92 The Atlantis Encyclopedia
travel author, F.A. Mitchell-Hedges. After his death in the following decade, it
passed to his adopted daughter, Anna, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where it
remains at this writing.
Both she and her father claimed the Crystal Skull was made in Atlantis,
although without foundation. Even so, as a Mesoamerican symbol, it is associated
with Ixchel, a transparently Atlantean figure worshiped by the Maya as the goddess
of healing and psychic power who arrived on the shores of Yucatan as a flood-
survivor. Her later Aztec version as Coyolxauqui was accompanied by a crystal
skull, emblematic of the moon and her identification as a lunar deity.
The Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull demonstrates an extraordinarily high level
of craftsmanship, perhaps even a technology superior not only to that of the
ancient Mexicans, but to our own, as well. Whether or not it is an authentic
Atlantean artifact, it was probably used originally in an oracular function on
behalf of Ixchel to predict the future or offer intuitive medical advice for her
Maya or Aztec clients.
(See Ixchel)Cuchavira
A goddess who led survivors from the watery destruction of their former realm
in the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of Colombia, where they intermarried with
native peoples to engender the Muysca Indians.
(See Bochica)Plaster cast of the Crystal Skull, created during a forensic reconstruction of
the actual cranial remains after which the jeweled masterpiece was modeled.