ABSTRAKT

REKLAMA

It should be emphasized that the tektites have been permanently linked in many regions of the Earth with the history of mankind. One of the oldest finds is the Vltavite amulet, which was found in a Cro-Magnon settlement, that is 29,000 years ago. Prehistoric tools made of tektites are found at various archaeological sites around the world. Wherever there are tektites, man has used them in various ways: as tools, objects of worship, magic objects or healing objects. They also appear in many legends as magic stones, e.g. in China in the 10th century AD, tektites were collected as “stones of the god of thunder”. Some shamans believe that they have the power to transmit and receive messages over long distances and that they have properties that protect against disease. Aborigines in Australia believed that they had enormous power in rites of raining down and that they were also remedies for many ailments. In fact, tektites have always been associated with magic, highly appreciated by people and they are still enjoys great interest among scientists all over the world. The above conclusions can be reached by analyzing many discoveries and scientific research in the areas of tektite occurrence.

 

Introduction

It should be emphasized that tektites have become permanently associated with the history of humanity in many regions of the Earth. One of the oldest finds is an amulet made of moldavite, which was found in a Cro-Magnon settlement from 29,000 years ago (Blood 1996).

Prehistoric tools made of tektites are found at various archaeological sites scattered all over the world. Wherever there are tektites, people used them as tools, objects of worship, magical objects, Or medicinal objects. They also appear in many legends as magical stones, e.g. in China in the 10th century, tektites were collected as „thunder god stones”. Some shamans believe that they have the power to transmit and receive messages over long distances and have properties that protect against diseases. Aborigines in Australia believed that they had enormous power in rain-making ceremonies, and were also remedies for many ailments. In fact, tektites have always had a connection with magic (Kotowiecki 2003). Therefore, it can be safely stated that for almost 30 thousand years of known history, tektites have been very highly valued by people and continue to enjoy great interest from scientists all over the world.

The above conclusions can be reached by analyzing many discoveries and scientific studies in the regions where tektites occur.

Australia

Quacks of indigenous tribes from some parts of South Australia collected tektites and used them to treat diseases (Basedow 1905). Among the collection of Aboriginal artifacts in the British Museum of Natural History in London is a box of Australites described years ago as „obsidian bombs”, called „mappain” by the natives. According to the finder, they were swallowed as medicine (Fenner 1939). The widely scattered locations of these artifacts indicate the widespread use of tektites for medicinal purposes by Australian Aborigines. It is worth noting that the tribes that used them for these purposes lived within the Australian tektite field. However, in contrast to some tribes who believed in the medicinal value of Australites, other aboriginal groups believed in their destructive power.

There are several recorded examples of the practice of using Australites as death stones. They were used as projectiles, intended to cause actual physical damage, but also, because of their supposed supernatural powers, they were used in such a way as to induce a „fear of death”.

The aboriginal possessors of Australites in some areas of south-western Western Australia believed in their power to torment their enemies with all kinds of disease (Tate 1879). The Aborigines of the Gippsland district in eastern Victoria used egg-shaped Australites, which were believed to have the power to cause death by simply touching them. The medicine men of the Wheelman tribe of southwestern Australia were known as magicians – „mul gary” – and the natives held them in high regard, with most practices confined to the use of stones, including tektites. Any stone that differed significantly from any other was immediately recognized as a magic stone. Although it was not specifically chosen for a particular type of magical practice, there seemed to be some rule governing its purpose (Dunn 1912).

Each 'mul gar’ had his own collection of magic stones which he carried in a bag made of kangaroo skin (Hassell 1936). From Hassell’s description it is clear that the half-dozen or so stones in the possession of this tribe were well-formed Australites. The natives used them in their rain-making ceremonies. Other stones used in magical practices were specifically designed to cure illness, curse members of another tribe or group, increase the abundance of game, stop the wind, send messages over long distances, and for many other purposes (Baker 1957). As some scientists also emphasize in their studies, Australites were also used to produce small tools (Akerman 1975; Hallam 1977)

Darwin Glass

It is worth mentioning that Tasmanian Aborigines have been creating stone tools with razor-sharp edges since ancient times. They also made them from Darwin Glass. They were useful as tools for all kinds of hunting, gathering and even fighting (Science Vibe 2020).

Georgiaites

The area of ​​occurrence of Georgiaites is about 8,000 square miles and covers at least 18 counties in the central-eastern part of the USA, in the state of Georgia. They are found along the Eocene/Oligocene geological boundary. About 35 million years ago, at the turn of these geological periods, a tektite rain fell in this area. More than 2,000 specimens are known to date, and only 8 of them, as studies have shown, show signs of being worked by Paleo people.

In February 2004, the first exceptional find was a Clovis-type arrowhead. The discovery was made by Marie Johnston of Eastman, Georgia.

This artifact was found in Bulloch County, about 50 miles from the Atlantic coast. This specimen is small and delicate. It has a characteristic gray-olive color, without inclusions, with one small air bubble. It measures 39 x 22 x 4 mm and weighs 3.57 grams. It is very well preserved with a slightly hazy surface. It should be noted that this artifact is typical of the Clovis and Midland culture, which developed in Georgia around 9,000–11,700 years ago. (Povenmire 2002, 2003, 2004)

Central American tektites

In 1992, a large number of tektites were discovered in the Maya ruins of Tikal in Guatemala (Hildebrand et al. 1994). This discovery indicated that tektites were treated as gemstones or were used for ceremonial purposes. Initially, it was thought that they were imported from other areas. However, subsequent studies have shown that they are similar in many respects to tektites found in Haiti, discovered at the K-T boundary (Cretaceous/Tertiary), which means that they may have come from a meteorite impact on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, around 65 million years ago, near the present city of Chicxulub.

Since then, many expeditions have been made to that region of Central America.

Each expedition has resulted in an increase in the size of the area where tektites occur. Currently, it is estimated that the area where these tektites occur is approximately half million square kilometers, covering most of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador and Costa Rica (Povenmire et al. 2013). So far, over 500 of them have been found, and the weight of the largest one is 43 grams. These finds are an example of the influence of archaeological research on new geological discoveries, as these studies contributed to the discovery of new areas where tektites occur.

Filipinity

Archaeologists during excavations in the Philippine Archipelago also found interesting tektites that piqued their interest. This was the beginning of research conducted by Henry Otley Beyer, who was an American anthropologist who spent most of his adult life in the Philippines (Ogunseye 2003). In 1925 he became the head of the anthropology department at the local university and its first professor. He describes in many of his scientific works the finding of tektites in various archaeological sites, which testifies to the interest in tektites of primitive peoples inhabiting different regions of the Philippine islands. Tektites were probably highly valued in various magical practices (Beyer 1934, 1936, 1947, 1948). The next discoverer of tektites was Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald, a German-Dutch paleontologist and geologist who conducted research on hominids, including Homo erectus. His discoveries and studies of hominid fossils in Java and other important fossils from Southeast Asia established his reputation as one of the leading figures in 20th-century paleoanthropology. Von Koenigswald also found reworked tektites in the same deposits where the Java Man fossils were found. The tektites came from the highest layers of the Trinil at Sangiran in Central Java, 18 km north of Solo. If the Homo erectus fossils were found in deposits containing tektites, they must be about 780,000 years old or younger. 

Libyan Desert Glass

As far as Libyan Desert Glass is concerned, it is precisely with this cosmic material that an interesting relic is associated, discovered on November 4, 1922, in the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter (De Michele 1998). It is a necklace, which has a beautiful specimen of Libyan Desert Glass in its central point. The secondo significant discovery is a fiver made of Libyan Desert Glass. It was found on June 23, 1979, in the Sahara on the so-called Sand Sea in Egypt, at latitude 25°8’N and longitude 25°35.5’E, near the southern boundary of the known distribution area of ​​this glass. This part of the Sahara is very difficult to explore because it is characterized by an extensive field of linear dunes, running almost exactly in the N direction, which reach heights of up to 100 m and are tens of kilometers long. They are also separated by internal corridors called „streets” reaching widths of 2 to 5 km (Roe et al. 2015). Many worked sharp tools made of this glaze were discovered there (O’Keefe 1976). The blades found were alsodescribed in detail by Clayton and Spencer (Clayton et al. 1934).

Moldavites

Even prehistoric man contributed only a little to the current distribution of Moldavites. The oldest archaeological finds of Moldavites are dated to the Paleolithic period. One of the oldest finds is an amuletmade of Moldavites from a Cro-Magnon settlement, i.e. from 29,000 years ago (Blood 1996).

Worked pieces of moldavite, associated with prehistoric Paleolithic remains, have been found at some archaeological sites in Austria such as Gudenushöhle and Willendorf. They are characteristic especially for the Neolithic in western Moravia. Neolithic flaked moldavite were first described by Palliardi in 1897. An interesting find is a polished disk-shaped moldavite found in the fortifications of Skøípina in a small pot together with a sculpture of a bull’s head.

Archaeological sites and contemporary assessment of moldavite from southern Bohemia were described by Èervený and Fröhlich in their work. For several small artifacts their studies assume a Mesolithic age and are promising in terms of the number of tools, as several moldavites with traces of intentional splitting were found in the Køemenièk field (Èervený et al. 1990).

Summary

It is also worth mentioning that Chinese archaeologists associate the invention of double-sided stone tools (including fists) almost 800 thousand years ago in the Bose Valley in Guangxi, southern China, with the Middle Paleolithic tektite decline. The tektites found in the Australasian region are 803,000-3,000 years old and are from the same period as the oldest known large cutting tools, the so-called indexable cutting tools (LCT) in East Asia. These stone artifacts later spread throughout Eurasia and Africa.

 

Scientists suggest that the direct cause of this technological advancement in East Asia was the fall of tektites and the associated catastrophic fires (Wang et al. 2014). These fires led to the burning of forests in areas inhabited by hominids, which is why they began to produce such improved stone tools.

There are more and more documented cases of tool making and various objects from tektites. Wherever there are tektites, humans have used them. There are certainly still great discoveries ahead in this area, as new tektite occurrence zones are being discovered (Szopa et al. 2021). Therefore, cooperation between archaeologists and geologists is essential. There are certainly still a lot of artifacts left by our ancestors to be discovered. Can museums in Poland contain more such extraordinary monuments.  It seems to me that to verify this, a comprehensive inventory and research campaign should be carried out.

It is also necessary to verify some previous scientific research referred to as sensational, which, after applying the latest methods, turned out to be wrong. Oh yes it was with a gold crown from the Średa Treasury, which probably belonged to to the wife of Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg. It turned out that the goldsmith had put in the Money crowns green glass instead of tektites, as previously thought (Sachanbiñski 2021).

Finally, as a lawyer, I can add that monuments made of meteoritesand tektites are the only artifacts in the world protected by law and one hundred percent. They are extraordinary because of the material used to make them and therefore are considered monuments of great importance to the world’s material culture.

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This article was first Publish – A.Kotowiecki  – Tektyty i szkliwo impaktowe w świetle badań i odkryć archeologicznych na świecie (Tektites and impact glaize in the light of research and archaeological discoveries in the world), Acta Soc. Metheor. Polon., 13, 2022, s. 60-66. – https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/2034023

About the author:  Andrzej Kotowiecki – Born in Wadowice in 1954. A lawyer by education, studies at the Jagiellonian University, a prosecutor by profession, a passionate historian, archaeologist, geologist, paleontologist, religious scholar, collector and traveler. Founding member of the Polish Meteorite Society.