Cape York
The Cape York meteorite is one of the largest iron meteorites ever found on Earth. It landed approximately 10,000 years ago in the North Greenland area near Cape York. The local Inuit have known about it for centuries and used its iron to make tools such as spearheads and knives because there were no natural sources of the metal in the area.
The first mention of the meteorite dates back to 1818, when British explorer John Ross discovered during his expedition that the Inuit had iron tools from an unknown source. However, the actual discovery of the meteorite was not made until 1894 by the American explorer Robert Peary. A year later, he managed to transport the largest pieces of the meteorite to the United States, a huge logistical task - the largest fragment, for example, weighed 31 tonnes and a special ramp had to be built to get it onto the ship. Today, the pieces are on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
4 items total
