The Starchild Skull:
Genetic Enigma or… Human-Alien Hybrid
Author: Lloyd Pye
Bell Lap Books, 2007

Reviewer: Lee Paqui

Once you see it, once you fully grasp its possibilities, once your frail psyche contends with its inescapable physical reality, the Starchild skull reaches invisible hands across 900 years and shakes your world apart.

Maybe that's why Lloyd Pye, the caretaker of the Skull, is still banging his head against the hard wall of science after eight long years of research and information gathering in his quest for the truth about this enigma. The Starchild Skull is Pye's second gift to the world - his first being the Starchild skull itself - and it is a personable and enjoyable manuscript that describes Pye's adventures from his first meeting with the skull to the point he is at today, poised on a years-long brink of suspense as he waits for a brand new DNA sequencing technique to establish our planet's mysterious past.

Originally found in Mexico in the 1930s and carbon-dated as being about 900 years old, the child-sized Starchild skull has probably had a more interesting time in the last 75 years than it had during its presumably short life. Brought back to the USA by its discoverer it remained in obscurity until her death, after which it was passed through a few hesitant hands before finally coming to rest in Pye's - and was at last seen clearly as the profound mystery it is.

The Starchild skull is utterly unique in appearance and composition. Examinations so far have ruled out congenital, genetic, or other 'normal' defects. Its range of peculiarities do not seem to lie within the realm of the human, and, physical appearance aside, the bone structure is so unique it does not even lie within human parameters. In almost every respect its physical characteristics differ from a human skull. The bone is thinner and lighter, yet much more durable than human bone. The Starchild's brain capacity was measured and found to be 1600cc's - 400cc's more brain matter than the same sized human skull would hold. Ophthalmologists have studied the eye orbits, EENT doctors have studied the contours of the skull, radiologists have studied its internal structures, and forensic dentists have studied its teeth. It's been examined by anthropologists, mycologists and university professors. When they're not trying desperately to assign a 'normal' human development scenario to it, when they're not trying arrogantly to dismiss it as a deformity, for the most part these experts have come back with 'I don't know,' which this reviewer has translated to mean, 'I don't want to speculate.'

Tests to date - tests that have been at Pye's expense, or funded by donations from the public, and one or two very generous benefactors - include x-rays and video flouroscopy, cat scans and mineral analysis. It has been reduced to its basic elements for DNA sequencing, a process that proved its mitochondrial DNA, passed to it from its mother, was human. However, its nuclear DNA remains elusive, unidentifiable, and non-responsive to current human-only sequencing techniques. This fact alone strongly indicates the skull's parentage is not entirely human. In fact, all of the evidence gathered so far points unmistakably to the Starchild being a human-alien hybrid, though we all must wait at least two more years for the new DNA recovery technology to catch up with, and at last reveal, our long-hidden past.

Pye has travelled the world in his quest to both discover the reality of the skull and to bring it to the awareness of a blinkered world. This book maps in chronological order the series of trials, setbacks, and dangling carrots endured to date, and the author calmly lays out exactly what this quest has cost him in time, money, and life. Speaking of life, Pye bravely allows us glimpses into his, revealing his personal struggles and frustrations with the Project, giving the reader a good idea of the sacrifices that have been made to get this far. Interspersed throughout is the hard evidence that has been amassed - photographs, reports, statistics, graphs, and other supporting documentation. This is real, and Pye has been unstinting in providing for us, and for posterity, a record of everything that has occurred, or that may come in the future.

Part mystery, part reconstruction of events, and wholly mesmerising, The Starchild Skull is as much a lesson in perseverance as anything else. Like most UFO researchers, Pye is fighting a seemingly endless war against minds closed to the extraterrestrial possibility. At the book's core lies a sobering message for all of us in the alternative research field - if you don't have money, if you don't have connections, if you don't have a name, and most importantly if you don't have something that adds to and supports the 'official' world view, then to all intents and purposes you have nothing at all. Lloyd Pye has in his possession quite possibly the largest single threat to the accepted history of our planet, but he needn't have been concerned about dangers to either himself or the skull, and those in opposition needn't have been concerned about the potential hazard of letting Pye continue with his quest. To all intents and purposes, and despite the best of efforts, Lloyd Pye and the Starchild skull may as well be invisible.

Indeed, a larger mystery than the skull itself is why interest in it has remained, for want of a better word, stunted. While the UFO community may have shown the most interest, based on the possibility that some of the Starchild's DNA may be proven to be alien, even this group has failed to fully appreciate the skull's potential significance, and they have never fully placed their substantial influence behind Pye. It goes without saying that the scientific community - anthropologists, archaeologists, et al - would fail to involve themselves, since the skull has the definite potential to change hundreds of years of accepted realities, and perhaps cost millions of lost research dollars. However, why does the UFO community fail to fully engage itself in trying to get to the bottom of this potentially historic mystery?

What is certain is that in two or three years the world will know what the Starchild is, or is not. In the meantime, is it acceptable for us to merely sit back and wait, trusting, as ever, that 'somebody else' will take care of this for us? Or will we, as a community, be more proactive and do something to help. Even if all you do is buy this book, then you're doing something, contributing something, to our future knowledge about this remarkable skull.

This saga doesn't end gloomily, though, because there is the promise on the horizon, the hope that impending advances in DNA mapping will finally bring us the truth. And whether that truth is as mundane as some might hope, or whether it is so profound that it will trigger a rewrite of our history, it is a truth that for the moment remains tantalizingly hidden. It is a potential gift to humanity that will remain unwrapped until a not so distant Christmas morning when all the wishes of this arcane field of study might well come true.

For updates, to purchase The Starchild Skull, or to lend your support, visit www.starchildproject.com.

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