On September 26, 2023, an anonymous Facebook user Archangel Allan published a picture of a skull with one eye. The post shows that part of the skull is filled with metal. As the author of the post claims that it is not known whether the skull, which is 7,000 years old and was found near New York, belongs to an animal, and other bones of the body have not been traced. According to the claim, the skull was initially exhibited in the main building of the New York Museum of Archeology, but now it can no longer be seen. According to the author, the skull was stolen in France in 2006, and then it was accidentally found under the floor of a house prepared for demolition.
The shared post is no longer publicly available.
The disseminated photo is altered and information about discovery is false. However, the skull with the wound filled with metal does exist, though it has 2 eye sockets. Also, it was found not near New-York, but in Peru and the information about its theft is not confirmed.
On September 6, 2020, the museum of Skeletons (Osteology) in Oklahoma,US has branded an elongated skull fused together with metal as “one of our most interesting” pieces dating back to 2000 years, with experts saying it is one of the earliest examples of surgery amongst ancient peoples. The skull had been in the museum’s private collection but after a surge of public interest in the artifact it was put on display in 2020. According to the museum, not much is known about the elongate skull, however, it appears that the operation was successful, as evidenced by the healed bone surrounding the implant. Due to public interest, the museum published another post in 2021, explaining that the skull was now available at the museum. According to the Museum of Osteology, the skull indeed belongs to a person, and the metal in the head was intended to fill broken bones.
The information on whether a skull, part of which is filled with metal, really exists, was verified by the fact-checking organization Snopes.
The author of the post claims that the skull is 7,000 years old, which is not true – scientists estimate that the skull is 2,000 years old. Also, open and reliable sources do not confirm the information about its theft and then being found in the floor of a house.
It is widely believed that a soldier, upon his return from the battleground, faced a dire need for urgent medical aid. Despite its seemingly otherworldly appearance, it is crucial to acknowledge that the elongated shape of the skull is attributed to a widespread ancient practice known as head-binding, prevalent in ancient Peru and several other regions globally.
The surgery was performed without sterilization or anesthesia, although the patients seemed to tolerate it. John Verano, an archaeologist at Tulane University and the author of the book Holes in the Head, explains in an interview with National Geographic that after a similar operation in the Inca Empire, the number of survivors exceeded 70%. In his own words, the earliest traces of the trepanation procedure can be traced to Paracas, on the southern coast of Peru, where only about 40% of people survived due to the size of the holes.
It should also be noted that the artificially deformed, elongated skull was characteristic not only of Peru, but also of other peoples. The shape of the skull mainly provided us with information about the status of a person. Often, a skull of this shape was considered the ideal of beauty.
Anoush Grigourian
Myth Detector Laboratory
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