Ref Meteoric Iron - the Cape York Meteorite from Greenland was used by the locals to make tools:
"The 407-kilogram (897-pound) fragment of Cape York known as the Dog was extensively hammered by Inuit workers—just like the fragment called the Woman, which was found about 30 meters (100 feet) away. Both of these fragments were hammered much more than Ahnighito; experts are not entirely sure why.
According to arctic explorer Robert Peary, who located the three fragments of Cape York now on display in this hall, native Greenlanders recounted a story that these meteorites were once a sewing woman and her dog who were cast from heaven by an evil spirit. Ahnighito was the tent that sheltered them. Some people have speculated that this story may have been invented for Peary's benefit.
HAMMERING AWAY
Although iron meteorites are incredibly hard, the Inuit people successfully chipped off pieces of the fragment known as the Woman using hammerstones made of basalt. The iron was then used to make tools such as knives and harpoons.
When explorer Robert Peary located the Woman in 1894 with the help of an Inuit guide, some 10,000 hammerstones were scattered around the three-ton meteorite. Over the years, Inuit people had carried these basalt stones to the area from far away because the rocks found naturally around the Woman were too soft to break iron."
link:
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/perm...t/capeyork.php
The theory is that once one tribe had mastered the art of cold working an iron rich meteor the knowledge spread acroos the whole of their territory from Alaska to Greenland - many meteors can be found in the Artic tundra regions...
10,000 hammer stones is a lot of hammering - and potentially a lot of tools or weapons...
31 tonnes is a lot of iron...
link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_York_meteorite
And don't forget the Vikings reached the Americas about 500 years before the official discovery - they had iron and steel tools and the technology of making them - they had established colonies in Greenland by 1000 AD.... and co-existed with the local Inuit for several centuries