[meteorite-list] Destruction of the Hopewell civilization

[Yahoo]

Anne, and all,

Thank you for your post. I had not previously read the article for which you provided a link, but I was pleased to see it. I found it very interesting. 

In regard to the specific sentence you quoted from the article concerning the use of meteoritic iron by the Hopewell people, I have copied below several paragraphs from two articles that I wrote. The first was published in the Central States Archaeological Journal in Jan, 2007, and was entitled “ Meteorites on Indian Sites “.  I later expanded the article in Sep, 2013, and it was to be published in the unfortunately-all-too-short-lived “ Meteorite Hunting and Collecting Magazine. The article was accepted, but the magazine ceased operation just before my article would have appeared. 

I hope you and other members of The List might find this interesting, but I do apologize for the length of the email, especially for those who might not.


                  Article from Jan, 2007:

Meteoritic iron has even been used by Native Americans to manufacture both ornaments and tools.  Copper earspools with an overlay of iron foil derived from meteorites have been found on sites in Georgia and Ohio, along with similarly produced buttons and beads.  Woodworking tools, such as celts, axes, chisels, and adzes made of iron from meteorites have been found in various Hopewell sites.  In fact, the Hope-wellian culture appears to have been actively engaged in meteorite collecting, since at least 20 of their sites have produced artifacts of iron that came from 3 different meteorites, as identified by chemical analysis.


Article from Sep, 2013 :

The prehistoric Hopewell people were one of the most highly-developed cultures of eastern North America.  It is characterized by their construction of large and richly furnished burial mounds and a passion for exotic materials for use in the production of funerary goods.  An extensive trading network provided them with such items as obsidian and grizzly bear canine teeth from the Rockies, marine shells from Florida, native copper and silver from the Upper Great Lakes region, and mica from Virginia.  But perhaps the most interesting exotic substance was their fairly prolific use of meteoritic iron, occurring in the form of “nuggets” of un-worked meteorite masses, as well as in the shape of tools or as overlay on other materials. When worked, it was always worked “cold”, as smelting and casting techniques were unknown to them.  The following is a brief list of some of the artifacts that they made utilizing meteoritic iron: 

Copper earspools plated with meteoric iron;  earspools made entirely of meteoritic iron;  beads of rolled meteoritic-iron sheeting; clay, wood, or sandstone buttons covered with meteoritic iron; solid cones of meteoritic iron; awls made of meteoritic iron; an axe, adze, and chisels made of solid meteoritic iron; a small meteoritic-iron drill stuck in a pearl bead which it was used to perforate; a ball of meteoritic iron set into a hollowed bear canine tooth, and a human ulna banded and partly covered with meteoritic-iron sheeting.
 
These meteorite-related artifacts were found on more than a dozen different Hopewell sites.  The extreme scarcity of meteoritic iron and the considerable amount of knowledge required to identify it, coupled with their abundant use of the material with well over 100 individual meteorite containing artifacts found to date, appears to be evidence for deliberate meteorite collecting among the Hopewellians. At least 2 and possibly 3 to 4, different iron (or pallasite) meteorites have been identified as the source for the iron used with the artifacts.  It has been proven that metal found in 2 of the mounds were identical in composition to the Brenham, Kansas pallasite.  It is noteworthy that no evidence for their use of stone meteorites has ever been found.   
 
Without doubt the Hopewell people were the most dedicated hunters and collectors of meteorites by prehistoric Native Americans. Outside of the Hopewell area and context, archaeological finds of meteorites in North America are rare, with no consistent pattern of distribution.  Authenticated, scattered associations seem to be more a matter of casual meteorite collecting, perhaps because the fall was witnessed or because the meteorites looked out of place where they were found. Also, it is significant that the over whelming majority of non-Hopewell prehistoric meteorite collectors never attempted to work the iron into tools or ornaments, and simply left the masses intact.  The following are a few selected examples of meteorites that have been found on non-Hopewellian Indian sites.
 
Camp Verde, AZ. - Iron, IAB – 61.5kg, transported Canyon Diablo. Sometime around 1915, George E. Dawson found a stone cyst, typical in appearance to a child burial, in the corner of an ancient Indian dwelling.  About 18 inches down, he uncovered the meteorite, wrapped in a feather-cloth.  The 2 foot long, 1 foot wide, 5 inch thick iron can be imagined to resemble a small child with a distinctive head and shoulders, and a very pronounced spine that appears to have been rubbed smooth by human hands. It was found approximately 65 miles southwest of Meteor Crater.
 
Bloody Basin, AZ. – Iron, IAB – 5.074kg, transported Canyon Diablo.  Found September, 1964 by A. Morriston, approximately 65 miles southwest of Meteor Crater, in connection to an Indian burial. 
 
Mesa Verde Park, CO. – Iron, IB – 3.5kg.  Found in 1922 in the Sun Shrine at the north end of Pipe Shrine House, commingled with miscellaneous rock fragments.
 
Winona, AZ – Stone, Winonaite – 24kg.  Roughly 35 miles NW of Meteor Crater is the prehistoric site of a vanished tribal people now referred to as the Sinagua.  In 1928, archaeologists discovered the Winona meteorite in a stone cyst in the floor of one of the rooms.  The manner in which it was carefully buried closely resembled the method of burial of a revered young child of the Sinagua culture. This seems to suggest that the pueblo builders most likely considered the meteorite a sacred object, possibly after witnessing its fall.  Originally thought to be a single, large, egg-shaped mass, the stone had crumbled to pieces during its over 700 year internment.   
 
*Pojoaque, NM. – Stony-iron, Pallasite - Synonym for a small, transported fragment of Glorietta.  Found in 1930 inside a small black-on-white pottery jar that was plowed out of the ground by an Indian.  The worn condition of the meteorite suggests that it may have been part of a medicine man’s paraphernalia. 
 
Bonita Springs, FL. – Stone, H5 – 41.8kg.  Reginald Lyles found this meteorite in 1938 or 1939 while digging in a local Indian sand mound that measured 300 feet in diameter and 6 feet high.  The large stone was situated amid several skeletons.  It was recognized as a meteorite in 1956, and was purchased by the Smithsonian.   
 
Apex, CO. – Stone, L6 – 6.1g.  Found by Robert Akerley during his investigation of an ancient Indian camping site in the foothills west of Denver, subsequently known as the Magic Mountain site.    
 
Oktibbeha County, MS. – Iron, IB – 156g.   Found in 1854 in an Indian mound (on which no data have been recorded).
 
Pedernales, TX. – Iron, IAB – 691g.  Mr. John Stitt excavated this small meteorite from a depth of 4 feet from an Indian rock midden on December 1, 1980.   
 
Meteorites have also been found by surface hunters while searching on various Indian sites across the country.  These were most likely NOT collected by the early inhabitants, but were merely random and coincidental falls upon, or at least near, land that was once occupied by the Indians. The following are a few examples that illustrate such finds.
 
Dalhart, TX. – Stone, H5 – 4.4kg.  Found in 1968 by an amateur hunter of Indian artifacts on a grass pasture. 
 
Delaware, AR. – Stone, L4 – 8.346kg.  A single stone was found by a then 12 year old boy, Daniel Michaelson in 1972 while hunting for arrowheads near Delaware, Arkansas.  When found, the stone was still black, and therefore at least a fairly recent fall.  This fresh condition obviously indicates that the early inhabitants of the site had no knowledge of the stone.  It had simply fallen there relatively recently and was found merely by accident while Michaelson was surface hunting for arrowheads. Unfortunately, the Delaware meteorite was left to weather outdoors for nearly 30 years, when it was at last identified as a meteorite by the well known meteorite hunter, Allen Shaw.  
 
Floyd, NM. – Stone, L4 – 13kg.  Found in 1966 by the prolific and legendary meteorite hunter, Skip Wilson, while originally pursuing his hobby of arrowhead hunting.  This was his very first meteorite find. Skip has gone on to find more than 200 stones, representing over 125 unique meteorite classifications! If he had never been interested in arrowhead hunting, the meteorite-world  would almost assuredly been robbed of this great meteorite hunter. 
 
Tarlton, OH. – Stone, H4 – 226.5g.  Found in the summer of 1967 by Mr. Richard Wise while hunting for fossils and Indian artifacts.
 
Thurman, CO. – Stone, OC – 1.959kg.  A single stone that has not yet been fully classified was found in 1965 by a woman while she was looking for arrowheads. 
 
Walcott, TX. – Stone, H5 – 2kg.  Found in November, 1983 during a search for arrowheads.  

Best wishes to all,

   Robert Woolard
 







Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 28, 2023, at 9:21 AM, Anne Black via Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> This was brought to my attention, but I had never heard of the event.
> Anyone?
> 
> https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2022/02/did-comets-fiery-destruction-lead-to-downfall-of-ancient-hopewell.html
> 
> One interesting line:  
> The Hopewell people collected the meteorites and forged malleable metal from them into flat sheets used in jewelry and musical instruments called pan flutes.
> 
> It would be interesting to hear more.   
> 
> Anne Black  
> IMPACTIKA.com  
> impactika at aol.com  
> 
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