";s:4:"text";s:4686:"Oregon's 15-ton Willamette Meteorite, a sacred object to the local Native Americans, became an object of commercial value and scientific fastination, eventually relocating from Clackamas County to New York City. It was returned to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde as a donation by the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Neil deGrasse Tyson battles a Native American tribe for a giant meteorite Years before he was the star of Cosmos , Neil deGrasse Tyson was already director of the Hayden Planetarium. Its story includes catastrophic ice age floods, theft of Native American cultural heritage and plenty of … During the Missoula Floods, the ice in which it was embedded formed an iceberg and roared down the Columbia River Gorge, eddying back up into the Willamette Valley and finally being deposited on top of the sediment when the ice melted away. A piece of the sacred meteorite Tomanowos, also known as the Willamette meteorite. The circumstances of the find suggest that the builders of the pueblo had kept the meteorite as a sacred object after actually witnessing its fall. The Willamette Meteorite was originally located within the Upper Willamette Valley of Oregon, near the present-day city of Portland.
In early September 1999, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde launched a campaign for the return of the Willamette Meteorite from New York, basing their claim on the Native American Graves Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Known as "Tomanowos" to the Clackamas, who lived in the Willamette Valley before the arrival of European settlers, the Meteorite is revered by the Clackamas and their descendants. The Clackomas named the meteorite "Tomanowos." Unlike Native American brains, bodies, and material culture, the Willamette Meteorite is of paramount scientific import. Darryl Pitt owns a 30-pound slick of the Willamette Meteorite. [6] Housed at the American Museum of Natural History, along with the Cape York meteorite, the 15 ton Willamette Meteorite was also under Tyson’s supervision. The Willamette Meteorite, or Tomanowos, has been on continuous display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City since 1906. The Clackamas Indians lived in the valley before the arrival of European settlers. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community in Oregon is opposing the sale of a part of a 10,000-year-old sacred meteorite. A piece of the sacred meteorite Tomanowos, also known as the Willamette meteorite. A chunk of the 10,000-year-old Willamette Meteorite, pictured here at a museum, is up for auction, and an American Indian group is denouncing the sale. There is a widespread belief in Oregon that Willamette means “Valley of Sickness” in some extinct Native American language. The piece could fetch more than $1 million at an upcoming Bonhams auction. In the Native community, deep-space rocks are not just astronomical curiosities; they are sacred objects. This is bolstered by the two seasons we endure: summer hay fever, and winter crud.