Can You Solve the Mystery Behind This Intricately Carved Skull?

Experts from a wide array of organizations are examining an intricately carved skull discovered in an antique shop in Vienna in 2011. The skull, believed to be 300 years old, is completely covered with figures and symbols that seem to hold some sort of religious significance. Yet nobody is able to determine what that significance is, let alone who carved the skull, or the identity of the person to whom the skull once belonged.

Bits and Pieces about the Carved Skull’s Owners

The shopkeeper has said that the skull was sold to him by a man who said it belonged to one of his ancestors, a medical doctor who had traveled extensively throughout Asia. Once, he was able to provide medical assistance to an abbot in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet. In gratitude for his services, the abbot gave the doctor a number of relics, including the skull.

A little monastery in Tibet. (Antoine Taveneaux/CC BY SA 3.0) It is said that an abbot in a Buddhist monastery gave a doctor the carved skull for providing medical assistance.

In August 2011, the new owner of the skull posted photos of it on the website forum ‘Asian Arts.’ He wrote: