How are meteorites found?

Most meteorites are recovered from deserts and dry lakebeds, where the dark, iron-rich stones stand out against pale ground and the dry climate slows weathering so they survive for thousands of years. Hunters search a strewn field — the elongated zone where fragments of a single fall scattered — on foot and by vehicle, scanning the surface by eye and with metal detectors, and logging each find by GPS.

Where do you hunt your meteorites?

We hunt in the deserts of Africa, which are among the richest meteorite grounds in the world. The combination of bare, stable surfaces and a dry climate means meteorites that fell long ago are still sitting on top of the ground, waiting to be found. We travel to many different sites across these regions.

How do you know a rock is really a meteorite in the field?

The first signs are a dark fusion crust — the thin, glassy skin scorched on as the stone burned through the atmosphere — and regmaglypts, the shallow 'thumbprint' hollows pressed into the surface. Most meteorites are also unusually heavy for their size and attract a magnet because of their iron-nickel content. Final classification is confirmed later by cutting and testing.

Do you really hunt the meteorites yourselves?

Yes. We are not resellers buying from a middleman — we mount our own desert expeditions and recover the material by hand. That first-party sourcing is why we can stand behind every piece and issue a certificate of authenticity for it.

What happens to a meteorite after you find it?

Each find is recorded where it lay and carried back from the field, then taken to our own factory, where it is cut, acid-etched to reveal the Widmanstätten pattern, and crafted into finished jewelry or a display specimen. Found by us in the field, cut in our own factory, worn by you.

Field Story

How We Hunt the Meteorites We Sell: Inside a Desert Expedition

FSThe Falling Stars Field TeamMeteorite hunters & makers|Updated October 30, 2026|7 min read

Gloved hand holding a freshly found iron meteorite pierced with a natural hole, in the African desert — An iron meteorite, pierced clean through, lifted from the desert floor by hand.

Most meteorite jewelry is sold by people who have never seen where their stones came from. We take a different path. The meteorites we sell are ones we find ourselves — recovered by hand on expeditions into the deserts of Africa, then cut and crafted in our own factory. This is what that actually looks like.

Why we hunt our own

Buying through a middleman means trusting a chain of hands you can’t see. By going to the source, we know exactly what a piece is and where it came from — which is the whole point of owning a meteorite. It’s slow, expensive, and there are no guarantees you’ll find anything. But it’s the only way we’re willing to do it, and it’s why we can put a certificate of authenticity behind every piece.

Where meteorites are found

Meteorites fall everywhere on Earth, but they survive and are found best in one kind of place: dry, bare desert. The deserts of Africa are among the richest meteorite grounds in the world. Pale, open ground makes a dark, iron-rich stone easy to spot, and the arid climate slows rusting so a rock that fell thousands of years ago can still be sitting right on the surface. We travel to many different sites across these regions.

Wind-carved white desert badlands terrain where meteorites are hunted in Africa — Bare, dry ground that preserves and reveals meteorites — reached only by off-road convoy.

Convoy of off-road vehicles and a quad bike crossing an African desert on a meteorite expedition — Bare, dry ground that preserves and reveals meteorites — reached only by off-road convoy.

How we search a strewn field

When a meteorite breaks up on its way down, it scatters fragments across an elongated zone called a strewn field. Searching one is patient, physical work. We cover ground on foot and by vehicle, scanning the surface by eye and with metal detectors, often for days at a time. The moment a promising stone turns up, we mark it: every find is logged by GPS exactly where it lay, so its recovery is documented.

Handheld GPS unit beside a meteorite on the desert ground, recording the find location — Left: a find marked and logged by GPS. Right: working a strewn field as a team.

Vehicles spread across a desert strewn field while a team searches for meteorites — Left: a find marked and logged by GPS. Right: working a strewn field as a team.

What a real find looks like

In the field you learn to read a stone fast. A genuine meteorite usually wears a dark fusion crust — the thin, glassy skin scorched on as it burned through the atmosphere — and often shows regmaglypts, the shallow “thumbprint” hollows pressed into its surface during that fiery descent. Most are noticeably heavy for their size and tug at a magnet, because they carry iron and nickel. Some irons even survive the fall twisted and pierced into shapes no earthly rock makes. (The full checklist is in how to tell if a meteorite is real.)

A fusion-crusted stony meteorite resting on desert gravel exactly where it was found — Left: a crusted stone as found. Right: a day’s recoveries — each one unique. Learn the types of meteorites.

A group of recovered raw meteorites with dark fusion crust on a display block — Left: a crusted stone as found. Right: a day’s recoveries — each one unique. Learn the types of meteorites.

From the desert to our factory

Finding the stone is only half the story. Each meteorite we recover is carried home and taken to our own factory, where it’s cut, acid-etched to bring out the Widmanstätten pattern, and shaped into a finished ring, pendant, or display specimen. Because we control every step — the hunt, the cutting, the crafting — there’s no middleman markup, and nothing gets swapped along the way.

Hand holding a freshly recovered meteorite at a desert camp, with a tent in the background — A fresh find at camp — the beginning of a piece that will end up on someone’s hand.

Why this matters to you

When you wear one of our pieces, you’re not wearing something that passed through a dozen anonymous hands. You’re wearing a specific stone that a real person walked out into a real desert and found — documented, certified, and crafted in-house. Found by us in the field, cut in our own factory, worn by you.That’s the difference you can’t see in a photo, but it’s the reason the piece is real.

A meteorite hunter in sun protection standing in the open desert during an expedition — Out in the field, where every piece we sell begins.

Frequently asked questions

Most meteorites are recovered from deserts and dry lakebeds, where the dark, iron-rich stones stand out against pale ground and the dry climate slows weathering so they survive for thousands of years. Hunters search a strewn field — the elongated zone where fragments of a single fall scattered — on foot and by vehicle, scanning the surface by eye and with metal detectors, and logging each find by GPS.
We hunt in the deserts of Africa, which are among the richest meteorite grounds in the world. The combination of bare, stable surfaces and a dry climate means meteorites that fell long ago are still sitting on top of the ground, waiting to be found. We travel to many different sites across these regions.
The first signs are a dark fusion crust — the thin, glassy skin scorched on as the stone burned through the atmosphere — and regmaglypts, the shallow 'thumbprint' hollows pressed into the surface. Most meteorites are also unusually heavy for their size and attract a magnet because of their iron-nickel content. Final classification is confirmed later by cutting and testing.
Yes. We are not resellers buying from a middleman — we mount our own desert expeditions and recover the material by hand. That first-party sourcing is why we can stand behind every piece and issue a certificate of authenticity for it.
Each find is recorded where it lay and carried back from the field, then taken to our own factory, where it is cut, acid-etched to reveal the Widmanstätten pattern, and crafted into finished jewelry or a display specimen. Found by us in the field, cut in our own factory, worn by you.