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Re: (meteorobs) FWD from Keith Evanson- Steel-the star material



At 12:21 PM 12/11/97 -0500, you wrote:
>To: meteorobs@latrade.com
>From: "Keith C. Evanson" <kevanson@slate.Minesdot edu>
>Subject: Steel -- the "star metal"?
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>Greetings to all from beautiful Colorado where the skies are always clear,
>
>I have heard it said that a meteor's journey through the atmosphere is akin
>to a metallurgical refining process.  The resultant meteorite is supposedly
>a crudely-refined material with an iron base.  According to my source,
>ancient peoples would manufacture tools from meteorite material and in
>several old languages, the word "steel" actually translates into "star
>metal".  Has anyone ever heard about this?  If true this would be really,
>really cool!  Maybe you regulars George and Lew or anyone else could point
>me in the right direction to learn about meteorites on the web?  I have an
>interest in obtaining some meteorite material to do a metallurgical
>analysis.  Or, perhaps I could be put in contact with some meteorite
>research department at a university somewhere who has already done such
>work.  In any rate, I'd like to get any information available that would
>substantiate or refute the use of meteorite materials for tools by ancient
>peoples.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks alot, Keith.
>
>
>Keith C. Evanson
>
>Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. George Krauss
>Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center
>Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department
>Colorado School of Mines
>Golden, Colorado, USA
>80401
>
>work phone:	(303)273-3708
>num. pager:	(303)259-7548  ***preferred business contact method***
>fax number:	(303)273-3795
>
>
>



Several years ago I wrote a paper that was published in the Journal of
Archaeoastronomy in which I discussed ancient meteor mythology. The focus
was mostly on mesoamerica, but I included a list showing that throughout
the world the most common term for meteor is "star dung", in the language
in question. 

A good starting place for meteor/metallurgy mythology is Mircea Eliade's
"The Forge and The Crucible".


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