GIBEON, GREAT NAMA LAND, NAMIBIA

Most iron meteorites, including this specimen (among the finest zoomorphic meteorites known) formed 4.5 billion years ago from the cores of largely molten asteroids. These sub-planetary bodies are located mainly between Mars and Jupiter. The remains of this debris field are referred to as the asteroid belt. Several thousand years ago, a large mass that had been deflected out of the asteroid belt and had travelled through through interplanetary space for millions of years, found itself in an Earth-intersecting orbit and slammed into and exploded in our upper atmosphere, raining down on what is now the edge of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. This zoomorphic specimen originated from that event, and was recovered by a local tribesman. If this meteorite were dissected it would evidence a crystalline pattern. With a multitude of gleaming ridges, this Gibeon meteorite features a naturally formed hole as a result of terrestrialization, or exposure to the elements. It is rare for meteorites to exhibit such holes, and rarer still when the hole is positioned in the matrix in such a way as to yield an aesthetic specimen. It’s even more unusual when the hole results in a compelling zoomorphic example, as does this meteorite, which a fine naturally sculpted evocation of a bird from outer space.

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