NO. 5 HEXAHEDRITES — HENDERSON 3I 



Recent archeological work in northern Mexico has demonstrated 

 that the cultural relationships of Chihuahua, Coahuila, eastern Texas, 

 New Mexico, and Arizona are directly connected to influences out of 

 the high culture area of the \^alley of Mexico, and that relationships 

 of Mexico and the southeastern part of the United States are along 

 the Gulf Coast and up the Mississippi and its southern tributary, the 

 Red River. From an archeological standpoint, the evidence suggests 

 that man could not have distributed the hexahedrites in Texas over 

 their oval pattern.^ 



American Indians chipped fragments from some large meteorites 

 prior to the time modern man discovered the specimens. The Hope- 

 well Mound Builders apparently transported small pieces of several 

 different types of meteorites considerable distances. At some of the 

 Ohio Mounds, several different types of meteorites have been identi- 

 fied, and at Havana, 111., meteoritic iron was found fashioned into 

 beads. The Casas Grandes, Mexico, iron, which was excavated from 

 the ruins of a temple, was incased in wrappings similar to those sur- 

 rounding the bodies found in neighboring graves. 



To cite more meteorites which man obviously has transported seems 

 unnecessary, as this study is limited to hexahedrites and only a small 

 proportion of these irons seems to have been disturbed by man (see 

 page 5). Furthermore, since many of the hexahedrites come from 

 limited geographic areas, transportation by man would seem to have 

 been negligible. If man was a factor, why would he concentrate these 

 irons rather than disperse them? To argue that man moved these 

 meteorites outward from a central spot strengthens the point that 

 hexahedrites have a peculiar worldwide distribution. 



THE PROBABLE GEOGRAPHIC ABUNDANCE OF 

 HEXAHEDRITES 



It can be argued that hexahedrites are equally abundant everywhere 

 and that chance recovery is responsible for the pattern indicating 

 fallout from showers. The best counterargument is the worldwide 

 scatter of hexaliedrites, which indicates that they frequently are con- 

 centrated into limited areas. 



It can also be argued that possibly in certain localities we are dealing 

 with a hexahedrite shower along with one or two single hexahedrite 

 falls. Until the terrestrial ages of meteorites are better understood, 

 it is impossible to assess the validity of such an assumption. 



3 Personal communications from Dr. Clifford Evans, Jr., curator of the 

 division of archeology', U. S. National Museum. 



