[meteorite-list] Bernd Pauli's excellent abstract of Burke, part 6

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:23:16 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <708761.48877.qm_at_web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 18:57:14 +0200
From: Bernd Pauli HD
<bernd.pauli at lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>
To: Meteorite List
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Subject: Native Americans and Meteorites - Part 6 of 6


Jeanne wrote:

> I was also wondering if your book mentions anything
> about Native American usage of Canyon Diablo irons
> for tools, amulets or other spiritual items.

BURKE J.G. (1986) Cosmic Debris - Meteorites in
History, pp. 231-232:

The Hopewell Indians of the Ohio Valley fabricated
knives, chisels, ear ornaments, and buttons by
hammering or cold-working meteoritic material.
Crushed fragments of olivine or interstices in the
metal from which the olivine had been lost revealed
that at least some of the artifacts had been fashioned
from a pallasite. George Kunz in 1890 remarked that
the
meteoritic nuggets found there greatly resembled the
Brenham pallasite, and although Brezina agreed with
this opinion, other scientists did not.

Recently, Wasson and Sedwick concluded from their
analysis of the nickel and trace element composition
that the Ohio material was virtually identical to the
Brenham pallasite. The Indians at Havana, Illinois,
fabricated the beads found there, which varied in
diameter from three-sixteenths to five-eighths of an
inch, from sheets or strips of meteoritic material
that were fashioned into cylinders with a lapped seam
on one side. However, Buchwald determined that the
Indians must have intermittently annealed the strips
during the cold-working process. The microstructure he
observed indicated that the annealing temperature was
about 650? C, and the slightly distorted appearance of
the kamacite grains showed that cold-working followed
the last annealing process.

Best regards,

Bernd

What brought this about was my confusing the Casas
Grandes ruins with the Casa Grande ruins. I still
would not be surprised to find meteorites in Anasazi
observatories.

Also, a number of museums' meteorite collections are
in violation of NAGPRA. The theft of the Navaho
meteorites is particularly offensive to me.




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Received on Fri 18 Jan 2008 06:23:16 PM PST