Iron Meteorite Rings
Picking up an iron meteorite that has fallen to Earth from space, then heating it in a forge and hammering it into another form, a blacksmith of today is performing an act that was done by the smiths of prehistory to fashion the first iron artifacts.
Meteoric iron is unlike any other iron found on the surface of the earth, because it is always alloyed with a high percentage of nickel. Most iron meteorites are thought to be the cores of differentiated asteroids that were shattered by impacts at an early stage of the sun’s evolution from the primordial solar nebula. They have remained unchanged for billions of years.
The rings pictured here were made from the Canyon Diablo meteorite that formed Meteor Crater, Arizona 50,000 years ago.
