At the world’s most renowned meteorite show, in Ensisheim in France, I noticed there were many dealers from Morocco. Unlike most of the Europeans and Americans—who had display cases and labels and books—the Moroccan stalls were minimalistic. Perhaps a white sheet covered with lumps of reddish-brown rocks. A pair of scales. Sometimes a piece of paper with prices per kilo written in biro. It was only back in England that I learned about the Saharan Gold Rush.
Since 1999 the number of meteorites being found in Morocco has exploded. The number officially recognized exceeds a thousand—though this is described by scientists as “a gross underestimate.” For comparison, the UK has