Up until 1991, Tibetan tektites were unknown to the West. However, in that year a trader from the area provided a small quantity to an international dealer in meteorites and tektites. Unfortunately, the trader had disappeared despite my repeated attempts to find him. Finally contact was reestablished with the trader and a few pounds of this material again entered the U.S.

In the years since 1991 limited quantities of these tektites have been sold to a few gem and mineral dealers and meteorite collectors.

Due to their recent introduction, no scientific literature has yet appeared on Tibetan tektites, or Tibetanites as I shall refer to them. The story passed on by the original trader was that they came from a dry lake bed where they are collected by the Drokma, a tribe of nomads that live on the Chang Tang, or Great Plateau in central and northern Tibet near Motsobuhna Lake. They are highly prized by the tribesmen who refer to them as "gifts from heaven" and consider them to posses powerful talismanic energy. A large percentage of the males in Tibet are Buddhist monks. Their monasteries are financed primarily through voluntary tithing by the rest of the population. Tibetanites are so highly valued by the monks and lamas that they gladly accept tithing in the form of tektites in lieu of monetary support.

Historic and Cultural Perspectives

Attributing beneficial influences or talismanic energy to meteorites and tektites is neither a modern phenomenon nor "New Age" thinking. A Cro-Magnon site dated at 29,000 years of age contained an amulet of Moldavite. A meteorite known as "The Phrygian Stone" was worshipped for over five centuries in the Roman period. China and India had similar practices in their ancient histories as have many of the American Indian tribes which have conducted pilgrimages, accorded ceremonial burials and carried small specimens in medicine pouches. Islamic tradition which maintains that the Sacred Stone built into the Kaaba at Mecca is a stone which fell from heaven, has been worshipped since well before Mohammed had conquered Mecca.

The tribesmen and Buddhist monks of Tibet are not unique in placing a high value on tektites in their area. As early as the 10th century the literature of China records the collecting of tektites known then as "Inkstones of the Thunder-god". The people of Czechoslovakia long valued Moldavite, the tektite of their country. In the past, a monstrance which held the consecrated Host for veneration was constructed of Moldavite. In the 1960s the Swiss government purchased a Moldavite for $5,000, set in platinum surrounded by diamonds and presented it to Queen Elizabeth II on the tenth anniversary of her coronation. Recently a rosary of faceted Moldavite beads was constructed and presented to Pope John Paul II as a gift from the Czechoslovakian people. Aus-tralites, the tektites of Australia have been known to Europeans only since the 1830s, but have always been prized by Aborigines. Various Aboriginal groups include them in their legends, consider them a source of luck, use them to ward of illness and consider them to be of great importance in rainmaking ceremonies. Some "medicine men" wear them in their beards where they are said to possess the power to transmit and receive long distance messages. Many of the groups in Western Australia refer to them by the name, "Maban", which is the word used to describe that which is related to magic.

Physical Properties of Tektites

While a detailed analysis of Tibetanites has not yet been conducted, analysis of tektites from other areas have yielded several interesting facts regarding their unique characteristics. Tektites from various known localities closely resemble one another in composition and internal structure and have numerous other attributes in common. They are, with very few exceptions, small, being under 100 grams in weight, with a substantial percentage being under 10 grams. They are wholly glassy, but unlike man made glass and volcanic glass they have a 68% to 82% silica content. This results in a hardness of 6 - 7 on the Mohs scale and an index of refraction of 1.48 -1.52. Man-made glass and obsidian have a hardness of 5 to 5.5 and glass has an index of refraction of 1.5 or higher. Furthermore, obsidian contains 5,000 parts per million of water, while tektites contain only 100 ppm. Therefore, they differ from all other known forms of glass, natural or man-made. Their form and surface characteristics strongly suggest they were shaped in a partially molten state while passing through the atmosphere at exceptionally high speed. All known strewn fields lie between 50° N and 40° S.

Tektites from a given area exhibit several features in common, such as age, color, size range and texture. Those of other localities will differ from these characteristics. The widest discrepancy is in age, with those from Australia and Southeast Asia being only about 700 thousand years old, while those from Texas and Georgia in the U.S. are dated at 35 million years of age.

Most of the world's tektites are very dark gray to black, but shades of gray, green (Moldovite) and even blue (Russia) do occur. Passing through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds results in surface ablation that can manifest in quite different textures from one area to the next. Australites have a smooth outer surface and tend to have the size and shape of a large "M&M" candy while Moldovite is irregular in shape and is very highly scoriated, having a relatively deep, irregular grooved surface. Most areas have specimens who's surfaces are between the two extremes and show some degree of pitting. The tektites of most areas are, to a large extent, opaque, while a few are somewhat to very translucent, such as Moldavite. Tibetanites are somewhat translucent. In moderate to poor reflected light they appear an opaque black, but when viewed with the light source behind the tektite the translucency is readily apparent, especially in the thinner sections. The visual effect is that of a deep, rich natural smoky quartz with an olive green hue.

The photo contains 34 specimens representative of the range of shapes and sizes of Tibetantites, with the exception of specimen #0, which is unique. The smallest specimen at the top in row 1 weighs 0.8 g and the second from the bottom in row 5 weighs 16 g, which is the general weight I have seen. Rows 1 and 3 reflect a variety of irregular shapes which comprise as much as perhaps 50% of the Tibetanites. Row 2 are shaped like sections of logs with one side smooth, indicating a long bubble section (the two on the bottom) and the other side scoriated (the two on the top). Only about 5% fall into this category. Row 4 is composed of egg shaped specimens which display the interesting feature of partial scoriated and partially smooth surfaces. About 25% have this shape. Row 5 shows the scoriated (2 bottom) and smooth (2 top) sides of concave sections. Most of these shapes look as though they were formed around bubbles the size of a large orange or small grapefruit. These shapes constitute less than 5% of the shapes. Row 6 is an example of the semi-spherical shapes with a smaller partial bubble on the inside (2 top) and the scoriated outer side (2 bottom). Only about 2% have this shape. Row 7 is the very interesting shaped "log wedges" which are scoriated only on the outermost side, smooth inner "core" and angled sides. Again, less than 2% are this shape. Row 8 are the "club" or "tear drop" shapes not uncommon among tektites in general. They tend to be fully scoriated. The remaining percentage of specimens are a cross between irregular shapes and one or two of the above "classic" forms.

Conclusion

None of the theories of the origin of tektites accounts for all known facts surrounding them. However, most researchers do agree they are the result of extraterrestrial impact. They have been of great interest to researchers in this century and highly valued by individuals, shamans, monks and priests in many cultures for some 30,000 years. Scientific analysis of Tibetanites should prove to be interesting and valuable to the study of tektites and their origin. They have already proven themselves to be valued highly by the tribesmen and Buddhist monks of Tibet.

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