To be or not to be, that is the question: The Marsala meteorite (Italy, 1834) and the role of the doubtful meteorites in the history of meteoritics

Abstract–This work focuses on the historical and scientific investigation of a presumedmeteorite fall that occurred in the Sicilian township of Marsala in 1834. Preliminary studieshave classified this phenomenon as a “doubtful meteorite.” This term describes, accordingto the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society, an object for which there wassignificant uncertainty over whether it was a real meteorite or, in some cases, whether it everexisted. Thanks to the analysis of untapped sources, the first objective of this work is toclarify the nature of the event. Subsequently, the results of the minero -chemical analysesthat were performed, in 1835, on two fragments recover ed after the event are discussed forthe first time. This work then shows the collecting history of one of the presum ed meteoritespecimens. Based on the results presented here, this work highlights the role of doubtfulmeteorites as a fundamental resource for the history of meteoritics and meteorite collectingas well as for studying the processes that have led to the scientific study of meteorites