[meteorite-list] AD - Rare roman coin with meteorite theme on Ebay

[Darren Garrison]

On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 02:53:17 +0200, "Martin Altmann" <Altmann at Meteorite-Martin.de> wrote:

>Yes, Darren, one stone survived.
>The holy stone of the temple of Paphos on Cyprus, which is depicted on many
>classical coins (Traian, Vespasian, Drusus, Caracalla and so on),
>was recovered by excavations on  the temple site more than hundred years
>ago.
>It was kept in the cellar and the stock of the National museum in Nikosia
>for an eternity,
>until it was transportated to the local archeological museum in Kouklia,
>where it's now exhibited.
>
>Never a sample was taken for authentification.

One of the sad things about being a specialist in one feild of science means that you tend to not
have much knowledge of/interest in other feilds.  I often wonder how many meteorites paleontologists
have walked over in the desert, and how many valuable fossils meteorite hunters have walked over.
(Like, for example, Peter Douglas Ward's work in the Karoo desert as described in his recent book
Gorgon-- seems like prime meteorite country, and he and his people likely kicked a few meteorites
out of the way in their scouring the desert for bone).

I knew that a ancient fall in a temple in Japan was still known, but I hadn't ever heard that one of
the ancient Greek ones had been recovered.  (It reminds me of the book The First Fossil Hunters
which attempts to trace many ancient legends and worshiped objects to fossils-- see
http://www.2think.org/fossilhunters.shtml)