Meteorite is Lonely

by bboyneko 4 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  bboyneko

  David Wheeler read about the impending auction: Two pieces from the Willamette Meteorite, a 151/2-ton rock considered sacred by an Indian tribe but ensconced in a New York museum for decades, were to be sold off.

  He thought maybe he could offer a little healing. Wheeler, an Oregon chiropractor, paid $3,375 for a thumbnail-sized chip of the colossal meteorite and is donating it to the tribe.

  "I have a lot of respect for the native cultures," Wheeler said from his office in West Linn, Oregon. "I just looked at that, and thought, 'I'm going to get one of those sections. I'm going to bring it back here."'

  That's so cool of the guy to do, I;m sure the $3000 he paid is tax deductable right?

  Oregon's Clackamas Indians apparantly worshiped the meteorite before it was taken from the state aabout 100 years ago. They called it Tomanowos, or "Visitor from the Moon," and believed it created a union between sky, earth and water.

  Rainwater that collected in its fissures was used to bless hunting arrows and heal illness.

  My question is, why hasn't the US Government given the meteorite back to the Indians? Or at least a chunk bigger than a thumbnail? If it landed in Oregon 12,000 years ago, The Inidans where there before European colonists, so it's rightfully theirs correct?

  Apparanrtly, the Indians say the Meteorite is lonely in the Mueseam it is now housed in. (New YOrk) From What I understand, the Museam permits the tribe to visit the meteorite and perform ceremonies as part of a 1999 settlement.

  But really, it's just a rock, I say give it back to the Indians.
• 

  LDH

  Cool story, Bboy.

  I'd probably err on the side of caution and give it back to 'em too. I mean, a bunch of tourists gawking at it or a bunch of people using it to connect to a higher power.

  You decide.

  Lisa
• 

  openminded

  Simply stated, the Indians were/are unable to compete for resources with European intruders. If they really respect higher powers then they should be worshipping the people who were powerful enough to take the rock from them. The bottom line is that Indians killed and robbed each other all the time for scarce resources.
• 

  rhett

  First of all, I know the person who sold the meteorite as well as the some of the people who bought the larger piece that was auctioned off (I've even helped the lead investor work on his meteorite website) so I do know a bit more about this situation than most people here probally do. Ok, now that I've got that out of the way......
  This is one of the biggest loads of crap I've ever heard of. First of all, the history of this meteorite is that it some guy found it on a steel company's land, dragged it to his land, charged people to see it, steel company figured out that it was stolen, sued to get it back, won, sold it to a wealthy lady in New York who donated it to the museum in NYC. Its been there since the 1920's. The indians didn't say anything what so ever until the 90's when they sued the museum to get ownership of it. I've heard that they would have chopped some of it up themselves to sell it. Daryll Pitt (the gentleman who sold the meteorite) had offered to sell it the tribe for a very reduced price to the tribe but they refused to do so because they said that they didn't want to contribute to the "commercialization of their herritage" (their words, not mine). No, they wanted the meteorite for free. While they may not have the meteorite on their land anymore they have access to the meteorite at anytime they want for their ceremonies and the AMNH fund college scholarships for multiple young people of the tribe. Basically, the indians are just being greedy here. When the meteorite was taken from Oregon quite a while back they didn't say anything about it. They're mainly bitching and whining about who gets to use the nice big rock for tourism.
  As for how the AMNH could do something like this is easy. Large institutions like that will trade with private individuals all the time. Hell, I've got a slice of an extremely rare meteorite that I got from the Smithsonian. Why do they do this? They have large collections of meteorites, most of which are rather uninteresting scientifically and don't have much scientific value (much like this meteorite). Not only do most museums display their meteorite collection they also do research on them. In this case the museum had cut a large piece of the meteorite off so that they could mount it on a very nice display. Really not that big of a deal at all as meteorites are cut all the time. So, the museum had a decent sized chunk of a meteorite that really doesn't have that much scientific value (its a fairly common type of iron meteorite that's very weathered) when a new meteorite from Mars was discovered in the Los Angeles area that's fairly unique and many people were falling over each other to get too (I've got about 10 milligrams of it myself). Daryll obtained a good sized piece of the Mars rock from the finder and instead of selling all of it on the open market to private collectors (who would easily pay $2,500 a gram) he went around to various museums of the world and traded with them. What did he trade? His valuable (both commercially and especially scientifically) Mars rock in exchange for rather boring scientifically speaking but incredibly valuable commercially that various museums would be happy to trade away. Basically, the museum in NYC got an important Mars rock that it has performed extensive research on in exchange for a rather boring rock that they've already done just anything they would want to do to. Daryll suplies valuable research material to the scientific community (which he could have very easily sold to private collectors) and obtains a scientifically boring rock that some rather greedy indians happen to attach some scientific value to. He's a pretty good guy who just happens to get crap from greedy indians.
  What I find really interesting is the fact that they make such a big fuss about this well known meteorite but really haven't said anything at all about the much much much more interesting and scientifically valuable one that was found in one of their burial grounds and has since been sliced up and distributed around the world (including a small piece in my living room).
  By the way, if anyone wants some of the rusted fragments of the meteorite that started this discussion let me know as I can get them for you. Hell, if you want any other meteorites let me know too! Chances are I can get them one way or another.

  I don't need to fight
  To prove I'm right
  I don't need to be forgiven.
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  rhett

  Oh yes, on a side note to this story, a group of investors bought a larger piece of this meteorite at the same auction. I got an email from one of them today saying that they plan to cut their piece and donate some of it to the tribe but are running into complications with it because the tribe doesn't want them to cut it but to donate all of it to them. Sure, they won't pay a reduced amount to purchase all of it because that would only contribute to the commercialization but they expect someone else (or in this case a group) to pay a higher price and then when the group offers a donation to the tribe of part of the slice they get upset because they want all of it. Is it just me or does anyone else think this is just a tad greedy?

  I don't need to fight
  To prove I'm right
  I don't need to be forgiven.