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        Crystals: (The Prehistoric Use of)...

The fascination and reverence for crystals is not a recent phenomena...

 

 

 

 

Crystals are associated with human funerary rituals dating back from at least the Lower Palaeolithic era.

  • A Chronology of Crystal use.

  • The Physical Properties of Crystals.

  • Crystals and the Megaliths.

  • The Crystal Skulls.

  • Crystalmancy.

  • Crystal Lenses.

 

 

 

   Chronology of Crystal Use:

Homo Erectus Pekinensis: (c. 500,000 B.C) Quartz tools and numerous pieces of quartz crystal found with remains of 'Peking Man' in Zhoukoudian, Beijing. (7) According to the original excavation report, more than 10,000 stone tools have been recovered since the site was first excavated in 1921. Forty-four different raw materials were used by the ancient inhabitants of the cave, and 89 per cent of this raw material is quartz. The remainder of the raw materials used includes 5 per cent rock crystal. (8)

 

Article: Crystal Artefacts Unearthed In a Palaeolithic Cave in China:

'It was announced in a press conference held on 8 August 2009 by a Chinese provincial cultural relic authority, that a cave containing rich artefacts including crystals dating back to so-called "Palaeolithic Age" 30,000 years ago has been discovered'.

(Link to Article)

 

Rock-Crystal tools, Magdalenian, Austria - (17,000 - 9,000 BC)

Rock crystal is normally a poor choice for a knapping stone, as its crystalline structure is relatively course. Only large, pure crystals of rock crystal, can be used to produce longer blades, which are not present at the site. Why this material is preferred at Gudenus cave and several other sites remains an unresolved question.

'In Europe Rock crystal was occasionally used during the Mousterian in S/W-France (Les Merveilles and Laussel in the Dordogne, La Chapelle-aux-Saints and Chez-Poure in the Corr�ze). Rock crystal Solutrean leaf points are known from Le Placard (Charente), and from the rock shelter of Badegoule (Dordogne). Rock crystal was also used during the Hungarian Epigravettian and during the Magdalenian at Zitny Cave in Moravia'.

(Link to Full Article)

 

8,000 to 7,000 BC - Crystal Spear-tips, France - On display in the Sion History Museum, France (6).

 

6,000 BC - Quartz crystals used in ritual burials, California. (2) Burials from the US 'Early horizon' have revealed a large number of quartz artefacts. Almost one-quarter of the burials have whole or fragmentary quartz crystals, sometimes in large numbers.

3,500 BC - First Man-made glass from Egypt .

3,300 BC - Quartz Crystal Mined in Egypt.

2,000 BC - Kept in the form of lenses by the people of Nineveh and Crete.

(More about the Crystal Lens)

 

Link to ancient Peru page.

 

 

The Quartz beads in the picture (left) were discovered on a Peruvian mummy. The beads are so small that it is that it is unknown by what method they could have been fashioned. A remarkable achievement.

 (Prehistoric Peru)

 

 

 

 

17th- 16th Cent BC - Grave Circle B 'The Grave of the Crystals' (part of the prehistoric cemetery at Mycenae) - Grave 'Omicron' belonged to a woman whose many grave gifts included gold jewellery, diadems with repousse decoration and necklaces. This grave is conventionally named 'the Grave of the crystals', owing to its exquisite duck-shaped rock-crystal kymbe and bronze pins with ornate rock-crystal heads. Of particular interest are the semi-precious stone necklaces, as well as one made of amber, precious material imported from north-western Europe. (4)

(More about Mycenaean Greece)

 

 

Article: (Nov, 2011). Vikings Used Crystals to Navigate at Sea: (Quick-Link)

 

 

 

   Crystals and the Megaliths:

It seems that quartzite stone was the preference of the megalithic builders. The extra effort involved in transporting particular stone from further distances, in preference to using more abundant and locally available stone, suggests that stones were selected for specific properties. The consistent use of crystalline stone, which is far more challenging to work with,  in ancient constructions such as at Stonehenge and the Granite-lined chambers and passages of pyramids, tombs and temples around the world support this idea.

 

The Specific Selection of Stone types.

While it is apparent that the megalithic builders showed a preference for certain stone types, the reason for this has yet to be explained satisfactorily. The extra distance and effort required to employ specific stones in ancient structures offers us with a clue as to the possible aspirations of the builders.

As noted above, the pyramid builders at Giza went to great lengths to include granite in their sacred buildings, transporting it hundreds of miles in preference to the more readily available limestone. At Giza, we can see that granite was used for the lower levels of casing blocks on both Menkaure and Khafre's pyramids, whilst in the Great pyramid of Khufu, it is found only on internal features (plugs, girdle stones, antechamber portal stones, kings chamber). The selection of features for which granite was chosen reveals something interesting: namely, that it was not just used structurally. So, at the same time as recognising that granite is a stronger stone, there are other reasons why granite was selected for use in sacred structures. This supposition is supported by evidence from other megalithic structures, for example:

Although the area surrounding Stonehenge is littered with perfectly suitable sarsen stones, the builders chose to use over 80 Bluestones instead, requiring them to transport them over 200 miles from the Prescilly mountains in Wales. It is perhaps relevant then that a piece of bluestone was found in almost every one of the 59 Y and Z holes.  At Stonehenge, the specific selection of stones was continued to the slaughter stone which, while all the other stones were either sarsen or bluestone, it alone is made of a sandstone laden with Mica.

 

At Newgrange in Ireland, we are told that while the mound was built from 280,000 tons of river-rolled stones, but that the builders also chose to travel 50 miles to the coast to collect the white granite stones that are were used to make up the face of the mound. (Site guide)

The idea that quartz had a significance beyond its strength alone is reinforced by the several findings of crystals in funerary remains and it is also common to find 'significant' stones at the European megaliths either made entirely of granite or having quartz seams in them, for example:

 

Boscawen-Un, in England is a granite circle of 19 stones, and was suggested by W. Stuckley as having been one of the first circles in UK. (The 19 stones being suggestive of the 18.6yr lunar cycle). Although the whole circle is composed of granite stones, there is a single white quartz stone at the S/SW of side the circle (aligning the centre with the May-day sunrise).

Two huge 15-ton portal-stones at Castelruddery, also in Ireland.

At Balquhain stone circle (and Bannau Sir Gaer), in Scotland the builders chose white granite for the outlying stones.

At Glenquickan, also in Scotland, a white granite obelisk was placed in the centre of the circle.

And at the Hurlers triple circle, the centre of the circle was coated with a bed of quartz crystals.

The Excavation of the Aztec 'Templo Mayor' site in Mexico, produced a funerary casket, from the inner-most layers of the pyramid, beneath a Chac-mool statue, 'thought to represent the god Quetzalcoatl'. Within the casket were found several crystal artefacts which included; Several crystal cylinders, thought to represent the 'feathered tail of Quetzalcoatl'. Crystal Lip-plugs, crystal ear-spools and a row of thirteen crystal beads 'thought to have been part of a necklace'. (1).

All of the above examples highlight the fact that granite (or perhaps crystal), was considered to have special qualities other than just strength. Records show several examples of crystals and quartz being placed alongside funerary remains (a feature that can be traced back to Palaeolithic times), and a fact that raises the question of whether or not the megalithic builders were aware of the other physical properties of crystal.

(More about Specific Stone Selection)

(Article - The Language of Stone - Stone Worship in Prehistory)

 

 

   Crystalmancy : Magic and Healing:

Research Scientist, Marcel Vogel states that a crystal is able to transmit energy in a form that has discreet biological effects. This is most like a resonance effect. (9)

The Pineal Gland: The Earth is a huge magnetic sphere. The E/M field of the Earth varies in strength and consistency through the ages. Our bodies own magnetic frequencies and our bio-field patterns react to this variance of the Earth�s field. The pineal gland is the principal structure in the brain that is directly sensitive to the Earth�s magnetic field. The Pineal Gland Senses the Field.  To sense the Field the Pineal Gland contains small calcite crystals. (Ref: Wikipedia).

 

Article: 'Caves and Crystalmancy: Evidence for the use of Crystals in Ancient Mayan Religion'.

'Modified and unmodified fragments of rock crystal have been recovered from a number of caves in the southern Maya Lowlands, suggesting that theses tones were used in ancient ritual' ... 'Ethnographic literature reports the utilisation of crystals to be restricted to ritual specialists for use in caring and divining' ... 'The power of crystals was apparently believed to be derived from the power of the earth so that crystals found in caves, which are also connected to the earth, might be considered especially powerful ... Evidence suggests that caves may have been an important source of these "power" objects'. (3)

 

 

 

 

   The Crystal Skulls:

There are a number of well known crystal skulls which have been carved from solid rock-crystal. Their origin has always a matter of contention.

   

From left to right : Mitchell-Hedges, 'Cursed' Smithsonian, Max, and the British Museum skull.

Note - The Mitchell-Hedges skull, has a unique separate jaw-bone made from the same lump of crystal.

 

From left to right: British Museum, Max, Monte-Alban Goblet, Smithsonian, Modern German, British museum 'tiny', 'Sha Na Ra'.

 

Article: Science Daily. (2008): Origin of two crystal skulls determined.

New research suggests that two well-known crystal skulls, in the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, did not, after all, come from ancient Mexico. Academics now believe the British skull was made in 19th century Europe and the American one even more recently.

The British Museum bought its skull, a life-size carving from a single block of rock crystal from Tiffany and Company, New York in 1897

However, there have been doubts about the authenticity of the skull since the 1930s. Now an international team has used the latest scientific techniques to examine the British Museum skull and a larger white quartz skull donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1992. Electron microscope analysis for tool marks found both skulls were carved with rotary disc-shaped tool -- a technology which the Ancient Mexicans did not have. Analysis of the quartz in the British Museum skull suggests it was quarried from Brazil or Madagascar -- far outside the Ancient Mexicans' trading links.

The team, made up of experts from Cardiff University, the British Museum, the Smithsonian and Kingston University, concluded that neither skull could have been made in Mexico before the time of Columbus. They believe the British skull was created in Europe in the 19th century, and the Smithsonian's shortly before it was bought in Mexico City in 1960.

 

 

 

   The Physical Properties of Crystal:

Electrical properties - Crystals act as transducers, transforming and transmuting energy from one form to another. Quartz crystals in particular behave as capacitors, storing energy in a form which can later be discharged. Some also function as multi-wave oscillators, capable of dealing with a wide range of frequencies.

Article: iTechPost - (Nov, 2013) - Light Improves Electrical Conductivity in Crystals by 400%

 

The 'Hope Diamond' (Diamond of Disaster) - Currently owned by the Smithsonian Institute, Washington. A catalogue of disasters befell the owners of this notorious diamond. It was eventually lent to the De Beers research laboratory in Johannesburg in 1965, where scientists discovered that the diamond's rare deep-blue colour was caused by the replacement of a few of the carbon atoms at crucial points in the crystal lattice by atoms of Boron. The result of this unusual occlusion is that the diamond was acting as a powerful Semi-Conductor of electricity (only conducting under certain conditions by stimuli involving heat, light, pressure, or other electromagnetic energies).

(Ref: The Secret life of Inanimate Objects).

 When pressure is applied to a crystal it produces electricity. Many modern lighters use this property in their 'sparkers'.

Quartz in Radios: When a crystal is made to vibrate at its natural frequency by the application of a voltage, the system is said to be in resonance. A crystal in resonance will maintain a constant, unfaltering frequency. When coupled with vacuum tubes or transistors, this constant frequency can be changed into a radio signal. Such was the design of the quartz radio, used primarily during World War II. (5)

Quartz in Clocks: All clocks rely upon some form of oscillator to keep regular time; for example, mechanical clocks sometimes use a pendulum to regulate the motion of their hands. In a quartz timepiece, a small ring-shaped piece of crystal is made to vibrate at its natural frequency. Because the crystal's vibration is unfaltering, quartz clocks are among the most precise timekeeping devices, losing less than one hundred thousandth of a second each day. Quartz crystals can be used to regulate both digital and analogue clocks and watches. (5)

There is a clear and definite association between megaliths (which show a preference for quartz granite), and underground water-sources. 

 

Crystals and Water -It is a curious fact that when a crystal is placed under pressure it produces electricity. Experiments by Marcel Vogel, a research chemist for IBM over 27 years, suggest that water (as long as it's not too pure) can act as an electrolyte and pick up charge from a crystal with which it comes into contact. Measurements by spectrophotometer, an instrument for comparing light radiation, show changes in the 'atomic footprint' of water before and after exposure in this way. Paul Devereaux began the 'Dragon project' in order to research this particular aspect of the megaliths.

'The first experiments on manufacturing or growing synthetic quartz began in 1851, but it was not until the latter part of the 20th century that the process was sufficiently perfected for the manufactured quartz to be of practicable use to the electronics industry' (1)

 

(Natural Earth Energies)

 

   The Crystal Lens, Nineveh:
 

The Crystal �lens� from Nineveh (Kuyunjik, Iraq)

In 1853, Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) presented a lens to the British Association for the Advancement of Science that had been found in excavations by Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) at Nineveh (Kuyunjik, Iraq). It had been found in deposits dated around 600 BC and although its provenance was not in question, doubts were raised about its function. Whilst it clearly works as a lens, it was thought to have been used as a decoration in a piece of jewellery.

With this object, we can see how contemporary perceptions of form and function may not always be correct. The �obvious� interpretation of a ground oval crystal with a biconvex cross-section as an optical lens is not a guide to its original function. What would be the context for such a piece in the ancient Near East? Had it been part of a piece of optical equipment, there ought to be other evidence for such equipment. If, say, it were part of an astronomical telescope, then elements of the telescopes and their mountings ought to be found. If part of a pair of spectacles, then some sort of frame should be found from time to time.

In relation to the idea that the lens may have originally been part of a telescope, it is interesting to note that there is evidence from the Middle-east that supports the idea of telescopes being used in antiquity. Most revealing of all are the thousands of clay tablets recovered from Nineveh, which record the observations of objects only visible with the use of optical assistance. The following text adequately describes this fact:

The ancients apparently used the telescope long before Pythagoras�s time. Babylonian astronomers, like the one illustrated on the ancient seal above, catalogued the non-planetary fixed stars, observed and recorded their observations on occultation's of the planets by the sun and moon, and determined correctly within a small fraction the length of the synodic revolution of the moon.  They also knew the true length of the solar year was 365 days and a quarter. In fact, the exact length of the ancient Babylonian year has been determined to have been 365 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes, which varies less than two minutes from the sidereal year.  They also ascribed eclipses of the sun to the interposition of the moon between the sun and the earth, and they apparently knew the arrangement of at least seven planets and spotted some of their moons�which certainly requires the use of a telescope.

Their long line of astronomical records on clay tablets stored in the British Museum, dating back to 747 B.C., indicate they observed some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.  �There is said to be distinct evidence that they observed the four satellites of Jupiter, and strong reason to believe that they were acquainted likewise with the seven satellites of Saturn,� wrote the English Orientalist George Rawlinson, in the 1860�s.  �It has generally been assumed that they were wholly ignorant of the telescope,� added this Camden professor of ancient history. �But if the satellites of Saturn are really mentioned, as it is thought that they are, upon some of the tablets, it will follow�strange as it may seem to us�that the Babylonians probably possessed optical instruments of the nature of telescopes, since it is impossible, even in the clear vapourless sky of Chaldea [ancient Babylonia], to discern the faint moons of that distant planet without lenses.�

Ref: http://ancientskyscraper.com/224801.html

(More about Prehistoric Lenses)

(Ooparts)

(Anomalous Artefacts)

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References:

1). C. Morton and C. L. Thomas. The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls. 1997. Thornson's.
2).  R. Rudgeley. Lost civilisations of the Stone-Age. 1999. Arrow Books.
3). James. E. Brady. Caves and Crystalmancy. Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol.55 No. 1, Spring 1999.
4). R. Flemming Heizer, M. A. Whipple. The Californian Indians: A Source Book. 1971. University of California Press.
5). http://www.enotes.com/earth-science/quartz
6). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microlith
7). http://www.unesco.org/ext/field/beijing/whc/pkm-site.htm
8). http://classof1.com/homework_answers/anthropology/zhoukoudian/
9). http://www.thewindofkeltia.com/crystalenergy.html

 

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