Cape York Meteorite - History

History

The meteorite collided with Earth nearly 10,000 years ago. The iron masses were known to Inuit as Ahnighito (the Tent), weighing 31 metric tons; the Woman, weighing 3 metric tons; and the Dog, weighing 400 kg. For centuries, Inuit living near the meteorites used them as a source of metal for tools and harpoons.

The first stories of its existence reached scientific circles in 1818. Five expeditions between 1818 and 1883 failed to find the source of the iron. It was located in 1894 by Robert E. Peary, the famous American Navy Arctic explorer, who had enlisted the help of a local Inuit guide - the one who brought him to Saviksoah Island, just off northern Greenland's Cape York in 1894. It took Peary three years to arrange and carry out the loading of the heavy iron meteorites onto ships. It required the building of Greenland's only (small and short) railroad. Having taken the meteorites from the Inuit and giving them nothing in return, Peary sold the pieces for $40,000 to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where they are still on display.

At the American Museum of Natural History today the 3.4 x 2.1 x 1.7 meter Ahnighito is open for viewing in the Arthur Ross Hall. The heaviest meteorite that has ever been moved by humans, it is so heavy that it was necessary to build its display stand so that its supports reached through directly to the bedrock below the museum.

In 1963, a fourth major piece of the Cape York meteorite was discovered by Vagn F. Buchwald near Agpalilik. The Agpalilik meteorite, also known as the Man, weighs about 20 metric tons, and it is currently on display in the Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Other smaller pieces have also been found, such as the 3 tonne Savik I meteorite found in 1911 and the 250 kg Tunorput fragment found in 1984.