Thanks to Adam for posting the pictures of this very unusual piece. I know absolutely nothing about African artifacts, but I did notice one thing that might be of interest. The first thing I thought of when I saw the top view of this item was that it had some similarities to a "poison cup" which was a popular item among the wealthy people of the 17th Century, especially the Spanish. Basically, a poison cup had a small cage or a threaded post in the bottom of it which held a "bezoar stone." The bezoar stone, which is a gall stone made of hair and calcium deposits and found in the digestive tracts of ruminating animals, was thought to absorb poison from wine and other drinks.
One such poison cup was found at the wreck site of the Spanish ship "Atoche" which I know Adam is familiar with.
Could it be that 17th century Africans saw one of these cups in the possession of Spanish explorers and tried to duplicate it?
For more information about bezoars, poison cups and their us in 17th century Europe, go to this website.
http://www.melfisher.org/bezoar.htm
Best, JKGwilliam At 06:00 AM 10/29/2004, mark ford wrote:
Adam,
Thanks for showing us the African meteorite object, very interesting!
My immediate thought was that the iron work is made by someone with considerable skill in metal working, and for a tribe the 1700's in south Africa that would be some feat. Since many of the techniques were imported. So perhaps it is later than the date you where given, nice object though!
You have to wonder at the thought process about using an Iron meteorite to hold down another meteorite .... Doh! - Have you nickel tested the iron pieces?
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Best Mark
-----Original Message----- From: Adam Hupe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 29 October 2004 01:14 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [meteorite-list] The Relic and Some Images
Dear List Members,
I have a few questions that some of you may be able to answer. First off, I purchased this relic about seven years ago from a person who deals in African artifacts. I was told the following:
It came from a South African tribe who fashioned it in the 1700s.
Natives witnessed a fireball, saw a "thunderstone" hit the ground and built this vessel for it.
They carved the main part of this relic out of wood and hand hammered out the iron accessories using possible pieces of an iron meteorite (Gibeon?)
Since this stone was witnessed to have came from the sky they anchored it using two wrought iron or meteoritic iron straps so that it would not get away.
They depicted the fireball event by portraying the bolide using splayed metal spikes run through nuts.
It was used for ceremonies by the tribal shaman who claimed it had the most powerful magic the tribe had ever experienced but the stone was not given time to recharge itself because it was called upon too many times to perform its magic. It has a wrought iron chain and places where feathers could be attached so I do believe it was used for ceremonies. Here are some images:
Side view: http://themeteoritesite.com/RelicSideView.jpg Another side view: http://themeteoritesite.com/RelicLayingSide.jpg Top view showing trapped meteorite?: http://themeteoritesite.com/RelicTopView.jpg Close-up of suspected meteorite: http://themeteoritesite.com/CloseupofMeteorite.jpg Bottom view showing wrought iron work: http://themeteoritesite.com/BottomView.jpg Close-up of tribal artisan's conception of fireball: http://themeteoritesite.com/Bolide.jpg Another Close-up: http://themeteoritesite.com/Bolide2.jpg
I do not know anything about African artifacts so if anybody knows anything about this piece or similar examples I would like to hear about it. It does look like an achondrite with the crust worn off in areas from being touched so many times. I am sure it is a genuine relic and would like to authenticate the meteorite but do not want to damage it in anyway by trying to pry the stone out. I do not believe in superstition but for some reason I cannot draw myself to remove the stone and have it examined. This could represent a very old witnessed fall so any advice would be appreciated.
All the best.
------------------------------------ Adam Hupe The Hupe Collection Team LunarRock IMCA 2185 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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