Dear List, The veneration of meteorites by pre-Columbian Native American cultures, as objects from the sky, even when the meteorites in veneration are finds that came down at times that predate the culture, is no mystery to me. Native Americans must certainly have known of falls, and when they had finds, they recognized the rocks as the same types as they or stories handed to them described as falls. Thus they learned, just as we 21st century people do, to recognize meteorites.
Francis Graham --- "E.P. Grondine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 18:57:14 +0200 > From: Bernd Pauli HD > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Meteorite List > <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> > Subject: Native Americans and Meteorites - Part 6 of > 6 > > > Jeanne wrote: > > > I was also wondering if your book mentions > anything > > about Native American usage of Canyon Diablo irons > > > for tools, amulets or other spiritual items. > > BURKE J.G. (1986) Cosmic Debris - Meteorites in > History, pp. 231-232: > > The Hopewell Indians of the Ohio Valley fabricated > knives, chisels, ear ornaments, and buttons by > hammering or cold-working meteoritic material. > Crushed fragments of olivine or interstices in the > metal from which the olivine had been lost revealed > that at least some of the artifacts had been > fashioned > from a pallasite. George Kunz in 1890 remarked that > the > meteoritic nuggets found there greatly resembled the > Brenham pallasite, and although Brezina agreed with > this opinion, other scientists did not. > > Recently, Wasson and Sedwick concluded from their > analysis of the nickel and trace element composition > that the Ohio material was virtually identical to > the > Brenham pallasite. The Indians at Havana, Illinois, > fabricated the beads found there, which varied in > diameter from three-sixteenths to five-eighths of an > inch, from sheets or strips of meteoritic material > that were fashioned into cylinders with a lapped > seam > on one side. However, Buchwald determined that the > Indians must have intermittently annealed the strips > during the cold-working process. The microstructure > he > observed indicated that the annealing temperature > was > about 650° C, and the slightly distorted appearance > of > the kamacite grains showed that cold-working > followed > the last annealing process. > > Best regards, > > Bernd > > What brought this about was my confusing the Casas > Grandes ruins with the Casa Grande ruins. I still > would not be surprised to find meteorites in Anasazi > observatories. > > Also, a number of museums' meteorite collections are > in violation of NAGPRA. The theft of the Navaho > meteorites is particularly offensive to me. > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Be a better friend, newshound, and > know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. > http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ > > > ______________________________________________ > http://www.meteoritecentral.com > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
