Tutankhamun’s dagger came from outer space
Tutankhamun’s dagger came from outer space
The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun's iron dagger blade
The research article has been published in the international scientific journal «Meteoritics and Planetary Science»
https://www.unipi.it/images/tutank2.jpgAn international research team (Politecnico di Milano, Università di Pisa, Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Italian National Research Council, University of Fayoum, Politecnico di Torino, XGLab Italian company) ********s the meteoritic origin of the iron of the dagger blade belonging to the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (14th C B.C.E). This solves a longstanding heated debate among scholars since its discovery in the wrapping of the king's mummy in 1925, by archaeologist Howard Carter.
As reported in a paper published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, geochemical analysis performed in December 2014 through non-invasive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry reveals that the iron dagger blade, today on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, contains nickel (10 wt%) and cobalt (0.6 wt%) in concentrations characteristically observed in iron meteorites.
https://www.unipi.it/images/tutank1.jpgThe study confirms that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of precious ******s, and the high manufacturing quality of Tutankhamun’s dagger blade is evidence of significant mastery of ironworking already in Tutankhamun’s time.
Massimo D'Orazio and Luigi Folco, professors at the Earth Sciences Department of the University of Pisa, contributed to the research, which was funded by the Italian Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Egyptian Ministry of the Scientific Research. Professors D'Orazio and Folco coordinate the Pisa University meteorite research group, which is an international point of reference in the field of meteoritics and planetary sciences.
The research article has been published in the international scientific journal "Meteoritics and Planetary Science": http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...12664/abstract
English News
https://cnet1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r...tutdagger2.jpg
King Tut's tomb may have originally been excavated way back in the 1920s, but the burial area and its *******s are still revealing secrets all these years later. An international research team discovered meteoric iron in the blade of a dagger found interred with young Tutankhamun, Egypt's most famous ancient ruler.
Milan Polytechnic lead the study, which took the form of a non-invasive geochemical analysis. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry showed the blade contains nickel and cobalt in concentrations found in iron meteorites.
"The study confirms that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of precious ******s, and the high manufacturing quality of Tutankhamun's dagger blade is evidence of significant mastery of ironworking already in Tutankhamun's time," notes the University of Pisa.
https://cnet1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r...tutdagger2.jpgThis blade has a fascinating origin.
One of the most sensational moments of the 20th century occurred in 1922, when the tomb of the most mysterious pharaoh of ancient Egypt — Tutankhamun — was discovered. The discovery gave birth to a host of mysteries and legends, one of which centered on the ancient ruler’s dagger. It was claimed that his ceremonial weapon had origins not of this Earth.
After more than 90 years, research recently published in the magazine Meteoritics & Planetary Science proves that Tutankhamun’s dagger really was from another world: it turns out that it was forged from the iron of a meteorite.
After a careful analysis of the dagger’s blade, scientists managed to discover the celestial rock whose iron it was made from. Known as the Kharga meteorite, it was discovered in the year 2000 close to the city of Alexandria.
The implications of this discovery are really quite incredible: it shows that the ancient Egyptians mastered the art of making things out of iron long before the Iron Age. It also suggests that their civilization — which prospered in the 13th century BC — was aware that certain materials quite literally fell from the sky. In this respect they were some 2,000 years ahead of Western science in their understanding of the cosmos.
It seems that the ancient Egyptians must have seen something unusual falling from the skies and headed on foot in the direction of this wonder. Now we can finally make sense of a cryptic phrase seen in Egyptian hieroglyphs of the period: ’iron of the sky.’
Almost 3,500 years after the event, science has discovered something really quite astounding: that the origins of an ancient artefact can be found in the great black ocean of stars above us.
