Campo del Cielo Meteorite Field

“…Then the land was consumed by fire and flames surrounded the trees, plants, animals and men. Only a few of the Mocoví people saw the fires coming and dove into rivers and lagoons, where they were turned into capybaras and crocodiles. Two of them, a man and his wife, sought refuge in a tall tree, where they looked on as the rivers of fire flooded the surface of the earth; but unexpectedly, the fire blew upwards and burned their faces and turned them into monkeys…” - Jesuit missionary Guevara, on the Mocoví myth on how the Sun fell from the sky (1764).

The crater field of Campo del Cielo is comprised of at least 26 meteorite craters, created by impacts estimated to be 4,000-5,000 years old.

The site was first reported in 1576, when the local governor went looking for the reported huge piece of iron that fell from the sky in the place locals referred to as Campo del Cielo, or “Field of the Sky”.

The second heaviest meteorite in the world was discovered there in 1969. Known as El Chaco it weighs in at 37 tons.