[meteorite-list] Winona / Canyon Diablo connection

From: John Gwilliam <jkgdiver_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:02:27 2004
Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.20020312082339.00996d30_at_pop.primenet.com>

Rhett and List,

Winona wasn't the only meteorite interred by the ancient natives. The
2183kg Navajo iron was found buried in talus with Indian beads. Iron was a
highly desired material for making tools from. Compared to rocks, iron
must have been really "space age" material to them.

There are several iron meteorites here in Arizona that have received
separate names even though V.F. Buchwald considered many of them to be
fragments of Canyon Diablo that were transported. For those of you that
have a copy of Arizona State Universities Catalog of Meteorites, you can
read the notations on some of these irons.

It's quite possible that many fragments of Canyon Diablo were carried by
the pre-historic Indians to a lot different locations. Trading was a
common practice among the different tribes in the Southwest, so if the
Winona meteorite is found to be similar to Canyon Diablo shale, isn't it a
possibility that it was also a transported item?

Regards,

John Gwilliam

At 11:57 PM 3/11/02 -0600, Rhett Bourland wrote:
>Hi everyone and especially Steve Schoner,
>Not too long ago there was discussion about a possible connection between
>the Winona meteorite and the many Canyon Diablos and something just didn't
>seem right about that but I just couldn't put my finger on it until
>recently. While from what I've read there certainly could be a connection
>between the Winonaites and type IA irons I really doubt that Winona and
>Canyon Diablo fell at the same time. The reasoning behind this is I thought
>that Winona was a witnessed fall by Anasazi indians. I've read the stories
>about how the Winona meteorite was found in an indian burial ground wrapped
>like a small child would be. The understanding behind this was that the
>indians saw it fall and buried the stone the same way a child would be
>buried because they thought that it was a dead star which would imply that
>they saw it fall. Really, how would they be able to recognize it as a
>meteorite had they not seen it fall? I also remember reading somewhere that
>this fall probably occurred somewhere around 1100 (please correct me if I'm
>wrong) which would make this meteorite less than a thousand years old. Does
>anyone have any data on a possible terrestrial age of this meteorite? I'm
>guessing that its probally considerably less than the age of Canyon Diablo.
>Comments anyone?
>Very respectfully,
>Rhett Bourland
>www.asteroidmodels.com
>www.asteroidmodels.com/personal
>www.meteoritecollectors.org
>
>
>______________________________________________
>Meteorite-list mailing list
>Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

John Gwilliam Meteorites
PO Box 26854
Tempe AZ 85285
http://www.meteoriteimpact.com
Received on Tue 12 Mar 2002 10:45:06 AM PST