Trumping the recent online publication of a photo depicting Harrison Ford meaningfully standing atop some crates in a warehouse, Movieweb is offering a sneak peak at Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull's titular Mysterious Artifact, an object whose secret has previously been so fiercely guarded that two unfortunate souls have paid for their spoiler-pushing crimes with their freedom and careers. We must admit that the actual skull (assuming, of course, the photo is genuine) is far more menacing than the bedazzled knick-knack we'd long envisioned.

Indeed, even at a quick glance, the item seems to throb with an ancient, alien power, and one can easily imagine our aging archaeologist doing whatever it takes to claim it before his enemies, knowing that its mystical healing properties will immediately cure the arthritis that's made every whip-crack since his 60th birthday an excruciating exercise in rheumatoid agony.

UPDATE (2/7/07): Picture removed at the behest of Paramount's legal department.

[Movieweb]