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Re: Vaca Muerta (Dead Cow) verification requested

In a message dated 5/4/98 8:38:59 AM Central Daylight Time, terrafirma@ibm.net
writes:

<< Direct hit!  Nailed the landing.
 
 Since the only other known kill was the Nakhla martian meteorite in
 Egypt, I think we have a  good game started here:
 
 Martians = 1
 Visitors = 1
 
 Anyone knowledgeable, please verify.  ( Since instant replay is not an
 option here we're going to have to go by the Ref's call. )
 
 Question of the week:  What was a cow doing in the middle of the Atacama
 Desert?
 
 Best Regards,
 Julia
  >>

Hello Julia and the list,

I have been to the Vaca Muerta site three times in the past three years.  I
have seen THE Dead Cow.  I have a cool picture of me making the "skull and
crossbones" with the appropriate parts of the skeleton!

I was able to bring back a jawbone and even a horse shoe!  (It seems it really
is a dead donkey not a dead cow!)  The skeleton could be very old since they
only get an inch of rain every 100 years or so in that area.  So I suppose the
area could indeed be named after the heap of bones that is sitting right in
the middle of some ancient (~300 year old) wagon tracks, or it could be a
coincident.  

But since the Vaca Muerta meteorite is older than the Incas civilizations, and
that the name of the area was established before the meteorites were
discovered, I doubt that there were any animals hurt, much less made extinct,
when the meteorite landed!

Steve