Thank you Dolores, Robert H. Thank you everybody.Yes it was an idea, but a
half-baked one, at most.
And thank you Robert W. but you should have sent your article to
Meteorite-Times.com
Anne blackimpactika.comimpact...@aol.com
On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 10:42:02 AM MDT, Yahoo
<meteoritefin...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Anne, and all,
Thank you for your post. I had not previously read the article for which you
provided a link, but I was pleased to see it. I found it very interesting.
In regard to the specific sentence you quoted from the article concerning the
use of meteoritic iron by the Hopewell people, I have copied below several
paragraphs from two articles that I wrote. The first was published in the
Central States Archaeological Journal in Jan, 2007, and was entitled “
Meteorites on Indian Sites “. I later expanded the article in Sep, 2013, and
it was to be published in the unfortunately-all-too-short-lived “ Meteorite
Hunting and Collecting Magazine. The article was accepted, but the magazine
ceased operation just before my article would have appeared.
I hope you and other members of The List might find this interesting, but I do
apologize for the length of the email, especially for those who might not.
Article from Jan, 2007:
Meteoritic iron has even been used by Native Americans to manufacture both
ornaments and tools. Copper earspools with an overlay of iron foil derived
from meteorites have been found on sites in Georgia and Ohio, along with
similarly produced buttons and beads. Woodworking tools, such as celts, axes,
chisels, and adzes made of iron from meteorites have been found in various
Hopewell sites. In fact, the Hope-wellian culture appears to have been
actively engaged in meteorite collecting, since at least 20 of their sites have
produced artifacts of iron that came from 3 different meteorites, as identified
by chemical analysis.
Article from Sep, 2013 :
The prehistoric Hopewell people were one of the most highly-developed cultures
of eastern North America. It is characterized by their construction of large
and richly furnished burial mounds and a passion for exotic materials for use
in the production of funerary goods. An extensive trading network provided
them with such items as obsidian and grizzly bear canine teeth from the
Rockies, marine shells from Florida, native copper and silver from the Upper
Great Lakes region, and mica from Virginia. But perhaps the most interesting
exotic substance was their fairly prolific use of meteoritic iron, occurring in
the form of “nuggets” of un-worked meteorite masses, as well as in the shape of
tools or as overlay on other materials. When worked, it was always worked
“cold”, as smelting and casting techniques were unknown to them. The following
is a brief list of some of the artifacts that they made utilizing meteoritic
iron:
Copper earspools plated with meteoric iron; earspools made entirely of
meteoritic iron; beads of rolled meteoritic-iron sheeting; clay, wood, or
sandstone buttons covered with meteoritic iron; solid cones of meteoritic iron;
awls made of meteoritic iron; an axe, adze, and chisels made of solid
meteoritic iron; a small meteoritic-iron drill stuck in a pearl bead which it
was used to perforate; a ball of meteoritic iron set into a hollowed bear
canine tooth, and a human ulna banded and partly covered with meteoritic-iron
sheeting.
These meteorite-related artifacts were found on more than a dozen different
Hopewell sites. The extreme scarcity of meteoritic iron and the considerable
amount of knowledge required to identify it, coupled with their abundant use of
the material with well over 100 individual meteorite containing artifacts found
to date, appears to be evidence for deliberate meteorite collecting among the
Hopewellians. At least 2 and possibly 3 to 4, different iron (or pallasite)
meteorites have been identified as the source for the iron used with the
artifacts. It has been proven that metal found in 2 of the mounds were
identical in composition to the Brenham, Kansas pallasite. It is noteworthy
that no evidence for their use of stone meteorites has ever been found.
Without doubt the Hopewell people were the most dedicated hunters and
collectors of meteorites by prehistoric Native Americans. Outside of the
Hopewell area and context, archaeological finds of meteorites in North America
are rare, with no consistent pattern of distribution. Authenticated, scattered
associations seem to be more a matter of casual meteorite collecting, perhaps
because the fall was witnessed or because the meteorites looked out of place
where they were found. Also, it is significant that the over whelming majority
of non-Hopewell prehistoric meteorite collectors never attempted to work the
iron into tools or ornaments, and simply left the masses intact. The following
are a few selected examples of meteorites that have been found on
non-Hopewellian Indian sites.
Camp Verde, AZ. - Iron, IAB – 61.5kg, transported Canyon Diablo. Sometime
around 1915, George E. Dawson found a stone cyst, typical in appearance to a
child burial, in the corner of an ancient Indian dwelling. About 18 inches
down, he uncovered the meteorite, wrapped in a feather-cloth. The 2 foot long,
1 foot wide, 5 inch thick iron can be imagined to resemble a small child with a
distinctive head and shoulders, and a very pronounced spine that appears to
have been rubbed smooth by human hands. It was found approximately 65 miles
southwest of Meteor Crater. Bloody Basin, AZ. – Iron, IAB – 5.074kg,
transported Canyon Diablo. Found September, 1964 by A. Morriston,
approximately 65 miles southwest of Meteor Crater, in connection to an Indian
burial.
Mesa Verde Park, CO. – Iron, IB – 3.5kg. Found in 1922 in the Sun Shrine at
the north end of Pipe Shrine House, commingled with miscellaneous rock
fragments.
Winona, AZ – Stone, Winonaite – 24kg. Roughly 35 miles NW of Meteor Crater is
the prehistoric site of a vanished tribal people now referred to as the
Sinagua. In 1928, archaeologists discovered the Winona meteorite in a stone
cyst in the floor of one of the rooms. The manner in which it was carefully
buried closely resembled the method of burial of a revered young child of the
Sinagua culture. This seems to suggest that the pueblo builders most likely
considered the meteorite a sacred object, possibly after witnessing its fall.
Originally thought to be a single, large, egg-shaped mass, the stone had
crumbled to pieces during its over 700 year internment.
*Pojoaque, NM. – Stony-iron, Pallasite - Synonym for a small, transported
fragment of Glorietta. Found in 1930 inside a small black-on-white pottery jar
that was plowed out of the ground by an Indian. The worn condition of the
meteorite suggests that it may have been part of a medicine man’s
paraphernalia.
Bonita Springs, FL. – Stone, H5 – 41.8kg. Reginald Lyles found this meteorite
in 1938 or 1939 while digging in a local Indian sand mound that measured 300
feet in diameter and 6 feet high. The large stone was situated amid several
skeletons. It was recognized as a meteorite in 1956, and was purchased by the
Smithsonian. Apex, CO. – Stone, L6 – 6.1g. Found by Robert Akerley during
his investigation of an ancient Indian camping site in the foothills west of
Denver, subsequently known as the Magic Mountain site.
Oktibbeha County, MS. – Iron, IB – 156g. Found in 1854 in an Indian mound (on
which no data have been recorded).
Pedernales, TX. – Iron, IAB – 691g. Mr. John Stitt excavated this small
meteorite from a depth of 4 feet from an Indian rock midden on December 1,
1980.
Meteorites have also been found by surface hunters while searching on various
Indian sites across the country. These were most likely NOT collected by the
early inhabitants, but were merely random and coincidental falls upon, or at
least near, land that was once occupied by the Indians. The following are a few
examples that illustrate such finds. Dalhart, TX. – Stone, H5 – 4.4kg. Found
in 1968 by an amateur hunter of Indian artifacts on a grass pasture. Delaware,
AR. – Stone, L4 – 8.346kg. A single stone was found by a then 12 year old boy,
Daniel Michaelson in 1972 while hunting for arrowheads near Delaware, Arkansas.
When found, the stone was still black, and therefore at least a fairly recent
fall. This fresh condition obviously indicates that the early inhabitants of
the site had no knowledge of the stone. It had simply fallen there relatively
recently and was found merely by accident while Michaelson was surface hunting
for arrowheads. Unfortunately, the Delaware meteorite was left to weather
outdoors for nearly 30 years, when it was at last identified as a meteorite by
the well known meteorite hunter, Allen Shaw.
Floyd, NM. – Stone, L4 – 13kg. Found in 1966 by the prolific and legendary
meteorite hunter, Skip Wilson, while originally pursuing his hobby of arrowhead
hunting. This was his very first meteorite find. Skip has gone on to find more
than 200 stones, representing over 125 unique meteorite classifications! If he
had never been interested in arrowhead hunting, the meteorite-world would
almost assuredly been robbed of this great meteorite hunter. Tarlton, OH. –
Stone, H4 – 226.5g. Found in the summer of 1967 by Mr. Richard Wise while
hunting for fossils and Indian artifacts.
Thurman, CO. – Stone, OC – 1.959kg. A single stone that has not yet been fully
classified was found in 1965 by a woman while she was looking for arrowheads.
Walcott, TX. – Stone, H5 – 2kg. Found in November, 1983 during a search for
arrowheads.
Best wishes to all,
Robert Woolard
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 28, 2023, at 9:21 AM, Anne Black via Meteorite-list
<meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
Hello,
This was brought to my attention, but I had never heard of the event.Anyone?
https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2022/02/did-comets-fiery-destruction-lead-to-downfall-of-ancient-hopewell.html
One interesting line: The Hopewell people collected the meteorites and forged
malleable metal from them into flat sheets used in jewelry and musical
instruments called pan flutes.
It would be interesting to hear more.
Anne Black IMPACTIKA.com impact...@aol.com
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