Cape York meteorite

The Cape York meteorite (Innaanganeq), found in northwest Greenland, is one of the largest known iron meteorites. Besides many small fragments, at least eight large pieces with a total mass of 58 tonnes have been recovered; the largest, the 31-tonne Ahnighito, is displayed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and is the heaviest meteorite ever relocated. The local Inughuit (Inuit) used these iron masses for centuries to make tools and harpoons.

The Inughuit broke pieces off the masses with stones and cold-forged them into tools, knives and harpoon tips. Through the Thule culture's trade network this iron reached the Arctic Archipelago and the North American mainland; pieces of Cape York iron dating from before 1450 have been found across this wide area.

Iron source for native peoples: For centuries the Inughuit made tools and harpoon tips from these masses. The iron spread through the Thule culture's trade network across the Arctic and to the North American mainland. Museums and science: Ahnighito, "the Woman" and "the Dog" are at the American Museum of Natural History in New York; the 20-tonne Agpalilik ("the Man") is at the Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen. The pieces are used to study the structure and chemistry of iron meteorites.

It has a hardness of 4–5.5 on the Mohs scale. A fingernail cannot scratch it, but a steel knife can. Its specific gravity is 7–8 g/cm³.

Its best-known localities: Cape York and Meteorite Island, Melville Bay, northwest Greenland; Near Thule (Pituffik), northwest Greenland.

Very heavy metal masses with a dark brown or blackish outer surface; being almost entirely iron–nickel, they strongly attract a magnet. Cut and etched with acid, they show a medium Widmanstätten pattern with dark, elongated troilite nodules. Only documentation and laboratory analysis can show that a piece really comes from Cape York.

On the “street to diamond” value ladder it sits on step 6 of nine: Fine ornamental and collector stone. The large pieces are kept in museums and are not for sale; their value is scientific and cultural. Cape York also holds a unique place in the history of Arctic peoples, as an iron source spread through a wide trade network before contact with Europeans. The value of small pieces depends on mass, the pattern in section and documented origin.

According to an Inuit legend told to Robert Peary, the three most important pieces were a sewing woman, her tent and her curled-up dog, all hurled from heaven by the evil spirit Tornarsuk. This is a folk legend. Scientifically, the pieces are fragments of a single iron meteorite that fell on Greenland within the last few thousand years; no one saw the fall. Whether they stayed where they fell or were carried by glaciers is still debated. This section reports beliefs; it is not health information. There is no scientific evidence for these claims and no stone replaces medical treatment.