While in Dorland's care the skull came to the attention of writer Richard Garvin, at the time working at an advertising agency where he supervised Hewlett-Packard's advertising account. Garvin made arrangements for the skull to be examined at HP's crystal labs at Santa Clara, where it was subjected to several tests. The labs determined only that it was not a composite (as Dorland had supposed), but was fashioned from a single crystal of quartz.[17] The lab test also established that the lower jaw had been fashioned from the same left-handed growing crystal as the rest of the skull.[18] No investigation was made by HP as to its method of manufacture or dating.[19]
As well as the traces of mechanical grinding on the teeth noted by Dorland,[20] Mayanist archaeologist Norman Hammond reported that the holes (presumed to be intended for support pegs) showed signs of being made by drilling with metal.[21] Anna Mitchell-Hedges refused subsequent requests to submit the skull to further scientific testing.[22]
F. A. Mitchell-Hedges mentioned the skull only briefly in the first edition of his autobiography, Danger My Ally (1954), without specifying where or by whom it was found.[23] He merely claimed that "it is at least 3,600 years old and according to legend was used by the High Priest of the Maya when performing esoteric rites. It is said that when he willed death with the help of the skull, death invariably followed".[24] All subsequent editions of Danger My Ally omitted mention of the skull entirely.[25]
Eugène Boban, main French dealer in pre-Columbian artifacts during the second half of the 19th century and probable source of many famous skulls
Eugène Boban, main French dealer in pre-Columbian artifacts during the second half of the 19th century and probable source of many famous skulls
The earliest published reference to the skull is the July 1936 issue of the British anthropological journal Man, where it is described as in the possession of Mr. Sydney Burney, a London art dealer said to have owned it since 1933.[26] No mention was made of Mitchell-Hedges. There is documentary evidence that Mitchell-Hedges bought it from Burney in 1944.[27] The skull was in the custody of Anna Mitchell-Hedges, the adopted daughter of Frederick. She steadfastly refused to let it be examined by experts (making very doubtful that claim that it was reported on by R. Stansmore Nutting in 1962). Somewhere between 1988-1990 Anna Mitchell-Hedges toured with the skull. In her last eight years Anna Mitchell-Hedges lived in Chesterton, Indiana, with Bill Homann. He took care of her until she died on 11th of April, 2007. Since that time the Mitchell-Hedges Skull has been in the custody of Bill Homann.
