The depths of space/Argentina, ca. 4.5 billion years old. A large, heavy, iron meteorite from the Campo del Cielo (also Piguem Nonralta) with a bubbled, dark red/black surface. This is a series of twenty-six craters of approximately 4000 to 5000 years old that has produced over one hundred tons of iron meteorite in fragments of many different sizes. This meteorite is one of the heaviest ever to have been found on Earth. This meteorite also played an interesting role in human history. It provided iron to indigenous people in the region and the Spanish colonists in the area took notice. In 1576, the governor of the province of northern Argentina sent out a military search party to locate the source of the natives' iron weapons. Size: 6.95" L x 11" W x 4" H (17.7 cm x 27.9 cm x 10.2 cm); 11158 grams

However, it was not until the late 1700s that early natural scientists began to understand the true source of the iron. In 1783, Ruben de Celis used dynomite to clear the area around the craters and discovered that it was not a mine, as previously suspected, but was instead the remains of a single huge mass. Believing the source to be a volcanic eruption, he sent a sample to the Royal Society in London, where it was found to be 90% iron and 10% nickel and thus from a meteor.

Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection

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#125689

Smooth surface. Old accession sticker still attached.