[meteorite-list] A new area to hunt?

[Jason Utas]

Well, E.P.,

I suppose the only trouble would be finding responsible meteorite
hunters who would hunt without disturbing the ancient designs (which
seems fairly hopeless given the historical record of treasure-seekers
in general).

Yes, there are a number of responsible hunters out there, but one must
recognize the fact that whenever a location becomes well-known,
fortune-seekers tend to come in and wreak their opportunistic havoc
(this can be most easily seen with Canyon Diablo - the reason why the
crater was initially closed was that originally, hunters had promised
to fill in the holes that they left behind for the safety of the
grazing cattle - it became a popular hunting site, people stopped
filling in holes, and the ranch was closed).  However, one can also
look at places like NWA, where a great deal of scientific information
is forever lost every time a stone is picked up without coordinates
being taken.  Yes, it would be a lot of trouble, especially if
meteorites are being picked up in great numbers, but at the same time,
more information would become known about meteorite and strewnfield
density over the surface of the earth.

Is what's being done 'bad?'  Well, scientifically speaking, yes.  If
the hunters of NWA actually took the time to record find information,
we would know more about meteorites than we do now.  It would take
longer to find all of what has been found already (at least decades),
but one should keep in mind that a few more decades for most
meteorites in NWA would do them little to no harm, and more of the
harder-to-find material would undoubtedly be unearthed if more
thorough methods were used to hunt.

I refuse to condemn it as a collector because it has benefited me
personally, and not insignificantly.  But from a purely scientific
point of view, it truly is a loss.

Would the same sort of willy-nilly collecting/abuse of knowledge occur
at Nazca?
Well, who knows.  All one can do is look at what has happened in the
past and try to guess at what would occur here.
As an aficionado of history and Native Americans, I would think that
you, E.P., would be against hunting in such an area, for if it proved
to be good meteorite territory, the precious 'drawings' would be
rapidly - if not destroyed - damaged by enthusiastic meteorite
hunters.

- And don't act the victim.  When you're the mean one on here, trying
to get sympathy out of people by tossing in little comments like that
just makes me (and I would think people in general) look at you in a
light even less favourable than before.

Jason



On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 3:51 PM, E.P. Grondine <epgrondine at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi all -
>
> If what they say about the climate in this area is
> correct, then perhaps it could rival NWA for hunting:
>
> http://www.nazcamystery.com/palpa_valley.htm
>
> Re US 193: fpspace has links to observation sites for
> US 193, and links to ground images, and all the news
> flashes.
>
> final item, the note from Anne: thank you so much for
> the resource.  An idea which has caught my fancy for
> some time has been cyclic falls - not necessarily
> annual, but cyclic.  Imagine, knowing the Earth is
> going to intercept a stream, so just go outside in the
> evening and watch a nice one come in.
>
> Jason, you can be nasty now, if you want...
>
> good hunting,
> E.P. Grondine
> Man and Impact in the Americas
>
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