The 5 Largest Meteorites To Ever Hit The Earth

The Cape York meteorite landed on earth about 10,000 years ago, and its history is uniquely tied into the development of human civilization in the region.

What sets it apart from other celestial objects that have crashed into the surface of the Earth, is that it was clearly found and utilized by humans for thousands of years before being identified by the scientific community (via the University of Washington). The meteorite weighs about 20 tons and shows distinctive signs of scraping and breakage from local area inhabitants who used it to make tools. This makes the meteorite an integral part of early human civilization and the great history of ancient human society in pre-contact North America. Like other meteorites on this list, the Cape York stone is composed primarily of iron, allowing it to fall through Earth’s atmosphere without experiencing extreme breakup, according to the University of Washington.

This meteorite is still fragmented however, and pieces of it can be seen in a number of locations around North America. The American Museum of Natural History has three fragments of the Cape York meteorite on display, named The Woman, The Dog, and Ahnighito (via AMNH). What’s interesting about these individual fragments is that they were recovered from various impact sites, with one separated from the others and located on an island across the bay from the primary point of impact. The largest fragment of this meteorite can be seen in the geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.