Starchild skull

The Starchild skull is an abnormal human-like skull which was found in Mexico. Its origin and nature are contested by scientists and paranormal enthusiasts.

History

The starchild skull came into the possession of Lloyd Pye, a writer and lecturer in what he calls the field of alternative knowledge, in February 1999.cite web | last = Pye | first = Lloyd | title = TERRIBLE TWO'S : Summary of the first Two Years | work = Starchild Project | url = http://www.starchildproject.com/BackgroundTT.html | accessdate = 2006-10-01 ] According to Pye, the skull was found around 1930 in a mine tunnel about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, buried alongside a normal human skeleton which was exposed and lying supine on the surface of the tunnel.cite journal | last = McCoy | first = Max | title = Star Child | journal = Fortean Times | issue = 127 | pages = 42–45 |date=November 1999]

The skull is abnormal in several aspects. A dentist determined, based on examination of the upper right maxilla found with the skull, that it was a child's skull, 4.5 to 5 years in age.cite web | last = Brown | first = Matthew | title = A Report on Maxilla and Dental X-Rays | work = Starchild Project | url = http://www.starchildproject.com/Reports_Brown.html | accessdate = 2006-10-01 ] However, the volume of the interior of the starchild skull is 1600 cubic centimeters, which is 200 cm³ larger than the average adult's brain, and 400 cm³ larger than an adult of the same approximate size. The orbits are oval and shallow, with the optic nerve canal situated at the bottom of the orbit instead of at the back. There are no frontal sinuses. The back of the skull is flattened, but not by artificial means. The skull consists of calcium hydroxyapatite, the normal material of mammalian bone.cite web | last = Robinson | first = Ted J. | title = A Preliminary Analysis of a Highly Unusual Human-Like Skull | work = Starchild Project | url = http://www.starchildproject.com/Reports_Robinson.html | accessdate = 2006-10-01 ]

Carbon 14 dating was performed twice, the first on the normal human skull at the University of California at Riverside in 1999, and on the Starchild skull in 2004 at Beta Analytic in Miami, the largest radiocarbon dating laboratory in the world. Both independent tests gave a result of 900 years ± 40 years since death. cite web | last = Pye | first = Lloyd | authorlink = | title = A Forensic DNA Analysis of two Unusual Skulls of Uncertain Origin | work = Starchild Project | url = http://www.starchildproject.com/SweetDNAReport.html | accessdate = 2007-12-29 ] DNA testing in 1999 at BOLD, a forensic DNA lab in Vancouver, British Columbia found standard X and Y chromosomes in two samples taken from the skull. BOLD was unable to extract any DNA from the maxilla. Further DNA testing at Trace Genetics, which unlike BOLD specializes in extracting DNA from ancient samples, in 2003 recovered mitochondrial DNA and determined that the child had a human mother, though it was not the child of the skull found with it. Its mother did belong to a known Native American haplogroup, haplogroup C. However, useful lengths of nuclear DNA for further testing could not be recovered. cite web | last = Pye | first = Lloyd | authorlink = | title = Early DNA Testing | work = Starchild Project | url = http://www.starchildproject.com/Reports_Sweet.html | accessdate = 2006-10-01 ] Later testing in 2004 at the Royal Holloway college [ [http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Biological-Sciences/ Royal Holloway : School of Biological Sciences ] ] of the University of London revealed unexplained "fibers" in the bone of the skull and a reddish residue in the cancellous bone, neither of which are known or recorded to exist prior to the discovery.cite web | title = Alien Skull Mystery Continues | publisher = WUSA9 |date= October 23, 2004 | url = http://www.wusatv9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=34268 | accessdate = 2006-10-01 ]

Paranormal Interest

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In progeria patients, the cell nucleus has dramatically aberrant morphology (bottom, right) rather than the uniform shape typically found in healthy individuals (top, right)]

Despite criticism from established science, the skull has gathered great interest within the study of UFOs and alien life forms. Some contend that it is the skull of a non-human, or a human/non-human hybrid, based on the shape of the skull bearing similarities to the common grey representation of aliens. [cite web| title =WORLD EXCLUSIVE DNA PHOTOGRAPHS| url =http://www.starchildproject.com/DNA.html| accessdate =2007-04-11]

Other explanations have included the use of cradle boarding on a hydrocephalic child,cite journal | last = Phoenix | first = Jack | title = Unconvention 2004 | journal = Fortean Times | issue = 191 | pages = 28–30 |date= Early 2005 (special) ] brachycephaly, or Crouzon syndrome.cite web | last = Chow | first = Adelina | title = The Mystery of the Starchild Skull | publisher = World-Mysteries.com |date= 2006 | url = http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_6achow.htm | accessdate = 2006-10-01 ]

It might have also been a child that suffered from progeria. When the features of the skull are compared to a progerian child, they are nearly identical.Fact|date=July 2008

References

ee also

*List of DNA tested mummies

External links

* [http://www.starchildproject.com/ Starchild Project Website] (advocacy of alien theory)
* [http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=37 The Starchild Project] - Critical overview by Steven Novella
* [http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_6achow.htm The Mystery of the Starchild Skull] (critical)