These natural tektites were collected in Vietnam. They are opaque and have irregular rounded and disc like shapes with pitted surfaces.(Our picture does not illustrate the disc shapes. They are known as "Indochinites", and have been shown by K-Ar radiometric age dating to be approximately 700,000 years old. Scientists believe that the tektite's origin is the result of meteorite impact on either terrestial or lunar rocks. The tektites then formed when molten rock, created by the meteorite's hyper-velocity impact, flew through the air hardening into natural glass with aerodynamic forms and surface features. For longer than recorded history, humans have regarded tektites as magical and uncanny. The unromantic word tektite comes from a Greek word meaning "molten", but most of the other names for them have been considerably more poetic. In the Chinese Tang Annals, which go back more than 2,000 years, Liu Sun makes the first written reference to tektites, calling them Lei-gong-mo, "Inkstone of the Thundergod." Australian Aborigines call them Maban, which means "magic". In India, they were Saimantakimani, the "sacred gem of Krishna". The Sanskrit name for them, Agni Mani, is generally translated into English as "fire pearl" or "teardrops from the moon". Legends about the magical powers of tektites are still current. Modern mystics believe that contact with Tektites will aid one's spiritual evolution and that tektites are conducive to lucid dreaming. For an exploration of the spiritual properties of tektites, see Moldavite: Starborn
