Museum Puts Piece of Sacred Icon Up For Auction

[educatedindian]

"American Indian Group: Sale of Meteorite Piece 'Insensitive'," Larry McShane, The Associated Press State & Local Wire, September 14, 2007.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

"The historic Willamette Meteorite is a sacred icon to the Oregon-based Clackamas Indians. The tribe has its own name for the massive space
rock Tomanowas and has arranged to hold an annual religious ceremony with the meteorite in its home at the American Museum of Natural History. Now a chunk of the 10,000-year-old meteorite is up for auction, and an American Indian group is denouncing the sale. But the owner of the fragment, noting the vast majority of the 15.5-ton meteorite remained untouched, said his sympathy for the group's complaints would not halt next month's sale. The 30-pound piece, sliced from the world-renowned rock's crown nearly a decade ago, is expected to bring in more than $1 million. 'We are deeply saddened that any individual or organization would be so insensitive to Native American spirituality and culture as to traffic in the sale of a sacred and historic artifact,' Siobahn Taylor, of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, said Thursday. The group includes the Clackamas."