The Cape York meteorite, which collided with Earth nearly 10,000 years ago, is named for Cape York, the location of its discovery in Greenland, and is one of the largest meteorites in the world. It was primarily made up of iron and nickel metals and weighs over 50,000 kg, and was believed to have broken up into three major pieces, known to the Inuit as Ahnighito (the Tent), weighing 31 tons, the Woman (2½ tons), and the Dog (½ ton). For centuries, Inuit living near it used it as a source of metal for tools and harpoons.

The first rumors of its existence reached scientific circles in 1818. Five expeditions between 1818 and 1883 failed to find the source of the iron. It was finally discovered in 1894 by Robert Peary, the famous Arctic explorer, who had enlisted the help of a local guide who brought him to Saviksoah Island off northern Greenland's Cape York in 1894.

It took Peary three years to manage to load the pieces onto ships and required the building of Greenland's only railway.

He sold the pieces for $40,000 to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where they still stand (2005). The 3.4 m x 2.1 m x 1.7 m Ahnighito is now on display in the Arthur Ross Hall. The whole is so heavy that its supports must reach down through the museum floor to bedrock.

In 1963, the fourth major piece of the Cape York meteorite was discovered by Vagn F. Buchwald near Agpalilik. The Agpalilik meteorite, also known as the Man, weighs around 20 tons and currently resides in the Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Other smaller pieces have also been found, such as the 3 ton Savik I meteorite in 1911, the 48 kg Thule meteorite in 1955, the 7.8 kg Savik II in 1961, and the 250 kg Tunorput fragment in 1984.

Meteorites