Hi John and List, Good question. Let me attempt to answer. If I fail, perhaps Capt. Blood will chime in or another hammerhead will jump to the rescue.
All hammers are falls, because if a hammer falls and nobody is around to notice it, it will never be discovered....and is therefore not a hammer or a fall. Let me put it this way - New Orleans is a recent example of an unwitnessed hammer that is considered a fall. When the New Orleans meteorite fell, penetrated the house and left a path of minor destruction (writing desk, etc), nobody was home. The owners were out and did not come home to find the cosmic damage until later. In this particular case, nobody directly witnessed the fall or the damage being done. If I recall correctly, there were no indirect witnesses as well - no radar track, no fireball video, no other witnesses on the ground. The find was determined to be a fall based on - the freshness of the material found, the testimony of the homeowners, and the obvious damage caused by this material. Met Bull states that the New Orleans meteorite is a fall, so it is therefore a "observed fall" or "witnessed fall" in officially-approved nomenclature and accepted use amongst the majority of collectors and dealers. Additionally, some hammerheads may refer to it as a "hammer fall". Also of note, New Orleans is a single stone fall, therefore the New Orleans meteorite is a "hammer stone" because it struck a house and manmade objects. Under different circumstances, the New Orleans meteorite may have gone unnoticed and unreported. The lower 9th Ward of New Orleans is desolate today, as a result of lingering damage from hurricane Katrina. Large stretches of homes and businesses are vacant and falling into disrepair. There are squatters, homeless persons, gang elements, and other transients that reside in the area. The same is true for other areas of New Orleans to varying degrees. If the stone had fallen in one of these houses, with no first-hand witnesses, it is likely to lay undiscovered and be carted off to the landfill when the city finally bulldozes the property. In such a case, the fall and damage were never noticed, it is never reported, no material is ever recovered, and the meteorite is never officially recognized or named. Also keep in mind, the criteria for officially approving a meteorite as a "fall" has changed to some degree over the years. Or could say, the criteria was more rigidly enforced in some publications than others. There are several cases of witnessed falls where the witness reports are several years or more removed from recovery of specimens on the ground. Some fall dates have uncertain dates or just a date range (summer of 18xx, etc). Some finds could be regarded as falls and there is some debate or uncertainty around the circumstances (or find location) that resulted in a fall classification being rejected. So, what I am getting at in a rambling fashion is this - if it is a hammer in the true and accepted sense, then it could be called a "hammer fall" or "witnessed fall" or "observed fall" or just a "fall" - depending on whether or not the term is being used officially or just casually. Best regards, MikeG PS - I think this horse is now officially pulverized beyond recognition. To continue this discussion line any further will require someone to acquire a new horse for consideration and possible flogging. -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Galactic Stone & Ironworks - MikeG Web: http://www.galactic-stone.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone Twitter: http://twitter.com/GalacticStone RSS: http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516 ----------------------------------------------------------- On 6/14/12, John Hendry <p...@pict.co.uk> wrote: > Any hammer finds recorded? i.e. there's a big stone in the attic and a hole > > in the roof, but nobody saw it fall. > > John > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature > database 7221 (20120614) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list