gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary, turquoise, agate, quartz, jewelry, jewelry arts, fake, authentication

One of the centrepieces of the Central and South American gallery of the National Museum of Ethnology (NME) in Leiden, the Netherlands, is a Mesoamerican human skull decorated with turquoise mosaic. This mosaic skull is thought to have been created by Mixtec artisans in the Late Postclassic period (AD 1300–1521). Since the skull was acquired on the art market, nothing is known about its provenance prior to 1962. As a result, some have questioned its pre-Columbian origin. Similar questions have been raised about unprovenanced mosaic skulls in other museum collections. This article presents the findings of research carried out at the NME and at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Paris, in 2011 and 2012, with a view to determining whether the Leiden mosaic skull is an authentic pre-Columbian artefact, an entirely modern creation, or a modern combination of authentic elements. The article also explores the reasons for the skull’s acquisition in the 1960s, in the absence of any background information, and discusses the significance of these research findings for the presentation and perception of this particular artefact.