The recent auction of a Martian meteorite – for a record-grabbing $5.3 million at Sotheby's New York – has sparked questions over its provenance and renewed debate over who gets to claim rocks fallen from the heavens.
The hefty 54-pound (25-kilogram) stone is the largest Martian meteorite ever discovered on Earth, according to its Sotheby's listing, and was found in November 2023 in the vast Saharan desert in Niger.
The government of Niger has announced that it will open an investigation following the auction, saying it appears to "have all the characteristics of illicit international trafficking."
On Friday, the government suspended exports of precious stones and meteorites until further notice.
Sotheby's has rejected the accusations, insisting that the meteorite "was exported from Niger and transported in line with all relevant international procedures."
In light of the controversy, however, a review of the case is underway, a Sotheby's spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The stone journeyed 140 million miles through space, and hurtled through Earth's atmosphere before crashing in the Sahara Desert," the Sotheby's listing said.
Following its discovery, the jagged, ochre-colored stone was then sold to an international dealer, briefly exhibited in Italy, and eventually ended up in the auction catalog in New York.
For American paleontologist Paul Sereno, who has worked closely with Niger's authorities for years, all signs suggest that the stone left the country "illicitly."
"Everybody's anonymous – from the person who found it, the dealers, the guy who bought it, everybody's anonymous," he told AFP, making no secret of his frustration.
"If they had put on baseball gloves and caught the meteorite as was hurtling towards Earth before it landed in any country, they could claim it ... but I'm sorry, it landed there. It belongs to Niger," he said.
Laws governing the ownership of meteorites vary based on their point of impact.
In the United States, for example, if a rock falls on private land, the property owners have ownership rights.
In Niger, however, a law governs "national cultural patrimony," which includes rare mineralogical specimens, according to Matthieu Gounelle, a professor at France's National History Museum, and his father, Max Gounelle, a French university professor.
Both are specialists in regulations governing the collection and sale of meteorites.
"In our opinion, there is no doubt that meteorites should be included among the rare mineralogical specimens" protected by Nigerien law, they told AFP.
Beyond the legal battle and the possible involvement of a trafficking network, the sale of the meteorite also raises science ethics questions.
The rock, named NWA 16788, has unique scientific research value.
Much larger than other Martian meteorites that have been recorded to date, it offers a unique insight into the geological history of the Red Planet.
Like other Martian meteorites, it is believed to have been ejected into space when an asteroid slammed into Mars.
"This is nature's heritage. In many ways, it's world heritage, and it's telling us things about the cosmos. We should respect it," Sereno said.
"It's not something to my mind that should be auctioned up to potentially disappear into someone's mantle."
