Glass-making by humans dates back thousands of years, but nature has been producing the material for far longer. Most often glass is produced by volcanic activity, but when a fiery meteorite strikes the Earth, it can produce its own rough glass called tektites. Long before humans were blowing their own glass, they were marveling at these incredible specimens, produced by the violent impact of meteorites.

This specimen is a fragment of a Darwin glass tektite, formed during an impact event in Western Tasmania. Its study offers valuable insight not just into the geological history of our planet, but how we humans interact with these forces.

Darwin glass was a valuable resource for trading and tool crafting to the Paleolithic peoples of Tasmania. We do not know for certain what those who originally found the material thought of it, but something about the shimmering glass caught their eye and imbued these pieces with a magical reverence.

First appearing in the Fifth Edition, we're excited to bring Darwin glass to the store as a solo item! Each specimen ships in a display box and comes complete with an informational card that serves as statement or authenticty.

Hidden within the dense forest of the Western Tasmanian wilderness lies a relic from a cosmic dance between our planet and an extraterrestrial visitor. Known as Darwin Crater, this impact structure was formed after a massive airburst explosion roughly 816,000 years ago, leaving behind a rimless depression with a diameter of 1.2 km (0.7 mi). The intense heat and energy melted airborne debris, creating a strewn field of meteoritic glass called tektites that reached out for another 400 square km (150 sq mi) into the surrounding countryside.

Darwin glass is unique in its composition, consisting of nearly 98% silica, and is highly valued for its resistance to weathering and its clarity. The color of the recovered fragments indicates the presence of minerals such as olivine, orthopyroxene, and rare earth elements.

Darwin glass was produced by two different rocks melting at the impact site. One group was composed of shale and quartz, and the other primarily of shale alone, along with some material from the meteorite. Group one appears lighter in color, while the second veers from dark green to pitch black.

The material was highly valued by Paleolithic Aboriginal Tasmanians for its sharpness and was likely used for cutting implements and tools, as well as for ritual practices. They called it mana—“magic”—a razor-sharp stone filled with crystalline bubbles that glowed in the light of the sun. The discovery and use of Darwin glass by the Aboriginal Tasmanians mirrors the use of similar caches of meteoritic glass elsewhere in the world, and the material continues to play an important role in the cultural and economic history of the region.

Darwin glass has been found in inhabited caves and ancient refuse piles across Tasmania, but the discoveries have not been limited to the island. The glass has also been found 550 km (340 mi) away across the Bass Strait, into mainland Australia. This suggests the Aboriginals exchanged the glass along early trade routes before the Bass Strait flooded around 10,000 years ago and Tasmania was severed from the Australian mainland.

Within Darwin glass, scientists have found trace amounts of organic material, evidence of Tasmania’s swampland and rainforests of 800,000 years ago. Sealed off from oxygen, and thus organic breakdown, these proteins and other biomarkers are still preserved within the glass, allowing for a deduction of the prehistoric Tasmanian environment. Darwin glass and similar material may have even been ejected into space. One study’s authors have suggested a similar phenomenon might be found on Mars, allowing for a reconstruction of prehistoric extraterrestrial environments.