ODE TO EL ALI
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Oh meteorite, El Ali by name, |
Since times of old, it's been in use, |
Shall it be sliced for baubles, small, |
Let's seek a buyer wise and just, |
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SOMALIA’S IRON AGE BEGINS WITH EL ALI. - N. Gessler, A. A. Hussein, A. H. Egeh. |
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SOMALI FOLKLORE - A TALE OF THE EL ALI METEORITE Abstract - #6056 Introduction: In June 2020, a team of artisanal miners were in search for opal minerals and were prospecting in West Hiiraan, in El Ali and Buq Aqable area. The team belonged to a small-scale company called Kuraim. As they scoured the bushland in the search of opal, they spent weeks and left no rock unturned. However, their effort paid off when they spotted a huge brown rock with metallic lustre. The rock was different from the sandstone/limestone rocks that dominated the area. It was very dense, magnetic, with unusual shape – rounded with potholes and partly immersed in a small impact crater. One of the miners recognised the rock as a meteorite, and took a sample for a laboratory chemical and mineralogical analysis from the massive rock. It was a very difficult job to chop off small pieces from it. The result was a find of 15.15 tonne meteorite, that was moved away in September 2022 to Mogadishu. More... |
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WHAT THE LOCAL PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE EL ALI METEORITE. Abstract - #6057 Introduction: In the past, the El Ali meteorite was not unknown to the locals; rather it was one of their most important landmarks in the area. Its cultural heritage significance was the elephant in the room. El Ali has been a symbol for the local people for a long time and was known as “Shiid-birood,” which means the iron stone (because of its properties of resonance and its ductility). Eventually, the name was given to the area surrounding it.1 The characteristics of the El Ali meteorite’s (Shiid-birood’s) environment include: plants do not grow up around it for a distance of about 10 meters, and it is surrounded by black rocks that appear as a burnt stones.2 Past familiarity with this stone is evidenced by local stories saying that “during the colonization period, the Italians tried to take it, but they couldn’t due to its heavy weight and to the locals who were against it.”2 At sunset, the stone appears in the shape of an animal, and the livestock fear it and run away from it. People describe it as looking like a horse, and the local children play on it and ride it like a horse. More... |
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SOMALIA’S IRON AGE BEGINS WITH EL ALI. Abstract - #6011 Introduction: El Ali, a 15 metric ton iron meteorite, was found in Somalia in 2020. It’s cultural context and physical characteristics were reported in 2021.1 El Ali is now for sale in China with an asking price of $4,000,000. Concerns were raised about El Ali’s future in 2023.2 Two centuries ago the Inuit use of cold-forging to mine the meteoritic boulders at Cape York was discovered. Their surfaces share a common attribute with El Ali; Their many concave facets reveal intense, extensive, and prolonged hammering. At Cape York the harvested iron was reworked into knives on those same rocks, attested to by those who did the mining. Iron imposes a unique subsistence calculus on any society that embraces it. Whether smelted from ores or mined from meteorites, its production is expensive. There is every reason to expect that the like Cape York irons, the El Ali meteorite was used to fashion knives. More... |
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Christopher D.K. Herd , Andrew J. Locock , Radhika Saini , and Chi Ma Introduction:: The El Ali meteorite is a 15.2 ton iron meteorite from Somalia, originally known by camel herders and others in the region as “Nightfall.” Further insights into the history of this significant meteorite are provided in this meeting. The meteorite belongs to the IAB Complex, a group that spans a diversity of bulk compositions and that is typified by silicate or other inclusions. IAB irons may have formed by melting due to impact heating on a porous chondritic body. Detailed study of phosphate inclusions in El Ali revealed the occurrence of at least three new minerals. Analysis by EPMA (University of Alberta) and by SEM-EBSD (Caltech) on specimen MET11814/2-1/EP1 of the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection revealed the occurrence, and enabled the description of: elaliite (Fe2+8Fe3+(PO4)O8, IMA 2022-087), elkinstantonite (Fe4(PO4)2O, IMA 2022-088), and olsenite (KFe4(PO4)3, IMA 2022-100). Details of elaliite and elkinstantonite can be found in LPS LIV Abstract #2220; olsenite is described in LPS LIV Abstract #1883. Here, we discuss the origin of these minerals and the implications of their occurrence for the petrogenesis of the El Ali meteorite. More... |
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58, Nr 6, pp. 749-751, June 2023.
![]() Ode to El Ali |
![]() National Geographic Press Release |
![]() University of Alberta Release Meteoritical Bulletin Entry |
![]() Site Visitors Map |
Site Visits from: Australia,Austria,Canada,,China, Congo, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopa, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malasia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Phillipines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Unknown, United States. |
Video 3 - El Ali in situ in Hiiraan. Composite view. Credit Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein.
Note the thousands of culturally transported rocks nearby.
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Video 3 - El Ali in situ in Hiiraan. Credit Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein. Note the thousands of culturally transported rocks nearby. |
Video 6 - El Ali prepared for storage in Mogadishy. Credit Nicholas Gessler. El Ali in Mogadishu on 24 April 2021. A composite of 16 detailed video frames of its above-ground right multifaceted face. Detail shows smooth hammered surfaces as well as layering along the right diagonal edge and numerous linearly deformed pits illustrating cultural alteration and removal of metal by cold forging.. |
Cape York 3-ton individual called "the Woman," Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Utilized as a source of meteoritic iron removed by cold forging, and as an anvil for its manufacture into sharps (knives and points), by the Inuit of Greenland. It shows the same polished crowns used as anvils and the same multifacted sites of cold forging as El Ali. Both were also surrounded by piles of hammerstones. |
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Library holdings of the 1819 publication.Library holdings of the 1935 publication. |
Inuit accounts of mining iron from the Cape York meteorites. |
Inuit accounts of mining iron from the Cape York meteorites. |
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The Cape York "Woman" iron meteorite surrounded by a massive ring of hammerstones. We would expect to find an analogous assemblage of hammerstones at the El Ali / Ceel Cali impact site, and we have.. |
Sketch for a proposed diarama of the Cape York "Woman" iron meteorite being harvested for iron. The basaltic hammerstones were broght from 50 miles away. |
METEORIFACTS |
The Cape York "Woman" meteorite being moved on rollers to the ship. |
Size comparison of the three Cape York meteorites collected by Robert Peary. |
Peary's ship ramming packed ice. |
Sequence ID Number | Tracking point cloud & camera path. | Tracking point cloud & camera path. | DISCRIPTION | SPECS |
#1 ![]() |
Static camera, no parallax. | Chiseling a sample at the impact site. Credit: Global Resources Staticcamera |
12.6 MB 30 fps 640 w 352 h 225,280 pixels 1 min 19 sec 79 sec 2,370 frames |
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#2 ![]() |
Static camera, no parallax. | Cutting a sample in
Mogadishu. Source: Global Resources Static camera |
10.2 MB 30 fps 640 w 352 h 225,280 pixels 0 min 52 sec 52 sec 1,560 frames |
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#3 ![]() |
![]() Meshroom, 174 frames, every 10th frame. |
In situ at the impact site. Credit:
Abdulkadir. 1,740 frames |
2.3 MB 30 fps 352 w 640 h 225,280 pixels 0 min 58 sec 58 sec |
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#4 ![]() |
![]() Meshroom, 960 frames, every 3rd frame. |
![]() Meshroom, 960 frames, every 3rd frame. |
Good coverate at
Mogadishu. 3,296 frames |
7.8 MB 30 fps 480 w 848 h 407,040 pixels 1 min 36 sec 96 sec |
#5 ![]() |
![]() Meshroom, 3340 frames, every 3rd frame. |
![]() Meshroom, 3340 frames, every 3rd frame. |
Pulled from the dirt at the impact site. Credit: Nick Gessler Good tracking shot. 10,020 frames |
37.2 MB 30 fps 640 w 352 h 225,280 pixels 5 min 34 sec 334 sec |
#6 ![]() |
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No point cloud available. | Detailed panning shots in Mogadishu. |
9.0 MB 30 fps 640 w 352 h 225,280 pixels 0 min 44 sec 44 sec |
#7 ![]() |
Chaotic, no easily discernable parallax. | In chains on crane in
Mogadishu 2,670 frames |
13.5 MB 30 fps 640 w 352 h 225,280 pixels 1 min 29 sec 89 sec |
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Confined, partial parallax. | In container in
Mogadishu 760 frames |
9.8 MB 20 fps 1072 w 1920 h 2,058,240 pixels 0 min 38 sec 38 sec |
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#9 ![]() |
![]() Meshroom, 660frames, every 10th frame. |
In situ at impact site. Credit: Abdulkadir Good tracking shot. 660 frames |
0.9 MB 30 fps 272 w 480 h 130,560 pixels 0 min 22 sec 22 sec |
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Subtotal of section above | 24,396 frames | 13 min 10 sec | ||
#10 | ||||
![]() Vid-11:: At the borehole of the town of EL ALI |
El Ali Borehole | 390 frames | 2.35 MB |
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![]() Vid-12: At the borehole of the town of EL ALUI |
El Ali Borehole | 930 frames | 5.58 MB 30 fps 368 w 672 h 247,296 pixels 0 min 31 sec 31sec |
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![]() Vid-13: At the impact site. Look for dark hammerstones.. |
#13 Shiid-birood (griinding metal).![]() Vid-13: A clip of one of many classic hammerstones at the impact site of EL ALI. |
1,770 frames | 10.5 MB 30 fps 368 w 672 h 247,296 pixels 0 min 59 sec 59 sec |
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![]() Vid-14: At the impact site. Look for ark hammerstones. |
Shiid-birood (grinding metal) | 1,770 frames | 10.7 MB 30 fps 368 w 672 h 247,296 pixels 0 min 59 sec 59 sec |
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![]() Vid-15: The landmark stone called Afeelaha. |
Afeelaha | 390 frames | 2.38 MB 30 fps 368 w 672 h 247,296 pixels 0 min 13 sec 13 sec |
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![]() Vid-16: The landmark stone called Afeelaha. |
Afeelaha | 1,170 frames | 7.0 MB 30 fps 368 w 672 h 247,296 pixels 0 min 39 sec 39 sec |
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Subtotal of Ali's videos | 6,420 frames | 3 min 34 sec | ||
TOTAL | 30,816 frames | 16 min 44 sec |
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![]() Chris Herd |
Google Translate may provide the "gist" of a conversation,but it does not understand metaphors, idioms, allusions, or poetic language. El Ali stone = dhagax ceel cali.
Eng Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein, 29 November 2022 |
Eng Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein,30 November 2022 |
Eng Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein,1 April 2023 |
Eg. Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein, 27 February 2020 |
Horn Afrik News Agency for Human Rights (HANAHR) |
Email from Geologist Fayssal Mezgouri,
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MP Dahir Jesow, 23 February 2020. 1) Somali Cable: "Dhagax laga soo qaaday Deegaanka Ceel Cali" (Stone taken from the Ceel Cali area) With Member of Parliament MP Dahir Amiin Jesow. 311k views, 511 comments. 5 min 12 sec. |
MP Dahir Jesow, 26 February 2020. 2) Youtube: "What is the stone held by the government of Somalia & its value?" MARACADDE SHOW: 60k views, 84 comments, all 3 years old, all archived and Google translated..10 min 07 sec. |
MP Dahir Jesow, 11 July 2023. |
Hon Dahir Jesow Official Member of Parliament page.
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25 February 2020. 4) Kulmeye News Network. "Is the stone found in a well gold or pearl?" 3K views, 3 comments.11 min 19 sec. |
2020. |
MP Maryan Ahmed Haroun 2020.
6) Kulmeye News Network. MP Maryan Ahmed Haroun, Peoples Assembly, El Ali constituency, "We are afraid of other resources of El Ali." 1.4K views, 0 comments.13 min 07 sec. |
1) 5:12
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Hypothetical impact site (July 2023).![]() 2016 Google Earth image of a 9 hectare field. |
Hypothetical impact site (July 2023)![]() 2004 Google Earth image of a 9 hectare field. |
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El Ali Meteorite individual analyses: XRFs, samples, certificates, closeups:
Analytical Procedures and Equipment used by the North American team members.
Dr. Bidong Zhang. |
Dr. Paul Warren at the microprobe. |
Dr. Alan Rubin at the microprobe. |
Dr. Kevin McKeegan tuning his equipment. |
Nuclear reactor at University of California, Irvine in which El Ali INAA samples were activated. |
Nuclear reactor at University of California, Irvine in which El Ali INAA samples were activated. |
Dr, Chris Herd. |
Dr. Chris Herd. |
Dr. Chris herd. |
ICP/MS equipment similar to that used by Dr. Herd.. |
Dr. Timothy Jull. |
Dr. Timothy Jull. |
Arizona Mass Accelerator Lab in which destructive 14C and 10Be dates were likely done. Non-destructive 26Al dating is expected to be run by Pavel Provinec on counters in Brataslava, Slovakia. |
Dr. Nick Gessler at Duke University, Suzhou, China. |
Dr. Nick Gessler at Duke University, Suzhou, China. |
Dr. Nick Gessler in his lab in Los Angeles, CA. |
Wiriteups on the Nature, Culture and History of El Ali:
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Background information:
UNESCO World Heritage Convention (WHC):
Standards on the Aquisition of Important Properties are similar to those of the J.P. Getty Museum:
Legal Theories regarding the Ownership of Previously Unowned Property.
Visitors, since 7 July 2023, from the following Countries:
.END