> In my searches of Holbrook, I have found pieces that > are near to pristine, and others just yards away from > those that are weathered to the point of being nearly > unrecognizable. Archaeologists like me are well accustomed to large differences in weathering grade of stone artifacts. If have done quite some refitting with Old Stone Age artefacts from Middle Pleistocene sediments. Refitting means that you glue together shards of stones that once were knocked off from one stone nucleus by our ancestors. Pieces from one of the same nucleus, found only a few yards from each other, indeed sometimes even pieces from one and the same anciently broken artifact, sometimes can show a very large difference in patina. This is most probably due to very local differences in soil conditions, e.g. soil accidity, etc. I have a few flint artifacts here where you can see the clear results of differential weathering on one and the same piece due to plant root etching. While meteorites are not flint, I do think similar phenomena take place which explains why some pieces from a strewnfield can appear fresh while others are strongly weathered. Simple things like the nearby presence of a bushel of grass or a shrub, or a mole pipe already can make for a difference compared to piecs lying in barren sediment. Marco Langbroek ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
