You will not believe what we discovered during our research into the Starchild Skull! This investigation had us delving into such extraneous topics as: the legalities of a multi-person corporation, the chemical makeup of talcum powder, and international repatriation laws! This 900-year-old skull has been a source of wonder for thousands of followers for the last couple of decades. With its alien-like appearance and the obfuscation of facts, hundreds of articles have been written on it and the possibility that it may be part extraterrestrial or debunking that it may be a hybrid. Almost every single one of these articles were written without first-hand knowledge or any evidence at all to back up they wrote. Hopeful confirmation bias. Click bait. Fake news.
Science doesn’t care what you believe!
– Chase Kloetzke
That’s where we came in – Chase Kloetzke and Kerry McClure of The Field Reports. Our only purpose is to find out the real, admissible evidence that we could find using scientists at the top of their field using cutting edge technology with forensic methods. We only wanted the truth. We had no pre-conceived notions of it being this or that and, full disclosure, we do not make any money on this (in fact we use our own money) nor do we work for the government. It’s strange how often we are accused of somehow “hiding the truth” to promote some diabolical anti-alien government cover-up when we present facts from scientists. We get it, a lot of loyal Starchild Skull followers want the tests to prove that aliens exist. That would be so cool. I mean, really, really cool. But science doesn’t care what we or you believe. We just share with you, as transparently as possible, what we know, and, unfortunately, if DNA comes back “unknown” we cannot even prove what that means until we have a comparison sample in the DNA database.
The cooperation of the Corporation
The Starchild Skull has appeared on television and in many conferences throughout the country. That’s how lead investigator, Chase Kloetzke, was introduced to the skull – at a conference. We here at The Field Reports have been investigating the infamous Starchild Skull now for almost a year now. The last few months have been incredibly exciting and difficult. There has been much drama with the corporation that legally (although this is now up for debate) held ownership rights to the remains of the Starchild Skull and its accompanying adult skull.
We entered this investigation not understanding the complexities of the relationships of those involved with the previous research. The company has since dissolved for reasons we can only guess but dealing with a company that claimed to own ancient human remains was a lesson in law. We actually read through Florida State Law (where the corporation was filed). Who owns the rights to investigate something owned by someone else? Who has the right to give permissions? Who owns that data? Who can profit from the information when it was funded by someone else? And, also, as previously stated, we do not profit from the skull, whereas the company was formed to protect the finances generated from the Skull. All of these questions will come into play later…
Additionally, can I respectfully say, the corporation was not very cooperative, and understandably. They wanted to protect their legacy. But after 20 years of research and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, not much had been proven. And some of the facts were withheld from the public – perhaps to not dampen the excitement of the skull possibly being part alien. And only after learning of our new research initiative, did some of the information become addended to reflect the scientific evidence that we discovered or in preparation of what our future tests might bring to light, such as previously discovered information that was withheld from the public.
In order to obtain the most viable DNA, we needed to acquire the maxilla, which contained teeth. This proved to be a much more laborious inquiry than we thought it should have been. We had been asked by the original owner, Melanie Young, to proceed with the testing, but she did not have the artifact in her possession, and wasn’t quite sure where exactly it was, and it was feared that if taken overseas, it would not be seen again. After a lengthy dissolution of the company, the remains were returned to Melanie, as was outlined in the company’s contract. Hurray! We can do DNA testing!
A giant roadblock stops the investigation cold.
What’s the big news that could force us to stop investigating one of the world’s most famous anomalous skulls? Looking through the previous DNA testing, we noticed a big, giant, glaring “UH OH!” in the data – the Starchild’s mitochondrial DNA (the DNA passed down from the mother) was categorized as haplogroup C. The Starchild’s mother was a Native American!
The sample taken from the Starchild Skull (SCS-1) has mtDNA consistent with Native American haplogroup C, as revealed through two independent extractions performed on fragments of parietal bone. – The Starchild Project
As soon as we became aware of this fact, we stopped everything, and once again were researching a subject tangential to what we originally planned – the legalities of dealing with a Native American artifact! We had always wanted to give the Skull the proper respect it deserved, because it was a living, breathing being at one time; and now, we faced an ethical and legal dilemma. Do we continue to search for answers to the big questions surrounding the Skull or do we give up?
From our cursory research of repatriation laws, we were afraid of any legal repercussions we may have to face. Luckily, we were not profiting off of the Skull, we didn’t remove it, own it or transport it, but we did perform tests on it and had more planned. First, we looked at the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act – which was a little confusing as it’s directed towards Federal agencies and Institutions (i.e. museums) to return cultural items – including remains – to their descendants. Where did the Starchild Skull fit into those regulations? There was no clear rule on what to do with remains that were found decades ago by a little girl. Or had any obvious descendants who would be demanding the Skull be returned – more on that in a future post.
Trying to clear up our confusion, we called the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and months passed without any urgent direction of what we should do. It was during this time we realized that WE hadn’t done any DNA testing to prove the Starchild’s lineage – and technology has advanced so much since the previous tests were done. Additionally, we became aware that perhaps we shouldn’t trust the previous results 100%. We needed to have results from samples that we forensically collected and processed in a lab with above average credentials. If we can repeat the result of Haplogroup C – we will be confident in the maternal ancestry of the Starchild Skull.
Another caveat occurred to us, the Skull wasn’t found in The United States; it was found in a cave in Mexico! The Bureau of Indian Affairs basically agreed on this point, also considering the fact that 900 years ago there were no borders between the US and Mexico, but current laws are divided by these invisible lines.
Research shows that our government has several different treaties and agreements with other countries involving the return of cultural items including the Treaty of Cooperation Between the United States of America and the United Mexican States Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archaeological, Historical and Cultural Properties. Again, the rules are cryptic and confusing as to where the Skull fits into it all. There is no mention of remains and the regulations seem to require a requesting party and a panel that includes representative from both countries. In our inquiry into the of ownership and treatment of Mexican artifacts, the National Stolen Property Act, stood out as a law used to punish the unfortunate person who had been caught crossing international and state borders with Pre-Columbian artifacts. Yikes.
This led us to contact INAH – Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. This bureau was created to protect the artifacts that make up Mexico’s heritage. They seem to be the best outlet for advising us on what we should do with the remains of these ancient peoples. We are currently awaiting a response…and still waiting.
We currently are also awaiting counsel from contacts in Mexico who specialize in similar cases. There seems to be a pattern in all of the various agencies that we have been diligently trying to get a solid answer from: no one really knows what to do and the situation requires research on their part or they find the Starchild Skull something of an enigma – so it gets shuffled to the bottom of more pressing issues. We did get one person’s initial gut response – that the Skull was found before any repatriation laws came into effect, and therefore, it could be that we aren’t under any obligation to do anything special with the skull, besides any laws regarding human remains. I guess we’ll have to wait until the DNA results come back to see if it even qualifies for that! Regardless of the information we receive, we will update this article promptly!
DNA denied
In the meantime, we have decided to move forward and finish what we started. We have all the evidence extracted already and we feel we owe it to the public and to the Skull to figure out the reasons for its anomalies. Currently, we are patiently waiting for a professional lab that is willing to do the DNA testing on the Starchild Skull. Apparently, scientists are afraid or unwilling to test the remains of something that has been so infamously theorized to be an alien hybrid. It’s not like the results will pop up like a huge positive plus sign on a pregnancy test. Either – the results will be all human (with a confirmation of the Native American question), or human and unknown. As stated time and time again, currently there is no comparison alien DNA in the database. We also would like to see if any disease markers show up as well to perhaps explain the many anomalies. Also, if a disease is present, perhaps research can be done on how this little boy lived so long with so many problems; maybe it can prompt research that can benefit children with similar diagnosis. Of course, we will stop all testing if it is deemed illegal, but we are confident we are going down the ethical path and hope the Skull can be put to rest as well as the mystery that surrounds it.
Update!!
Samples taken carefully from the Starchild Skull are currently being tested to see just how much DNA data can be extracted by experts at the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada. As soon as those results come in you’ll be the first to know the exciting outcome!
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