000 years ago.

One of them is known as the Qasr al-Bint (a short version of an Arabic name that translates “Castle of the Daughter of the Pharaoh”). Its walls are still preserved up to a height of 75 feet (23 meters). A person would walk up 19 stairs before coming to a landing, than another eight steps, past a series of four columns, to arrive at the temple vestibule, before passing into a main hall that is almost square at 91 feet (28 meters) on each side. The holy of holies, a room with a platform, was at the end. A relief at the temple suggests that the structure may have been dedicated to the god Dushara. Another structure, known to archaeologists at the “Great Temple,” contains a small theater in a design similar to a modern-day orchestra hall. It was large enough to fit about 600 people with its outer layer of seats having a diameter of about 110 feet (33 meters). This theater may have been used for religious ceremonies. Among the temple decorations are depictions of elephant heads carved out of limestone.

A third temple, located partly up a hill, is the Temple of the Winged Lions, so named because depictions of winged felines were found near its altar. It contains an entryway and worship area with columns. The temple itself is relatively small, about 82 feet (25 meters) by 60 feet (18 meters). However, as researcher Philip Hammond notes in the book "Petra Rediscovered," it has numerous support buildings, they "provided for housing of the temple personnel, pilgrims awaiting initiation into its rites, metal and oil fabrication areas, servicing facilities, and even for the production of religious artifacts for visiting tourists!” Amazon.com: Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures [Blu-ray] Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures (Raiders of the Lost Ark / Temple of Doom / Last Crusade / Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) [Blu-ray] $42.17 Free Shipping for Prime Members | Fast, FREE Shipping with Amazon Prime In Stock. Sold by High Trade and Fulfilled by Amazon . Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products.

Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and . If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you increase your sales. We invite you to learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon . Frequently Bought Together Ad feedback Special Offers and Product Promotions Save Big On Open-Box & Pre-owned: Buy "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures (Raiders of...â from Amazon Warehouse Deals and save 55% off the $75.99 list price. Product is eligible for Amazon's 30-day returns policy and Prime or FREE Shipping. See all Open-Box & Pre-owned offers from Amazon Warehouse Deals. Editorial Reviews Product Description Own all four Indiana Jones adventures in this Blu-ray collection. This collection includes: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is no ordinary archeologist.

When we first see him, he is somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936, running a booby-trapped gauntlet (complete with an over-sized rolling boulder) to fetch a solid-gold idol. He loses this artifact to his chief rival, a French archeologist named Belloq (Paul Freeman), who then prepares to kill our hero. In the first of many serial-like escapes, Indy eludes Belloq by hopping into a convenient plane. So, then: is Indiana Jones afraid of anything? Yes, snakes. The next time we see Jones, he's a soft-spoken, bespectacled professor. He is then summoned from his ivy-covered environs by Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. The Nazis, it seems, are already searching for the Ark, which the mystical-minded Hitler hopes to use to make his stormtroopers invincible. But to find the Ark, Indy must first secure a medallion kept under the protection of Indy's old friend Abner Ravenwood, whose daughter, Marion (Karen Allen), evidently has a "history" with Jones.

Whatever their personal differences, Indy and Marion become partners in one action-packed adventure after another, ranging from wandering the snake pits of the Well of Souls to surviving the pyrotechnic unearthing of the sacred Ark. A joint project of Hollywood prodigies George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, with a script co-written by Lawrence Kasdan and Philip Kaufman, among others, Raiders of the Lost Ark is not so much a movie as a 115-minute thrill ride. Costing 22 million dollars (nearly three times the original estimate), Raiders of the Lost Ark reaped 200 million dollars during its first run. It was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), as well as a short-lived TV-series "prequel." Temple of Doom The second of the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg Indiana Jones epics is set a year or so before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984).

After a brief brouhaha involving a precious vial and a wild ride down a raging Himalyan river, Indy (Harrison Ford) gets down to the problem at hand: retrieving a precious gem and several kidnapped young boys on behalf of a remote East Indian village. His companions this time around include a dimbulbed, easily frightened nightclub chanteuse (Kate Capshaw), and a feisty 12-year-old kid named Short Round (Quan Ke Huy). Throughout, the plot takes second place to the thrills, which include a harrowing rollercoaster ride in an abandoned mineshaft and Indy's rescue of the heroine from a ritual sacrifice. There are also a couple of cute references to Raiders of the Lost Ark, notably a funny variation of Indy's shooting of the Sherpa warrior. Last Crusade The third installment in the widely beloved Spielberg/Lucas Indiana Jones saga begins with an introduction to a younger Indy (played by the late River Phoenix), who, through a fast-paced prologue, gives the audience insight into the roots of his taste for adventure, fear of snakes, and dogged determination to take historical artifacts out of the hands of bad guys and into the museums in which they belong.

A grown-up Indy (Harrison Ford) reveals himself shortly afterward in a familiar classroom scene, teaching archeology to a disproportionate number of starry-eyed female college students in 1938. Once again, however, Mr. Jones is drawn away from his day job after an art collector (Julian Glover) approaches him with a proposition to find the much sought after Holy Grail. Circumstances reveal that there was another avid archeologist in search of the famed cup — Indiana Jones' father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) — who had recently disappeared during his efforts. The junior and senior members of the Jones family find themselves in a series of tough situations in locales ranging from Venice to the most treacherous spots in the Middle East. Complicating the situation further is the presence of Elsa (Alison Doody), a beautiful and intelligent woman with one fatal flaw: she's an undercover Nazi agent. The search for the grail is a dangerous quest, and its discovery may prove fatal to those who seek it for personal gain. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade earned a then record-breaking $50 million in its first week of release.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Steven Spielberg and George Lucas bring you the greatest adventurer of all time in “a nonstop thrill ride” (Richard Corliss, TIME) that’s packed with “sensational, awe-inspiring spectacles” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull finds Indy (Harrison Ford) trying to outrace a brilliant and beautiful agent (Cate Blanchett) for the mystical, all-powerful Crystal Skull of Akator. Teaming up with a rebellious young biker (Shia LaBeouf) and his spirited original love Marion (Karen Allen), Indy takes you on a breathtaking action-packed adventure in the exciting tradition of the classic Indiana Jones movies! Amazon.com Raiders of the Lost Ark It’s said that the original is the greatest, and there can be no more vivid proof than Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first and indisputably best of the initial three Indiana Jones adventures cooked up by the dream team of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Expectations were high for this 1981 collaboration between the two men, who essentially invented the box office blockbuster with ‘70s efforts like Jaws and Star Wars, and Spielberg (who directed) and Lucas (who co-wrote the story and executive produced) didn’t disappoint. This wildly entertaining film has it all: non-stop action, exotic locations, grand spectacle, a hero for the ages, despicable villains, a beautiful love interest, humor, horror… not to mention lots of snakes. And along with all the bits that are so familiar by now--Indy (Harrison Ford) running from the giant boulder in a cave, using his pistol instead of his trusty whip to take out a scimitar-wielding bad guy, facing off with a hissing cobra, and on and on--there’s real resonance in a potent storyline that brings together a profound religious-archaeological icon (the Ark of the Covenant, nothing less than "a radio for speaking to God") and the 20th century’s most infamous criminals (the Nazis). Now that’s entertainment.

--Sam Graham Temple of Doom It’s hard to imagine that a film with worldwide box office receipts topping $300 million worldwide could be labeled a disappointment, but some moviegoers considered Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second installment in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ 1980s adventure trilogy, to be just that. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad effort; any collaboration between these two cinema giants (Spielberg directed, while Lucas provided the story and was executive producer) is bound to have more than its share of terrific moments, and Temple of Doom is no exception. But in exchanging the very real threat of Nazi Germany for the cartoonish Thuggee cult, it loses some of the heft of its predecessor (Raiders of the Lost Ark); on the other hand, it’s also the darkest and most disturbing of the three films, what with multiple scenes of children enslaved, a heart pulled out of a man’s chest, and the immolation of a sacrificial victim, which makes it less fun than either Raiders or The Last Crusade, notwithstanding a couple of riotous chase scenes and impressively grand sets.

Many fans were also less than thrilled with the new love interest, a spoiled, querulous nightclub singer portrayed by Kate Capshaw, but a cute kid sidekick ("Short Round," played by Ke Huy Quan) and, of course, the ever-reliable Harrison Ford as the cynical-but-swashbuckling hero more than make up for that character’s shortcomings. A six-minute introduction by Lucas and Spielberg is the prime special feature, with both men candidly addressing the film’s good and bad points (Lucas points out that the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, was also the darkest of the original three; as for Spielberg, the fact that the leading lady would soon become his wife was the best part of the whole trip). Also good are "The Creepy Crawlies," a mini-doc about the thousands of snakes, bugs, rats and other scary critters that populate the trilogy, and "Travels with Indy," a look at some of the films’ cool locations. Storyboards and a photo gallery are included as well. --Sam Graham Last Crusade Not as good as the first one, but better than the second.

That’s been the consensus opinion regarding Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the final installment in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ original adventure trilogy, throughout the nearly two decades since its 1989 theatrical release. It’s a fair assessment. After the relatively dark and disturbing Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989) recalls the sheer fun of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). With its variety of colorful locations, multiple chase scenes (the opening sequence on a circus train, with River Phoenix as the young Indy, is one of the best of the series, as is the boat chase through the canals of Venice), and cloak-and-dagger vibe, it’s the closest in tone to a James Bond outing, which director Spielberg has noted was the inspiration for the trilogy in the first place; what’s more, it harkens back to Raiders in its choice of villains (i.e., the Nazis--Indy even comes face to face with Hitler at a rally in Berlin) and its quest for an antiquity of incalculable value and significance (the Holy Grail, the chalice said to have been the receptacle of Christ's blood as he hung on the cross).

Add to that the presence of Sean Connery, playing Indy’s father and having a field day opposite Harrison Ford, and you’ve got a most welcome return to form. Special features include a six-minute introduction by Spielberg and Lucas, who discuss the grail as a metaphor for bringing Indy and his estranged father together and agree that Crusade is the funniest of the three films; "Indy’s Women," an American Film Institute tribute with leading ladies Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw, and Alison Doody each discussing her character (Capshaw candidly describes Temple of Doom’s Willie Scott as "whiny, petulant, and annoying"); "Indy’s Friends and Enemies," a look at the films’ various villains and sidekicks; plus storyboards and photo galleries. --Sam Graham Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Nearly 20 years after riding his last Crusade, Harrison Ford makes a welcome return as archaeologist/relic hunter Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, an action-packed fourth installment that's, in a nutshell, less memorable than the first three but great nostalgia for fans of the series.

Producer George Lucas and screenwriter David Koepp (War of the Worlds) set the film during the cold war, as the Soviets--replacing Nazis as Indy's villains of choice and led by a sword-wielding Cate Blanchett with black bob and sunglasses--are in pursuit of a crystal skull, which has mystical powers related to a city of gold. After escaping from them in a spectacular opening action sequence, Indy is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young greaser (Shia LaBeouf) whose friend--and Indy's colleague--Professor Oxley (John Hurt) has been captured for his knowledge of the skull's whereabouts. Whatever secrets the skull holds are tertiary; its reveal is the weakest part of the movie, as the CGI effects that inevitably accompany it feel jarring next to the boulder-rolling world of Indy audiences knew and loved. There's plenty of comedy, delightful stunts--ants play a deadly role here--and the return of Raiders love interest Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, once shrill but now softened, giving her ex-love bemused glances and eye-rolls as he huffs his way to save the day.

Which brings us to Ford: bullwhip still in hand, he's a little creakier, a lot grayer, but still twice the action hero of anyone in film today. With all the anticipation and hype leading up to the film's release, perhaps no reunion is sweeter than that of Ford with the role that fits him as snugly as that fedora hat. --Ellen A. Kim Special Features 7 Hours of Special Features - On set with Raiders of the Lost Ark: Witness the making of Raiders as it happened with newly revealed footage that puts you on the set during production, alongside filmmakers, cast and crew. - Film Foursome: The "Making of" all 4 Indiana Jones Adventures: Join filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for an up-close look at each production, and the evolution of the original action hero, Indiana Jones.

- Cast and Creator Interviews Format: AC-3, Blu-ray, Box set, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Language: English Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish Dubbed: French, Portuguese, Spanish DVD Release Date: September 18, 2012 Run Time: 481 minutes Legend of the Crystal Skulls - Archaeology Magazine Archive Legend of the Crystal Skulls Volume 61 Number 3, May/June 2008 by Jane MacLaren Walsh Along with superstars like Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, and Shia LaBeouf, the newest Indiana Jones movie promises to showcase one of the most enigmatic classes of artifacts known to archaeologists, crystal skulls that first surfaced in the 19th century and that specialists attributed to various "ancient Mesoamerican" cultures.

In this article, Smithsonian anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh shares her own adventures analyzing the artifacts that inspired Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (in theaters May 22), and details her efforts tracking down a mysterious "obtainer of rare antiquities" who may have held the key to the origin of these exotic objects. In 1992, this hollow rock-crystal skull was sent to the Smithsonian anonymously. A letter accompanying the 30-pound, 10-inch-high artifact suggested it was of Aztec origin. (James Di Loreto & Donald Hurlburt/Courtesy Smithsonian Institution) Sixteen years ago, a heavy package addressed to the nonexistent "Smithsonian Inst. Curator, MezoAmerican Museum, Washington, D.C." was delivered to the National Museum of American History. It was accompanied by an unsigned letter stating: "This Aztec crystal skull, purported to be part of the Porfirio Díaz collection, was purchased in Mexico in 1960....

I am offering it to the Smithsonian without consideration." Richard Ahlborn, then curator of the Hispanic-American collections, knew of my expertise in Mexican archaeology and called me to ask whether I knew anything about the object--an eerie, milky-white crystal skull considerably larger than a human head. I told him I knew of a life-sized crystal skull on display at the British Museum, and had seen a smaller version the Smithsonian had once exhibited as a fake. After we spent a few minutes puzzling over the meaning and significance of this unusual artifact, he asked whether the department of anthropology would be interested in accepting it for the national collections. I said yes without hesitation. If the skull turned out to be a genuine pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifact, such a rare object should definitely become part of the national collections. I couldn't have imagined then that this unsolicited donation would open an entirely new avenue of research for me. In the years since the package arrived, my investigation of this single skull has led me to research the history of pre-Columbian collections in museums around the world, and I have collaborated with a broad range of international scientists and museum curators who have also crossed paths with crystal skulls.

Studying these artifacts has prompted new research into pre-Columbian lapidary (or stone-working) technology, particularly the carving of hard stones like jadeite and quartz. Crystal skulls have undergone serious scholarly scrutiny, but they also excite the popular imagination because they seem so mysterious. Theories about their origins abound. Some believe the skulls are the handiwork of the Maya or Aztecs, but they have also become the subject of constant discussion on occult websites. Some insist that they originated on a sunken continent or in a far-away galaxy. And now they are poised to become archaeological superstars thanks to our celluloid colleague Indiana Jones, who will tackle the subject of our research in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Details about the movie's plot are being closely guarded by the film's producers as I write this, but the Internet rumor mill has it that the crystal skull of the title is the creation of aliens. The author and Scott Whittaker, director of the Smithsonian's Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Facility, examine the "Mitchell-Hedges Skull." Silicone molds of the skull's carved features were analyzed by SEM for evidence of tool marks.

(James Di Loreto/Courtesy Smithsonian Institution) These exotic carvings are usually attributed to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, but not a single crystal skull in a museum collection comes from a documented excavation, and they have little stylistic or technical relationship with any genuine pre-Columbian depictions of skulls, which are an important motif in Mesoamerican iconography. They are intensely loved today by a large coterie of aging hippies and New Age devotees, but what is the truth behind the crystal skulls? Where did they come from, and why were they made? Museums began collecting rock-crystal skulls during the second half of the nineteenth century, when no scientific archaeological excavations had been undertaken in Mexico and knowledge of real pre-Columbian artifacts was scarce. It was also a period that saw a burgeoning industry in faking pre-Columbian objects. When Smithsonian archaeologist W. H. Holmes visited Mexico City in 1884, he saw "relic shops" on every corner filled with fake ceramic vessels, whistles, and figurines.

Two years later, Holmes warned about the abundance of fake pre-Columbian artifacts in museum collections in an article for the journal Science titled "The Trade in Spurious Mexican Antiquities." French antiquarian Eugène Boban with his collection of Mesoamerican artifacts at an 1867 Paris exposition. Among the objects on display were two crystal skulls. At his feet rest a pot and a battleaxe Boban exhibited as Aztec. Both are fakes. (Courtesy Jane Walsh/Museo Nacional de Historia, Mexico City) The first Mexican crystal skulls made their debut just before the 1863 French intervention, when Louis Napoleon's army invaded the country and installed Maximilian von Hapsburg of Austria as emperor. Usually they are small, not taller than 1.5 inches. The earliest specimen seems to be a British Museum crystal skull about an inch high that may have been acquired in 1856 by British banker Henry Christy. Two other examples were exhibited in 1867 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris as part of the collection of Eugène Boban, perhaps the most mysterious figure in the history of the crystal skulls.

A Frenchman who served as the official "archaeologist" of the Mexican court of Maximilian, Boban was also a member of the French Scientific Commission in Mexico, whose work the Paris Exposition was designed to highlight. (The exhibition was not entirely successful in showcasing Louis Napoleon's second empire, since its opening coincided with the execution of Maximilian by the forces of Mexican president Benito Juárez.) One small crystal skull was purchased in 1874 for 28 pesos by Mexico City's national museum from the Mexican collector Luis Costantino, and another for 30 pesos in 1880. In 1886, the Smithsonian bought a small crystal skull, this one from the collection of Augustin Fischer, who had been Emperor Maximilian's secretary in Mexico. But it disappeared mysteriously from the collection some time after 1973. It had been on display in an exhibit of archaeological fakes after William Foshag, a Smithsonian mineralogist, realized in the 1950s that it had been carved with a modern lapidary wheel.

In 1886, the Smithsonian acquired a crystal skull that may have been a pre-Columbian bead re-carved in the 19th century. This catalogue entry shows the object at close to its actual size, and with a vertical drill hole through its center. (Courtesy of Paula Fleming Collection) These small objects represent the "first generation" of crystal skulls, and they are all drilled through from top to bottom. The drill holes may in fact be pre-Columbian in origin, and the skulls may have been simple Mesoamerican quartz crystal beads, later re-carved for the European market as little mementos mori, or objects meant to remind their owners of the eventuality of death. In my research into the provenance of crystal skulls, I kept encountering Boban's name. He arrived in Mexico in his teens and spent an idyllic youth conducting his own archaeological expeditions and collecting exotic birds. Boban fell in love with Mexican culture--becoming fluent in Spanish and Nahuatl, the Aztec language--and began to make his living selling archaeological artifacts and natural history specimens through a family business in Mexico City.

After returning to France, he opened an antiquities shop in Paris in the 1870s and sold a large part of his original Mexican archaeological collection to Alphonse Pinart, a French explorer and ethnographer. In 1878, Pinart donated the collection, which included three crystal skulls, to the Trocadero, the precursor of the Musée de l'Homme. Boban had acquired the third skull in the Pinart collection sometime after his return to Paris; it is several times larger than any of the others from this early period, measuring about 4 inches high. This skull, now in the Musée du Quai Branly, has a large hole drilled vertically through its center. There is a comparable, though smaller, skull (about 2.5 inches high) in a private collection. It serves as the base for a crucifix; the somewhat larger Quai Branly skull may have had a similar use. Macabre Obsession The 19th century was a period of keen fascination with skulls and skeletons in Europe.

During the reign of Louis Napoleon (1852-1870), French artists created stereoscopic photographs, called Diableries, of miniature dioramas of skeletons at dress balls, libraries (below), conferences with the devil, and in amorous trysts. Wicked lampoons of corruption at Napoleon's court, they illustrate how popular skeletal imagery was when the first crystal skulls made their appearance. (Courtesy of Paula Fleming Collection) A second-generation skull--life-size and without a vertical hole--first appeared in 1881 in the Paris shop of none other than Boban. This skull is just under 6 inches high. The description in the catalogue he published provided no findspot for the object and it is listed separately from his Mexican antiquities. Boban called it a "masterpiece" of lapidary technology, and noted that it was "unique in the world." Despite being one of a kind, the skull failed to sell, so when Boban returned to Mexico City in 1885, after a 16-year absence, he took it with him.

He exhibited it alongside a collection of actual human skulls in his shop, which he dubbed the "Museo Cientifico." According to local gossip, Boban tried to sell it to Mexico's national museum as an Aztec artifact, in partnership with Leopoldo Batres, whose official government title was protector of pre-Hispanic monuments. But the museum's curator assumed the skull was a glass fake and refused to purchase it. Then Batres denounced Boban as a fraud and accused him of smuggling antiquities. In July 1886, the French antiquarian moved his museum business and collection to New York City and later held an auction of several thousand archaeological artifacts, colonial Mexican manuscripts, and a large library of books. Tiffany & Co. bought the crystal skull at this auction for $950. A decade later, Tiffany's sold it to the British Museum for the original purchase price. Interestingly, Boban's 1886 catalogue for the New York auction lists yet another crystal skull. Of the smaller variety, it is described as being from the "Valley of Mexico" and is listed with a crystal hand, which is described as Aztec. Neither of these objects can now be accounted for.

A third generation of skulls appeared some time before 1934, when Sidney Burney, a London art dealer, purchased a crystal skull of proportions almost identical to the specimen the British Museum bought from Tiffany's. There is no information about where he got it, but it is very nearly a replica of the British Museum skull--almost exactly the same shape, but with more detailed modeling of the eyes and the teeth. It also has a separate mandible, which puts it in a class by itself. In 1943, it was sold at Sotheby's in London to Frederick Arthur (Mike) Mitchell-Hedges, a well-to-do English deep-sea fisherman, explorer, and yarn-spinner extraordinaire. Since the 1954 publication of Mitchell-Hedges's memoir, Danger My Ally, this third-generation, twentieth-century skull has acquired a Maya origin, as well as a number of fantastic, Indiana Jones-like tall tales. His adopted daughter, Anna Mitchell-Hedges, who died last year at the age of 100, cared for it for 60 years, occasionally exhibiting the skull privately for a fee.

It is currently in the possession of her widower, but 10 nieces and nephews have also laid claim to it. Known as the Skull of Doom, the Skull of Love, or simply the Mitchell-Hedges Skull, it is said to emit blue lights from its eyes, and has reputedly crashed computer hard drives. The Mitchell-Hedges skull, top, and the British Museum skull were the subject of a series of 1936 articles in which British Museum curator Adrian Digby and physical anthropologist G. M. Morant debated whether the two were based on the same original skull, which Digby posited was perhaps revered as a Mesoamerican "death god." Although nearly all of the crystal skulls have at times been identified as Aztec, Toltec, Mixtec, or occasionally Maya, they do not reflect the artistic or stylistic characteristics of any of these cultures. The Aztec and Toltec versions of death heads were nearly always carved in basalt, occasionally were covered with stucco, and were probably all painted. They were usually either attached to walls or altars, or depicted in bas reliefs of deities as ornaments worn on belts.

They are comparatively crudely carved, but are more naturalistic than the crystal skulls, particularly in the depiction of the teeth. The Mixtec occasionally fabricated skulls in gold, but these representations are more precisely described as skull-like faces with intact eyes, noses, and ears. The Maya also carved skulls, but in relief on limestone. Often these skulls, depicted in profile, represent days of their calendars. French and other European buyers imagined they were buying skillful pre-Columbian carvings, partially convinced perhaps by their own fascinated horror with Aztec human sacrifice. But the Aztecs didn't hang crystal skulls around their necks. Instead, they displayed the skulls of sacrificial victims on racks, impaling them horizontally through the sides (the parietal-temporal region), not vertically. I believe that all of the smaller crystal skulls that constitute the first generation of fakes were made in Mexico around the time they were sold, between 1856 and 1880. This 24-year period may represent the output of a single artisan, or perhaps a single workshop.

The larger 1878 Paris skull seems to be some sort of transitional piece, as it follows the vertical drilling of the smaller pieces, but its size precludes it being a bead, or being worn in any way. This skull now resides in the basement laboratories of the Louvre, and the Musée du Quai Branly has begun a program of scientific testing on the piece that will include advanced elemental analysis techniques like particle induced X-ray emission and Raman spectroscopy, so we may know more about its material and age in the near future. South American Idol? In the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones is hot on the trail of an extremely valuable golden idol created by an unidentified ancient South American culture. The goddess's image, which Jones deftly snatches from an altar (setting off a series of booby traps that culminate with an enormous boulder nearly crushing our hero), is of a woman in the act of giving birth. The golden figure was modeled on a purportedly Aztec greenstone carving called Tlazolteotl, considered to be a masterpiece by the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington, D.C.

In my research into the object's acquisition history, I discovered that a Chinese dealer in Paris sold the figure in 1883 to a famous French mineralogist, Augustin Damour. His friend, Eugene Boban, advised Damour on the purchase. In examining the artifact's iconography, I found that the birthing position is unknown in documented pre-Columbian artifacts or depictions in codices. I have also used scanning electron microscopy to analyze the manufacture of the idol and have found there is ample evidence of the use of modern rotary cutting tools on the object's surface. In my opinion, the Tlazolteotl idol, like the crystal skulls, is a nineteenth-century fake. The 1878 Paris skull and the Boban-Tiffany-British Museum skull that appeared in 1881 are perhaps nineteenth-century European inventions. There is no direct tie to Mexico for either of these two larger skulls, except through Boban; they simply appear in Paris long after his initial return from Mexico in 1869.

The Mitchell-Hedges skull, which appears after 1934, is a veritable copy of the British Museum skull, with stylistic and technical flourishes that only an accomplished faker would devise. In fact, in 1936 British Museum scholar Adrian Digby first raised the possibility that the Mitchell-Hedges skull could be a copy of the British Museum skull since it showed "a perverted ingenuity such as one would expect to find in a forger." However, Digby, then a young curator, did not suggest it was a modern forgery and also dismissed the possibility that his museum's own crystal skull was a fraud, as early twentieth-century microscopic examination did not reveal the presence of modern tool marks. The skull that arrived at the Smithsonian 16 years ago represents yet another generation of these hoaxes. According to its anonymous donor, it was purchased in Mexico in 1960, and its size perhaps reflects the exuberance of the time. In comparison with the original nineteenth-century skulls, the Smithsonian skull is enormous; at 31 pounds and nearly 10 inches high, it dwarfs all others. I believe it was probably manufactured in Mexico shortly before it was sold.

(The skull is now part of the Smithsonian's national collections and even has its own catalogue number: 409954. At the moment it is stored in a locked cabinet in my office.) There are now fifth- and probably sixth-generation skulls, and I have been asked to examine quite a number of them. Collectors have brought me skulls purportedly from Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, and even Tibet. Some of these "crystal" skulls have turned out to be glass; a few are made of resin. British Museum scientist Margaret Sax and I examined the British Museum and Smithsonian skulls under light and scanning electron microscope and conclusively determined that they were carved with relatively modern lapidary equipment, which were unavailable to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican carvers. (A preliminary report on our research is on the British Museum website, So why have crystal skulls had such a long and successful run, and why do some museums continue to exhibit them, despite their lack of archaeological context and obvious iconographic, stylistic, and technical problems? Though the British Museum exhibits its skulls as examples of fakes, others still offer them up as the genuine article. Mexico's national museum, for example, identifies its skulls as the work of Aztec and Mixtec artisans.

Perhaps it is because, like the Indiana Jones movies, these macabre objects are reliable crowd-pleasers. Impressed by their technical excellence and gleaming polish, generations of museum curators and private collectors have been taken in by these objects. But they are too good to be true. If we consider that pre-Columbian lapidaries used stone, bone, wooden, and possibly copper tools with abrasive sand to carve stone, crystal skulls are much too perfectly carved and highly polished to be believed. Ultimately, the truth behind the skulls may have gone to the grave with Boban, a masterful dealer of many thousands of pre-Columbian artifacts--including at least five different crystal skulls--now safely ensconced in museums worldwide. He managed to confound a great many people for a very long time and has left an intriguing legacy, one that continues to puzzle us a century after his death. Boban confidently sold museums and private collectors some of the most intriguing fakes known, and perhaps many more yet to be recognized. It sounds like a great premise for a movie. Jane MacLaren Walsh is an anthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. ARCHAEOLOGY v. Crystal Skull Explorer : Senior Editor Eric A.

Powell talks about crystal skulls in this segment from the FOX News television show "Hannity's America." See all of our coverage of Hoaxes, Fakes, and Strange Sites .

© 2008 by the Archaeological Institute of America archive.archaeology.org/0805/etc/indy.html Amazon.com: Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection (Special Editions of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark / Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade): Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Kate Capshaw, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Ronald Lacey, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Higgins, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Jeffrey Boam, Lawrence Kasdan, Menno Meyjes, Philip Kaufman, Willard Huyck: Movies & TV By Frederick Baptist on June 12, 2010 Format: DVD|Verified Purchase This widescreen version of the adventure trilogy on standard dvds is very well put together as both the picture and sound quality is very good although for the picture format presented in widescreen means that you should be prepared for the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. That doesn't bother me that much and so I found this collection to be a real treat.

The sound quality has clearly benefitted from the THX mastering and the 5.1 surround option completes the viewing experience. Included is a fourth disc of bonus materials and all four discs fit well into a neat, well designed slipcase. After viewing this again recently, I've discovered that the films have aged a little and so have lost some of their entertainment value although I thought "The Last Crusade" was still a very good movie to watch and to a lesser extent so was "Raiders of the Lost Ark" but "Temple of Doom" is clearly the weakest of the lot. I recall that I didn't enjoy it as much when I first saw it in the theatres way back when and sure enough it hasn't aged well and I have to say I still didn't enjoy it watching it again this time around. Overall though, this is a good way to kick back and escape every now and then. This pack is a well produced version of all three films in the standard dvd format and I wonder how much better the Blu-ray version will be when they finally get around to releasing that. Recommended!

Update: I've just seen the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" disc from here on a Blu-ray player that enhances standard discs to 1080p and boy is the difference stunning! The picture quality is very, very good and so is the sound. I think I won't need to "upgrade" to a Blu-ray version after watching this! Just seen the other two and ditto with respect sound and picture quality for both. By Count Orlok '22 on September 24, 2008 Format: DVD|Verified Purchase In 1981, Steven Spielberg ( Jaws ) and George Lucas ( Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope ) reinvented the pulp adventure genre that they had fallen in love with during their youth. Their film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was the perfect tribute to Saturday matinee serials and boys' adventure magazines. Not only did Spielberg and Lucas create the greatest action film in decades (and perhaps in the history of American movies), but they also introduced movie audiences to the greatest adventure hero since the days of Allan Quatermain, Tarzan, and Doc Savage.

Harrison Ford, who lent his devil-may-care attitude to the globetrotting archaeologist, embodied Indiana Jones as no other actor could. Raiders of the Lost Ark became more than a blockbuster; it was the birth of an American icon and the first chapter in one of the greatest film franchises ever. Raiders of the Lost Ark - 1981 Adventurer and archaeologist, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) searches for the fabled Lost Ark of the Covenant while being pursued by insidious Nazis and their vile henchmen. Along the way he reunites with his former lover, the feisty Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and confronts charming, treasure-hunting rival, Belloq (Paul Freeman). Indiana also encounters tarantulas, poisonous serpents, a deadly Arab swordsman, and a host of other perils and pitfalls, all of which he overcomes with a sly grin. But can even this daring heroic figure survive the lure and the power of the legendary Lost Ark? After the huge success, both commercial and critical, of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas set out to tell a second fantastic Indiana Jones story.

However, this time they decided to use darker thematic material and in so doing caused some controversy. When Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in 1984, it became immediately apparent that the film was darker and, in all likelihood, too violent and intense for children. The film utilized elements of pulp adventure stories, as had Raiders of the Lost Ark, but there was a greater emphasis on violence and horror. Many critics accused the film of being too extreme and even disturbing, and said that it lacked the spirit of fun that made the first film so accessible. Despite the negative reviews, no one could deny the film's commercial appeal or its originality. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 1984 After narrowly escaping from Asian gangsters, Indiana Jones, his young sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), and ditzy American singer Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott (Kate Capshaw) find themselves stranded in a small village in India. They soon take notice that there are no children in the village and they are told that the children were taken by a cult that worships the Goddess of Death, Kali.

Indiana Jones finds connections between the story of the missing children and old legends of sacred stones that hold great power. He, Short Round, and Willie Scott go to Pankot Palace, where they discover that the cult has taken over the palace using a supernatural method of brainwashing, voodoo practices, ritualistic human sacrifice, and worse... they've enslaved the villagers' children. Can Indiana Jones find the sacred stones, stop the cult, and return the stolen children to their parents? In 1989, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas released their third Indiana Jones film. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was a more light-hearted adventure with the welcome addition of Sean Connery as Indiana's father, Prof. Henry Jones. The film relied heavily on action and comedy, and was at times overly formulaic and reminiscent of the first Indiana Jones film. Despite some flaws in the script, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade became another mega-hit and provided the characters with a wonderful finale (which has since been rendered moot by the decision to make more Indy films) where they actually ride off into the sunset. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 1989 After his father, Prof.

Henry Jones (Sean Connery), goes missing during his search for the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones teams up with Elsa (Alison Doody), an Austrian researcher to find him. When Indiana Jones rescues Prof. Jones from the Nazis, he discovers that Elsa is a traitor and that the Nazis are close to uncovering the resting place of the Holy Grail, which has the power to give whoever drinks from it immortality. Can Indiana Jones and his father beat the Nazis in this epic race between good and evil? These three films form one of the most successful trilogies of all time, and it's no wonder that Indiana Jones is still in the public eye after all of these years. The three films feature an extraordinary cast including Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Julian Glover, and River Phoenix. Besides the wonderful cast, one of the main reasons for the longevity of the Indiana Jones series are the action set pieces, which include some of the most memorable stunts ever captured on film.

Who can forget the first time that they saw Indy skillfully swing across a chasm using his trusty bullwhip, or outrunning a giant boulder, or survive being in a room full of lethally venomous asps, or being chased by cult members in a mine cart, or cutting a bridge in half while he's still on it, or chasing an armored tank while on horseback? As you can see there's no limit to his adventures. Since his debut, Indiana Jones has been emulated and imitated, but never duplicated. The quality of the writing, the direction, the acting, the production design, and the stunt work are unmatched by any other films within the genre. The series is also given an emotional resonance with the help of John William's brilliant theme music and scores. Though the series, much like Indiana Jones himself, has seen its share of ups and downs, it will undoubtedly go down in cinematic history as the greatest adventure films ever made. The Adventures of Indiana Jones- The Complete DVD Movie Collection contains Indy's first three classic films, which have been gloriously restored and remastered for maximum video and audio quality.

Also included in this excellent 4-disc set are the following bonus materials: the comprehensive three-part documentary Making the Trilogy, The Stunts of Indiana Jones featurette, The Sound of Indiana Jones featurette, The Music of Indiana Jones featurette, The Light and magic of Indiana Jones featurette, theatrical trailers for all three films, and access to exclusive online features. I think it's safe to say that the man in the hat will be around for many more years to come. Also recommended:

Question: What science features in the "Indiana Jones" film series?
Answer: Archaeology