Iron dagger found in King Tut's tomb is made from a meteorite

An iron dagger found in King Tut’s tomb in Egypt in the 1920s was long thought to be made from a meteorite – and now it’s confirmed. The article published in the Meteoritics & Planetary Science journal also suggests that the Egyptians knew where the metal came from, referring to it as ‘iron of the sky.’

Scientists previously claimed that an iron dagger, and a gold blade, in King Tutankhamun’s tomb may have come from meteorites. Researchers from Italy and the Egyptian Museum of Cairo have used x-ray fluorescence spectrometry to accurately determine that the dagger consisted of iron, nickel, and cobalt that matches the components of known meteors. Therefore they can confirm that the iron dagger found in King Tut’s tomb is of meteoritic origin.

The researchers say that this ‘suggests that the ancient Egyptians, in the wake of other ancient people of the Mediterranean area, were aware that these rare chunks of iron fell from the sky already in the 13th century BCE, anticipating Western culture by more than two millennia.’ It also adds more light on the spread of iron metallurgy in different early civilizations.

The sporadic use of iron has been reported in the Eastern Mediterranean region from the late Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. Despite the rare existence of smelted iron, it was generally assumed that early iron objects were produced from meteoritic iron. Nevertheless the methods of working with the metal and its use were contentious due to the lack of evidence.

Since its discovery in 1925, the meteoritic origin of the iron dagger blade from the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (14th century BCE) has been the subject of debate. Previous analyses produced controversial results.

The Italian researchers show that the composition of the blade is iron with 11% nickel and 1% cobalt. It was accurately determined using portable x-ray flourescence spectrometry. In agreement with recent results of the metallographic analysis of ancient iron artefacts from Gerzeh, this study confirms that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of precious objects. Moreover, the high manufacturing quality of Tutankhamun’s dagger blade, in comparison with other simple-shaped meteoritic iron artefacts, suggests a significant mastery of ironworking in Tutankhamun’s time.

The team of researchers from the Milan Polytechnic, the University of Pisa, the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, XGLab in Milan, the Fayooum University, the Institute of Photography and Nanotechnology in Milan, and the Torino Polytechnic were funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the Egyptian Ministry of Scientific Research.

Comelli, D., D'orazio, M., Folco, L., El-Halwagy, M., Frizzi, T., Alberti, R., Capogrosso, V., Elnaggar, A., Hassan, H., Nevin, A., Porcelli, F., Rashed, M. G. and Valentini, G. (2016), The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun's iron dagger blade. Meteoritics & Planetary Science. doi: 10.1111/maps.12664

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/02/africa/king-tut-dagger-meteorite/index.html

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.12664/full

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).