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The Starchild skull is an abnormal human skull which was found in Mexico. It is primarily known through paranormal researchers' claims that it represents evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Mitochondrial DNA recovered from the skull establishes that it is human.

Discovery

The starchild skull came into the possession of Ray and Melanie Young of El Paso, Texas, who entrusted it to Lloyd Pye, a writer and lecturer in what he calls the field of alternative knowledge, in February 1999. According to Pye, the skull was found around 1930 in a mine tunnel about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Chihuahua, Mexico, buried alongside a normal human skeleton that was exposed and lying supine on the surface of the tunnel.

Analysis

The skull is abnormal in several respects. 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. However, the volume of the interior of the starchild skull is 1,600 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 however, the bone is half as thick as it should be, it is the hardness and strength of tooth enamel, and it has fibers woven through it. The later characteristics are unlike any classified specimen on earth.

Dating

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.

DNA testing

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, "conclusive evidence that the child was not only human (and male), but both of his parents must have been human as well, for each must have contributed one of the human sex chromosomes". Further DNA testing at Trace Genetics, which unlike BOLD specializes in extracting DNA from ancient samples, in 2003 recovered mitochondrial DNA from both skulls, and nuclear DNA from the normal skull. Mitochondrial DNA comes from ones mother only, while nuclear DNA comes from both parents. The child belongs to haplogroup C, while the adult female belongs to haplogroup A. Both haplotypes are characteristic Native American haplogroups, but the different haplogroup for each skull indicates that the adult female (30-35yrs of age) was not the child's mother. Trace Genetics was not able to recover useful lengths of nuclear DNA or Y-chromosomal DNA for further testing, even after six attempts. This test revealed the mother was human, but the father was not providing human DNA, at the time of the test there was no way to tell exactly who or what the father might be due to technology limitations. In 2006 454 LifeSiences in Connecticut came up with a method of identifying DNA a basepair at a time. A cheaper variation of the test was able to reconstruct the nuclear DNA of the skull though a process called "shotgunning". After the first round of sequencing, the nuclear DNA was cross-referenced with the the NIH database. This database holds over a hundred general species types found on earth. Several of the pairs were found as human, but others were classified as being "not found on earth".

Explanations

Explanations for the skull's unusual features include the use of cradle boarding on a hydrocephalic child, brachycephaly, Crouzon syndrome, congenital hydrocephalus, and progeria.

Paranormal interest

The skull has garnered great interest with those interested in UFOs and alien visitation. Some contend that it is the skull of an alien, or a human/alien hybrid, based on the shape of the skull bearing similarities to the common representation of aliens as "Greys". Proponents of a paranormal explanation for the skull's origin reject hypothesis involving non-paranormal causes such as cradle boarding or hydrocephaly, and contend that it has many other abnormalities such as the thickness, density, and strength of the bone that argue against the skull being human.

See also

• List of DNA tested mummies

References

1. ^ http://www.theness.com/the-starchild-project/
2. Pye, Lloyd 'Starchild Project'
3. Pye, Lloyd. "TERRIBLE TWO'S : Summary of the first Two Years". Starchild Project. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
4. ^ McCoy, Max (November 1999). "Star Child". Fortean Times (127): 42–45.
5. Brown, Matthew. "A Report on Maxilla and Dental X-Rays". Starchild Project. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
6. Robinson, Ted J. "A Preliminary Analysis of a Highly Unusual Human-Like Skull". Starchild Project. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
7. Trace Genetics "Report on the DNA analysis from skeletal remains from two skulls"
8. Phoenix, Jack (Early 2005 (special)). "Unconvention 2004". Fortean Times (191): 28–30. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Chow, Adelina (2006). "The Mystery of the Starchild Skull". World-Mysteries.com. Retrieved 2006-10-01.

External links

• The Starchild Project: Lloyd Pye's website on the skull
• The Starchild Project - Critical overview by Steven Novella
• The Mystery of the Starchild Skull (critical)

• Extraterrestrial life
• UFO-related phenomena
• Skull
• Ancient astronaut theory
• Pseudoarchaeology
• Famous body parts
• Human remains (archaeological)