Meteorite cults, based on the worship of stones from the sky, even existed in some regions of the Mediterranean for several hundred years before and after the birth of Christ. But their importance to the ancients was not all mystical. In spite of their great historical significance, however, meteorites have only been fully accepted as extra-terrestrial by the scientific establishment since the start of the 19th Century. Scientists viewed the ancient accounts as being more myth than fact, tied as they were to the supernatural. This was the beginning of the acceptance of their extra-terrestrial origin.
Meteorites continue to be significant and mysterious.
Coming as they do from outside the Earth, they provide information about the geology of the solar system which could not possibly be obtained on Earth, and thus are invaluable to science. Yet many things about them remain uncertain. For one thing, their specific origins have not been conclusively proven. To date a few meteorites have been found which are similar to rocks returned from the Apollo missions to the moon, while there are others which are geologically similar to rock from the planet Mars. It is now generally accepted that meteorites originate from planetary bodies as well as from the asteroid belts.