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Meteor Crater - Part 6 of 6

The National Geographic Magazine, June 1928, pp. 720-730:

The Mysterious Tomb Of A Giant Meteorite (by William D. Boutwell)

The Hopi Legend And A Wild Indian

The use of the pure white rock flour in Hopi religious ceremonies links
the crater with a legend current in that tribe. Three of their gods, the
Hopi believe, came down from the clouds onto the desert. One made his
abode in Meteor Crater and the other two some distance north. Acting on
the hint of the legend, search has been made in the region north of the
railroad (+). The other two "gods" may have been smaller attendant
meteorites whose tombs have not been located as yet.
That Meteor Crater should have a place in the legends of the Hopi
indicates a fairly recent origin. Geological study confirms this point
of view. The pit cannot possibly be younger than 700 years, because
cedars cut on the rim show that number of annual rings; but the
weathering on the rock thrown from the crater shows that it is probably
not older than 5,000 years(*).
The religious significance of the meteorite to the Hopi finds
interesting parallels elsewhere. The sacred stone in the Kaaba, at
Mecca, which all Moslems hope to kiss, is a meteorite. It was considered
sacred long before Mohammed brought new importance to the shrine.
Meteorites have also been found in the temples of the Aztecs in Mexico.
One was discovered in a cliff-dwelling in Colorado. Several stones kept
in Greek and Roman temples were probably meteorites.
One of the oldest meteorites which has been preserved through the
centuries is the "Bewitched Burgrave of Ensisheim."
One month after Columbus discovered America, a 300-pound meteorite fell
near this Alsatian town. The superstition got about that the ball of
iron was really a late tyrannical official of the neighborhood who had
been turned into iron as punishment for his cruelty. The visitor to
Ensisheim to-day will be shown the "Bewitched Burgrave" hung from the
rafters of the old town hall.
An ugly meteorite fragment from Meteor Crater is as vital to the
scientist's theory of the unity of the universe as the black iron in the
Kaaba is to the religions concepts of Islam. The scientist's
spectroscope tells him that the earth is made of the same stuff as the
stars; his telescope reports that the earth's motions are in tune with
the stars, sun and planets; but a meteorite is something that a
scientist can take in his hand and examine. He can put in his test tube
this piece of matter fallen on the Arizona desert. He can compare its
minerals with minerals of the earth. Then he can say that the stuff of
the stars is the stuff of the earth; and thus a meteorite helps to prove
that every particle fits into a single plan which we are learning to
understand.

(+) This reminds me of the ongoing search, especially by Bob Haag,
for the missing Tucson iron meteorites somewhere in the Santa Rita
Mountains which are still "shrouded in mystery" - only two masses
were ever recovered (see Bob's excellent Field Guide), although:

(1) " ... fragments similar to these and of various sizes were said
    to be abundant. The valley was called Caņada de Hierro, or
    Iron Valley, on this account."

(2) "Between the presidio of Tuscon and Tubac is a mountain range
     called Sierra de la Madera and (a pass called) Puerto de los     
     Muchachos. In it are several enormous masses of native iron,
     and many have rolled to the foot of the said sierra ..."
     (Velasco 1850).

Source: (Buchwald - Handbook of Iron Meteorites, Vol. 3, 1235-1244).


(*) Recent estimates of the crater's age are about
10 times as many years - i.e. about 50,000 years.



That's all folks :-)

Best regards,

Bernd

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