Indiana Jones and the myths behind the movie

May 18 2008 Steve Dinneen

THE world's best-loved archaeologist is in action again and the stars of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull have been sworn to secrecy until it premieres in Cannes tonight.

But insiders say the movie is based on an ancient Mayan legend and sees Harrison Ford's Indy trying to stop the skulls falling into the hands of Cold War Communists led by Cate Blanchett. STEVE DINNEEN reveals the myths behind the movie.

THE Mayans, whose Central American empire crumbled over 1000 years ago, are said to have found the 13 skulls, which gave them vast and strange powers.

THE skulls had moving jaws and could talk and sing. But they were lost when Mayan civilisation collapsed. Some are thought to be under the sea and others in private collections.

DURING a 1924 dig in Belize a life-size crystal skull, dubbed the Skull of Doom, was discovered by the daughter of British archaeologist Frederick Mitchell-Hedges. It had strange "filmic" images inside it.

THE Skull of Doom shocked computer experts at Hewlett Packard who discovered it was carved from a single piece of crystal in a process that would have taken over 300 years.

HUNDREDS of fake skulls were produced by antiques traders in the 19th century in an attempt to cash in on the Mayan legend. Most of the replicas are given away by the tiny marks left by cutting tools which were unavailable to the ancient Mayans.

A CRYSTAL skull of Aztec origin is kept in the British Museum. It was bought from Tiffany's in New York after being looted from an ancient site in Mexico.

A CRYSTAL skull was sent by an anonymous donor to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington along with a letter claiming that since acquiring it he had suffered a series of personal tragedies. It was also claimed that the donor later committed suicide.

THE last Mayan tribe remaining outside Western influence in the Mexican rainforest, the Lacandon, believe the skulls have control over natural forces and can project visions

A CRYSTAL skull is still used in special ceremonies by Lacandon priests who believe it can help ward off sickness and halt the deforestation of their land.

ELDERS of a tribe who claim to have hidden a crystal skull in the mountains of Guatemala say they have seen visions of global destruction in the ancient artefact.

THE elongated shape of some of the skulls have made some people think the artefacts are actually modelled on the skulls of alien beings and that the artefacts contain hidden messages from them.

SOME of the skulls have acquired associations with more recent religious beliefs in Western culture. There is one on display in the Trocadero Museum in Paris which has a hole carved in the top which is believed to hold a Christian cross.

SCIENTISTS believe some of the skulls are as much as 36,000 years old and one theory on the origin of the 13 is that they were crafted in a long-dead civilisation as advanced as our own, much like the mythical Atlantis.

ACCORDING to an ancient Mayan legend, the world will end at midnight on December 21, 2012, unless the wisdom of the combined skulls is heeded.