mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== ** *February 16, 2005* *_Posted Nov 9.02_* Meteor Crater: Arizona's First Bonanza? By Gary A. David Deep Impact déjà vu DATELINE: 47,000 YEARS BP, ARIZONA -- As the fiery bolide streaked toward its terrestrial destination, the end of the world must have seemed imminent. Although not nearly the size that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, this mass of cosmic nickel-iron measured 150 feet across and weighed 300,000 tons. It slammed into the ground at 40,000 miles per hour with a force equivalent to 20 million tons of TNT. The impact and resulting explosion instantly created a bowl-shaped crater 570 feet deep and 4,100 feet in diameter. Extending nearly two-and-a-half miles, its circumference is not a circle or oval as one would expect but instead a square with the corners rounded off. If the meteorite struck during the day, the eruption of ejecta, dust, and smoke would have risen high into the deep blue sky, obscuring the sun. If it hit at night, the blinding flash would have illuminated the landscape, turning darkness into broad daylight. The blast shook the ground and produced shock waves in the air for miles in every direction. Without warning, this bizarre astro-geological formation suddenly loomed more than 150 feet above the plane of high desert, much as it does today. Barringer Meteorite Crater was named after Daniel Moreau Barringer, a Philadelphia lawyer and mining engineer who staked his claim in hopes of making a profit from this desolate stretch of sagebrush and red sandstone in northern Arizona. White settlers had found some thirty tons of meteoric iron in the form of spherules scattered over an area more than eight miles in diameter. Even larger meteorites were occasionally discovered at the impact site and in nearby Diablo Canyon. One rock weighing 1,406 pounds is now housed in the Meteor Crater museum. *1*. Unfortunately for Barringer, no extractable meteoric metal was ever obtained. He and his Standard Iron Company had spent over $600,000 drilling test holes from 1903 until work was halted in 1929 with very little to show for his effort. Based on these disappointing results, a majority of scientists have concluded that most of the nickel-iron of this meteorite had been vaporized in the devastating explosion caused by the impact. Barringer's final hole, however, did show some promise but had to be abandoned due to poor drilling conditions. Moreover, some sources report substantial finds prior to his venture. During the last decade of the 19th century both meteorite dealers and scientists were showing interest in Meteor Crater and Canyon Diablo. "Meanwhile, miners hauled away tons of iron meteorites, loaded them on railroad cars, and shipped them to smelters in El Paso, Texas, where they were melted down and made into various iron products. Probably more than 20 tons were collected. There must be tools and machines still in use today that are made of celestial iron." *2*. Nevertheless, this exploitation did not exhaust the supply of meteoritic iron and nickel. "Until the area was closed to meteorite hunting recently, hunters with metal detectors were still finding significant numbers of specimens." *3*. Was the estimated 20 to 30 tons of meteoric iron that had been collected the amount actually deposited by the deep impact? Or was this amount merely the remnants of an earlier recovery of sacred sky metal by the Anasazi (the ancestral Hopi)? Radiocarbon Dated Flyer Perched on the lip of this natural wonder, we find it easy to grasp the immensity of the fortuitous cataclysms our planet sometimes must endure. On the other hand, it's not so easy to imagine how we might have reacted to such an enormous event. Although many archaeologists believe that no humans could have witnessed the devastating creation of Meteor Crater, some recent findings point to the contrary. About 330 miles to the southeast near Orogrande, New Mexico *4*., R. S. MacNeish of The Andover Foundation for Archaeological Research has uncovered evidence of human habitation that even antedates the 47,000 YBP (years before present) window for Meteor Crater. In Pendejo Cave about thirty miles south of the town of Almagordo, MacNeish found hearths, clay-lined pits, cordage, awls, serrated knives, pendants, and animal bones (including a bison humerus) worked by hammerstones. He also unearthed a spear point embedded in the toe bone of an extinct species of miniature horse. *5*. Traces of human hair as well as finger and palm imprints in fire-hardened clay were even discovered. Radiocarbon dating of 171 samples consisting of wood charcoal, wood, bone, leaves, fiber, seeds, nuts, and feces indicate a range from a mere 350 YBP to an astounding 55,000 YBP, the second date being some 8000 years before the Meteor Crater impact. *6*. Could any of the Paleolithic peoples who ranged across what is now the Southwestern United States have seen the meteoric juggernaut crashing down from the heavens? The explosion caused by this massive chunk of space rock striking the Earth was a thousand times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. If humans were anywhere near the impact forty-seven millennia ago, the colossal force would have surely provoked an overpowering awe. It may even have caused the sort of numinous dread that Rudolf Otto has termed /mysterium tremendum/, or "...'wholly other', that which is quite beyond the sphere of the usual, the intelligible, and the familiar, which therefore falls quite outside the limits of the 'canny', and is contrasted with it, filling the mind with blank wonder and astonishment." *7*. In addition to temporarily changing the weather patterns, a detonation of this magnitude would have had an even more lasting effect. In essence, it would have radically altered the religious belief system of both those who actually experienced the cataclysm and those of succeeding generations who merely heard tales of it. A similar theological and mythological case occurred with the milder Sunset Crater volcanic eruption less than one thousand years ago; thus, it stands to reason that the pervasive influence of meteoric lore and ritual connected with this much more potent event would have been profound. Either consciously or subconsciously, the crater's enduring presence has had a major impact (pun intended) on the religious system of those who eventually settled in this region. As Andrew Hermequaftewa, Blue Bird Chief from Second Mesa stated, /"The Hopi land is the Hopi religion. The Hopi religion is bound up in the Hopi land."/ *8*. Meteor Crater is certainly one of the most recognizable geomorphologies in American Southwest. The Hopi call it Yuvukpu, which literally means "cave-in," "sink"-- i.e., a depression in the landscape. *9*. The Hopi also have a Meteor Crater kachina, which is akin to the Kaa-na, or the Sunset Crater kachina, although the former land-form located thirty-six miles to the northwest is, as stated above, volcanic in nature. *10*. These two kachinas in turn are similar to Yehoho (or Tsekok yenu), the Roast Corn Throwing Boy. This figure who frequently distributes roasted corn to the spectators at a kachina dance ceremony wears horizontally crossed feathers atop his mask, which is half red and half yellow, and is divided down the middle with a vertical white and black stripe. Carrying an /aaya/, or "moisture rattle" in his right hand, he wears a bobcat costume with a spruce ruff, the latter worn to attract rain. *11*. As we shall see below, storms and meteoric phenomena are mystically connected. Meteor Cult Classics Meteorites (a term designating meteors, or shooting stars, that have fallen to the ground) have been the source of religious veneration for many different cultures worldwide throughout the ages. Located in Mecca adjacent to the eastern corner of the Ka'aba, for instance, is the so-called Black Stone. An object of much obeisance, it is mounted within the foot-long, oval-shaped orifice of a large silver frame. "This relic, most likely a meteorite, is said by sages to symbolize the human soul shining under the throne of God, although it was long ago worn dull under the hands and lips of countless pilgrims." *12*. Even earlier the Benben Stone was worshipped at Heliopolis in Egypt. According to co-authors Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert of the provocative bestseller /The Orion Mystery/, meteoric iron was represented in the Pyramid Texts (some of the world's oldest writings) as "the 'bones' of the star kings" and "the seed that is Osiris." *13*. The conical shaped meteorite of the Benben Stone served as a prototype of the pyramidion placed at the apex of both the obelisk and the pyramid. *14*. (In this context it is interesting to note that the Hopi sky god Sotuknang is usually depicted as wearing a conical hat or peaked headdress.) At another famous provenience, the Valley of the Kings, a gold-hilted sword with a blade of meteoric iron was found among the treasures of Tutankhamun. The mummified body of the young pharaoh also had a headrest made of the same celestial metal. *15*. The Egyptian word for meteorite was /baa en pet/, or "iron of the sky," whereas /baa nu ta/ meant "earth-iron." *16*. (The Hopi near homophone /paa-/ means both "water" and "wonder.") The Egyptians conceptualized the sky or the "floor of heaven" as a rectangular plate of iron, presumably of the celestial variety, held up by four pillars marking the cardinal points. *17*. Even the sun god Ra was thought to sit upon a throne of iron rather than upon a throne of gold as one might suppose. *18*. From this we can deduce that the ancient Egyptians considered meteoric iron more valuable in both a spiritual and a material sense than the auriferous metal, at least in the pre-Dynastic Era. In fact, at El Girza north of Maidum nine tubular beads of meteoric iron were found dating from as early as 3500-3300 B.C. *19*. From a slightly later period the Sumerians apparently esteemed both celestial and tellurian iron. "An object from the Royal Cemetery of Ur [2800 B.C.] turned out to be of meteoric iron. But a dagger blade of Khafaje had been smelted from terrestrial ores. It seems, however, to have been imported ready made, probably from Armenia. There, it can be deduced from later events, some barbarian tribe had discovered an economical method for smelting iron, but kept it secret successfully till the end of the IInd [Second] millennium." *20*. These so-called "barbarians" must have been at least somewhat metallurgically proficient in order to have worked with ferrous metals over fifteen hundred years before the beginning of the Iron Age. One of the oldest words for meteorite is the Sumerian term KÙ.AN, which may literally mean "iron from heaven." An Assyrian text from 1900 B.C. describes a group of Assyrian traders in Anatolia who apparently dealt in the precious metal. *21*. If we break down the word, KÙ means "field" (or "earth") while AN relates to "sky," *22*. thus describing the dual realms of meteorites. In this context it is interesting to note that the Hopi near homophone /Kwan/ refers to the One Horn Society, which is directly associated with Sotuknang, the sky god. A synonym of KÙ.AN is the Sumerian /amutu/. The Hopi word /amu/ means "they" or "them," while the suffix -/tu/ is a dual indicator. Thus, "many of them" could refer to those strange metallic sky creatures, the quintessential Other. Meteoric iron was traditionally considered a celestial metal whereas copper was known as a terrestrial one. It is interesting to find both of these metals mentioned in the antediluvian era as well. In Genesis 4:22, Tubal-cain, who was the son of Lamech and grandson of Methusael (Methuselah), is described as "an instructor of every artificer in brass [i.e., a copper-zinc alloy] and iron..." The first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus says this about the original blacksmith: "But Tubal, one of his [viz., Lamech's] children by the other wife [viz., Silla], exceeded all men in strength, and was very expert and famous in martial performances. He procured what tended to the pleasures of the body by that method; and first of all invented the art of making brass." *23*. Whether or not Tubal-cain wears a conical hat like his Greek counterpart Hephaestus *24*. (or, as stated previously, the Hopi sky god Sotuknang), Flavius does not reveal. Incidentally, the name Tubal is said by some to be the secret password of the Master Mason, the Third Degree of Freemasonry. In addition, the crude pun "Two Balls and Cane" is seen as a genital representation on a Masonic lapel pin, thus reinforcing the connotation of fertility. *25*. The Old Testament also anachronistically refers to the metal "steel." For instance, II Samuel 22:35 relates David's praise of the Lord: "He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms." Surely this does not refer to the same alloy we know today. Could this instead denote meteoric iron? If God gave him supernatural strength to defeat his enemies the Philistines, this is possible. In addition, the Hebrew word /paldâh/ used in Nahum 2:3-4 refers to the steel or iron of chariots but is translated as "torches." *26*. Many cultures use the latter term to refer to falling stars. America's Great Balls of Fire The preeminent Atlantis scholar Ignatius Donnelly claims that even the Mound Builders of North America, who were also disparaged by the term "barbarian," forged implements out of meteoric iron. *27*. Among the now-extinct Skidi Pawnee of Nebraska, meteorites comprised the principal items of sacred medicine bundles, chiefly because these celestial orphans were considered the children of Tirawa, the Supreme Being *28*. (similar to the Hopi sun god Tawa, or the Great Spirit). This tribe is thought to have once lived in the American Southwest and shared many cultural and linguistic traits with the Hopi. The Pawnee word for meteorite is /tahu:ru'/, but it also refers to flint, projectile point, and tough skin or scalp. *29*. From this we may infer that the Pawnee conceptualized these obdurate sky children as having a hardened skin of iron. The near homophone /tahu'at/ is the Hopi word for sinew, tendon, cartilage, ligament, or gristle, whereas the Hopi term /hoohu/ refers to arrow-- a metonym for a shooting star. The Hopi phrase /to'kpela owa/, literally "sky stone," specifically refers to a meteorite. For ceremonial purposes the Hopi grind up this fallen celestial metal as a pigment to paint their winter solstice prayer sticks, to which eagle feathers are frequently attached. *30*. It makes sense, then, that Canyon Diablo (in Hopi, Ötöpsikvi or Ötöpsikya, Canyon of the Strong Plant *31*.), where many round nodules of meteoric iron ore (in Hopi, /pülañpü/) were found, is also one of the places where sacrificial golden eaglets are annually gathered. An eagle, of course, is conceptualized as an intercessor to the sky world, whereas a prayer stick is an embodiment of its maker's direct petitioning of the gods. The Anasazi also treated meteorites with reverence. One such sacred stone was discovered at Clear Creek ruin atop a mesa in the Verde Valley of Arizona. It was wrapped in a feather cloth and deposited inside a stone cyst on the northeast corner of a building, i.e., the direction of the summer solstice sunrise. Similar to the type used for infant burial, the grave of this fallen "sky child" also contained considerable pottery. The meteorite itself, which weighed over 135 pounds, was determined to originate at Meteor Crater nearly 53 miles /to the northeast/. *32*. The fact that these ancient people hauled such a ponderous idol all that distance over rough terrain proves the spiritual importance of such objects. Some meteorite fragments also apparently served a more pragmatic or profane purpose, such as the well-formed iron ax unearthed from a ruin in New Mexico. However, this is probably the exception rather than the rule. Another example of the divine type of meteorite was found at Casas Grandes pueblo ruin in the northern Mexican State of Chihuahua. Ritualistically "wrapped like a mummy," *33*. it obviously functioned as a repository of great sanctity. A number of pit houses are reputedly located on the southwestern side of Meteor Crater, the direction from which the meteor apparently came. *34*. (I cannot report further on these structures because during my onsite investigation I was quickly chased away from the privately owned area by two young men in a big pickup truck.) This pre-puebloan type of isolated domicile was built primarily prior to the 12th century A.D. in Arizona. The circular or oblong structures were typically dug three to five feet deep and were about eight to twenty-five feet in diameter. Cut down with stone axes (or perhaps those of meteoric iron?), four upright main timbers were embedded in the floor to support cross-beams upon which rested a cribbed roof made of smaller sticks covered with brush, bark, grass and mud. Banquettes, or earthen benches, stretched around the circumference of the pit house, and upright stone slabs sometimes lined the walls. Aligned on a south to north axis along the packed dirt floor were the following: a ventilator shaft with a deflector stone, a fire pit, and a /sipapu/, or small hole symbolically leading to the underworld. Entry was by way of a ladder through the smoke hole in the roof. It is interesting to note that the rounded corners of the pit houses reflect the specific morphology of rounded corners of this particular crater. Thus, it is possible that Meteor Crater provided the initial model for these early dwellings. If the blinding flash and sun-obscuring smoke clouds from the gigantic cosmic rock plowing into terra firma were an arresting visual display, then its deafening roar must have been an equally arresting auditory one. "Sonic booms and the explosive flames of fragmentation accompany the object's descent. It lands with thunder. Even from a distance, fireballs are sometimes accompanied by sonic booms, and that, too, may have helped associate meteors and meteorites with thunderbolts." *35*. The Hopi were certainly not immune from these types of parallels. In discussing the ritual usage of the rhombus, or bull roarer, one authority states: "The Hopi associate sound with meteoric phenomena, and its use may be in effect an incantation to bring rainstorms." *36*. Thus, both thunderbolts and fireballs evoke rain, which in the desert is synonymous with fertility. It comes as no surprise, then, that the Hopi phrase for shooting star is /soohu l`ööqö-- soohu/ meaning star and/ l`ööqö/ referring to a bride who goes to the groom's house for a wedding ceremony, thus connoting fertility as well. Hubert Howe Bancroft's multi-volume work entitled /Native Races of the Pacific States/ relates that the Tarascans of Michoacan, Mexico (who possibly had ties to both the Zuni of New Mexico and the Quechua of South America *37*.) were found by the Spanish chronicler Tozozomoc to wear "steel" helmets. LDS researcher Jeff Lindsay comments: /"Actually, a material that could be called steel was available in Mesoamerica, namely meteoric nickel-iron alloys... Nickel-iron alloys appear very common in meteorites. Further, I found several examples of meteoric metals that the author compared to man-made steel listed in Volume 2 [of Buchwald's Handbook, cited above], including haxonite from Canyon Diablo in Arizona, a face-centered cubic carbide related to tool steels and stainless steels... The point is that at least some meteoric metals can be called steel with technical accuracy, and could certainly be called steel by ancient peoples or modern translators, who might easily call a broad range of iron alloys 'steel'."/ *38*. As we previously noted, steel is referenced more than once in the Bible. Was "steel," or meteoric iron, once a highly coveted precious metal prospected and traded in the same manner as gold and silver? If so, did Meteor Crater in Arizona serve as a major source of such ore? Adventures in the Stone Trade Recent findings in the Arctic indicate an extensive trade network dealing in celestial iron, the source of which was presumably the Cape York meteorite impact in northwestern Greenland. "Current research suggests that prehistoric Arctic dwellers began hammering metal into tools about 1200 years ago." *39*. On Little Cornwallis Island nearly 375 miles west of the Cape York event, forty-five iron artifacts --blades, harpoon points, needles, fasteners, etc.-- were found in two Dorset villages dating back as early as A.D. 450. However, the trade network may be considerably older. "McCartney [viz., Arctic researcher Allen McCartney, professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville] initially wondered whether this expansive trade began soon after the Cape York meteorite shower --estimated at a total of some 200 tons-- crashed to Earth." *40*. Meteorite expert Vagn Buchwald suggests that the Cape York meteorites plummeted to Earth at least 2000 years ago but may have impacted even as much as 10,000 years ago. The Meteor Crater event, of course, is much older than even the earlier date. In this context the claim that the Hopi migrations included the Arctic Circle prior to their final settlement on the three Mesas in circa A.D. 1100 does not seem so far fetched. The Arctic region blocked by snow and ice is known by the desert dwelling Hopi as the "Back Door of the Fourth World." *41*. In addition, Hopi pictographs dating back as much as 1300 years ago were recently found in Grotto Canyon near Calgary, Alberta. Some depict the Humpback Flute Player (a.k.a. Kokopelli). The Canadian Indian people known as the Stoney First Nation have a legend of a foreign "rattlesnake people" who once lived among them. *42*. The Hopi Snake Clan is one of this tribe's primary clans, while the Snake Dance and the Flute Dance held in alternating years during August are major rituals in the Hopi ceremonial cycle. Did the ancestral Hopi travel north in part to exchange the older sacred metal of Canyon Diablo for that of Cape York? It is clear that a substantial portion of the Arizona meteorite was either vaporized or atomized into countless droplets of molten metal. The question remains: What percentage of its 300,000 tons was so reduced? The survival of merely one tenth of one percent would have provided enough metal for a viable trading operation. If the Cape York meteorite weighing only 200 tons could furnish a rich source of extraterrestrial ore, then perhaps the Barringer meteorite was a veritable bonanza, even if most of it was destroyed in its descent through the atmosphere and impact with the Earth. This would have been more than a mere exchange of commodities as seen in modern terms, however. These meteorite fragments would have been perceived as nothing less than the sky spirits' metallic flesh, imbued with the numinous power of the celestial realm. Graced by a visitation from these blazing star beings, the ancient inhabitants of Arizona would have experienced the same mixture of awe and reverence that normally accompanied any biblical theophany. * continued..... * © 2001-2002 by Gary A. David. All rights reserved. ** ? News ? Homepage/Index ? UFOs+ET ? Ghosts+Hauntings ? CryptoCorner ? Ancient Mysteries ? World Mysteries ? Space Mysteries ? Secrets+Conspiracies ? Links ? Site Search ? Message Board ? E-mail