Early man probabily learned about iron from the meteorites that fell from the sky, and so iron was called 'the celestial stone' in some encient languages. Hundreds of meteorites hit the surface of the earth every year, and many of them are made up to 90% of iron.
Some of these meteorites are really huge. One of the heaviest meteorites ever found is called the Hoba, which fell in ancient times. It weighed about 60 tons. Another iron meteorite weighing 33 tones was found in 1896 in Greenland by the polar explorer Robert Peary. Did you know that a gigantic iron meteorite hit the Arizona desert in prehistoric times leaving a crater that is 1200 meters in diameter and over 175 meters deep? If you visit Arizona, you can still see the crater!
