In which DCist interviews area scientists, researchers, and academics on topics pertaining to natural and scientific interests. As Thomas Dolby would say: science!

Jane Walsh is an anthropologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History whose research focuses on Pre-Columbian Mexican archaeology and ethnohistory. Her work with crystal skulls has made her a specialist with regard to lapidary (stone-working) technology and ancient technological achievements. Dr. Walsh was written extensive articles on provenance/provenience issues and falsification regarding crystal skulls and other pre-Columbian artifacts and fakes for journals such as Archaeology and Journal de la Société de Américanistes, among others. Her research dovetails with objects seen in two Indiana Jones films.

DCist: The Tlazolteotl statue in D.C.’s Dumbarton Oaks collection is shown giving birth. Why is it also referred to as ‘the eater of filth’?

JW: Most gods in the pre-Columbian pantheon had multiple guises and functions. She was a goddess of licentiousness and also eater of sins, as well as other functions.

DCist: How did Dumbarton Oaks come to acquire its Tlazolteotl statue?

JW: Dumbarton Oaks acquired the Tlazolteotl figure from the collection of Robert Woods Bliss, who purchased it from a dealer named Brummer in 1947 along with a series of other purportedly pre-Columbian stone carvings. In an article for Journal de la Societe des Americanistes, I discuss the sculpture, its provenance, publication and exhibition history, and also my examination of the sculpture under scanning electron microscope (SEM). I concluded that it was not a pre-Columbian artifact, and was probably created in Europe in the 19th century.

Alas, poor crystal skull. Photo of Jane Walsh and the Skull of Doom by James Di Loreto, National Museum of Natural History photographer.