I found this photo and the accompanying explanation in a box of old photographs. The Navajo Meteorite is presently in the Field Museum of Chicago, Illinois. There is an interesting online book about the meteorite as follows:
There were two meteorites discovered very near to each other near Sanders, Arizona. Although the larger of the two, shown above, was known to the Navajo Indians since their arrival on the Colorado Plateau in about 1600, the meteorite was officially "discovered" on July 10, 1921. Apparently, the meteorite had been covered by rocks to keep the white men and other Indians from finding it. I guess hiding it didn't work. Quoting from the book:
They called it 'Pish le gin e gin' (black iron). They tell me that the marks were there when they first found it and they think the prehistoric pottery- makers cut them in." The marks referred to in the letter do not appear to be anything more unusual than marks made by someone in an effort to determine the nature of the mass. It should, however, be pointed out here that the chisels used to make the marks had wider blades than those generally used now, and that picture writings were found on rocks in nearby outcrops. Navajo II was discovered five years later. It lay about 160 feet northwest of Navajo I, buried in soil formed by outwash from the neighboring ridge. An upright rock was found standing beside it.
Quoting further from the book:
A peculiar feature of Navajo I- is a deep fissure that extends half way around it, in some places reaching a depth of six inches. About three inches from this fissure and generally parallel to it, another extends for a distance of a little more than a foot. The edges and walls of the fissure are smooth and rounded, indicating that they were subjected to heat and erosion during the meteor's flight to the earth. They also indicate that the fissures were formed, not from the impact of the meteorite upon the earth, but from shock and air pressure after it reached the earth's atmosphere and prior to its fall. The finders of the meteorite stated that at the time of the find there were many loose fragments of the meteorite in the fissures. These fragments, with the exception of one, were dug out and carried away by souvenir hunters while negotiations for the purchase of the meteorite were in progress. The one fragment that was left had an irregular, finger-like shape and measured about two inches in length. Fragments such as these suggest that, unlike the fissures, the fractures were formed from the impact of the meteorite upon the rocky surface, and that considerable disintegration had taken place within them since the fall. Both the fissures and the fractures could have served as receptacles for the retention of water, which is an effective disintegrating and dissolving agent. Polished and etched slices of the meteorite reveal a number of veins of schreibersite of irregular width and varying course. In places these have decomposed to limonite, and, where the decomposition has advanced far enough, the slices are broken up into small pieces easily. It is not improbable that veins of schreibersite may have existed along the fissures, and such a process of decomposition may have been in action, resulting in the formation of the fragments referred to above.
You never know what you might find walking around in Arizona. I guess if I were a Navajo, I might be a bit put out at the negotiations that happened about the "sale" of the meteorites to the museum.
neat
ReplyDelete