Cape York: the iron of the Inuit
Centuries of tools, then a voyage to New York.
Thousands of years ago, an iron meteorite broke apart over north-west Greenland. For centuries the Inuit of the region chipped flakes of metal off the largest masses to make knives and harpoon tips, making them some of the very few Arctic people to use iron.
The Inuit called the three biggest pieces the Tent, the Woman and the Dog. In 1897 the explorer Robert Peary shipped all three to New York. The Tent, known as Ahnighito, weighs about 31 tonnes and is on display at the American Museum of Natural History, resting on supports that go down to the bedrock.
Cape York is a IIIAB iron. More masses have been found since, including the 20-tonne Agpalilik, now in Copenhagen.
In the catalogue
- Cape York Iron, IIIAB, 1818 · 58.2 t