Iron, ungrouped
East Uweinat Desert, Egypt (22°01'06"N, 26°05'16"E)
Dimensions (height x length x width): 3 1/8 x 3 ½ x 1 ¾ in. (7.93 x 8.89 x 4.44 cm)
Total weight: 1.9 lbs. (867 g)
Provenance: Geoffrey Notkin / Aerolite Meteorites Inc.

Crater-forming irons convey a particular fascination. While the Earth Impact Database (EID) currently lists 187 confirmed meteorite craters on Earth, the majority of these are ancient, and the impactors that formed them have long since weathered away. There are only about fifteen craters or crater fields where iron meteorite fragments have been recovered: Meteor Crater and Odessa in the United States, Henbury in Australia, and Sikhote-Alin in Russia being some of the best known examples. The discovery of any new meteorite-producing crater is sensational news for meteorite researchers and collectors alike. Such news arrived in 2009 when Vincenzo De Michele, a former curator of the Milan Natural History Museum, identified a likely crater using Google Earth satellite imagery — one of the few times that a meteorite-producing crater has been discovered from aerial view. An expedition to the site the following year determined that the crater was, indeed, of meteoritic origin and conjectured about 5,000 years old. 800 kilograms of material was recovered by academics and much of it was curated at the Egyptian Geological Museum in Cairo. Gebel Kamil is an ungrouped iron, meaning it does not fit into any existing classification. Despite languishing in the deep desert for fifty centuries and acquiring a bronze-colored patina, Gebel Kamil irons are very well preserved due to the area’s dry climate. This specimen’s angular shape is typical of crater-forming irons, but the “lizard skin” texture is unique to Gebel Kamil and may be the result of wind and sand abrasion. This specimen measures 3 1/8 x 3 ½ x 1 ¾ in. (height x width x depth) and has a total weight of 1.9 pounds.