Call it a blast from the past. Uncovered by Nazis in Tibet, an ancient Buddhist sculpture turns out to have been carved from a meteorite. <\/p>\n
(Related pictures: \"Three Thousand Ancient Buddhas Unearthed in China.\") <\/p>\n
Known as the \"Iron Man,\" the 22-pound (10-kilogram) figure is likely a Buddhist god. Seated, he wears a large swastika on his midsectiona good-luck symbol in Buddhism. <\/p>\n
In 1938 a team of Nazis traveling in Tibet came across the statue andpossibly intrigued by the familiar bent-armed crossbrought it back to Germany. There, the \"Iron Man\" remained in a private collection in Munich until 2007, when the statue became available for study. <\/p>\n
Since then, Elmar Buchner of the Planetology Institute at Stuttgart University has been analyzing the Buddhist statue, which is thought to hail from 11th-century Tibet. Buchner says the statue was carved from a meteorite that landed somewhere between Mongolia and Siberia roughly 15,000 years ago. <\/p>\n
Among the clues is the sculpture's telltale mineral content and structure, which give it away as a kind of meteorite called an ataxite. \"It is rich in nickel, it is rich in cobalt. Less than 0.1 percent of all meteorites and less than 1 percent of iron meteorites are ataxites ... It is the rarest type of meteorite you can find,\" Buchner told the BBC. <\/p>\n
No doubt the figure was dear to the artist who sculpted it, but what is it worth today? Its status as the only known human figure carved from a meteorite may give it a value of $20,000, according to Buchner. But, he said in a statement, \"if our estimation of its age is correct and [the sculpting] is nearly a thousand years old, it could be invaluable.\" <\/p>\n
More: \"'Nazi Twins' a Myth: Mengele Not Behind Brazil Boom?\" >> <\/p>\n
The new study, \"Buddha From Space,\" appears in the September issue of the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More here: <\/p>\n
Swastika-Bearing Buddhist Statue Was Chiseled From a Meteorite<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Call it a blast from the past. Uncovered by Nazis in Tibet, an ancient Buddhist sculpture turns out to have been carved from a meteorite Continue reading