Who owns a stone fallen from the sky? The debate is relaunched after the recent sale in New York of the largest Martian meteorite ever found, today claimed by Niger.
Coming straight from the red planet, this large pebble of around 25 kg was sold on July 16 by the famous Sotheby’s auction house to an anonymous private buyer for a record amount exceeding $ 5 million.
A sale that irritates Niger, where this meteorite had been found in 2023, the government having announced to open an investigation following the auctions to “shed light on this case”.
The latter presents “probably all the characteristics of illegal international traffic”, according to Niamey, which suspended exports of precious stones and meteorites until further notice on Friday.
Accusations that Sotheby’s rejects, who ensures that the meteorite was “exported from Niger and transported in accordance with all the international procedures in force”.
But faced with the controversy, a review of the file is underway, she tells AFP.
“Meteorite hunter”
According to the description made on its site, the stone with ocher reflections was discovered “on November 16, 2023 by a meteorite hunter in the remote region of Agadez in Niger”.
Then sold to an international merchant, it was briefly exposed in Italy before ending up in the catalog of auctioneers in North America.
For the American paleontologist Paul Sereno, who has worked for years in close relationship with Niamey, everything suggests that the stone has left Niger “illegality”.
“Everyone is anonymous” in this story, he points out to AFP, not hiding their anger.
“If they had caught the meteorite as she rushed towards the earth and before she spotted in a country, then they could have claimed it (…) But there, I am sorry, it belongs to Niger, even if its origin is Mars,” he fulminates.
Because meteorites do not have a real universal legal status, their property is governed by international law and by that specific to their point of fall.
Ethical questions
In the United States, for example, the property of these stones that fell from the sky returns to the owner of the land if it is private, which is not the case in Niger.
The West African country has a law protecting its cultural property, including the “rare specimens” of mineralogy, note Matthieu Gounelle, professor at the National Museum of Natural History and his father Max Gounelle, professor of universities, both specialists in regulations surrounding the collection and sale of meteorites.
And “there is no doubt in our opinion that meteorites must be included in rare specimens of mineralogy”, they abound with AFP.
Beyond a legal weapon pass and the possible involvement of a traffic network, the sale of this meteorite also raises ethical questions.
Because this rock, called NWA 16788, is of invaluable scientific value. Much larger than other Martian meteorites – very rare – so far identified, it offers a unique testimony to the geological history of the Red Planet.
“In my opinion, it is not something that should be sold at auction and risk disappearing under the coat of someone,” pleads Professor Sereno, who calls for his restitution in Niger, where she could be studied and exposed to the public.
