The famous golden-handled dagger of pharaoh Tutankhamun was not made from Earthly materials, new analysis confirms.
Research recently published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science shows that the golden-handled iron dagger excavated from the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt from 1333 to 1323 BC, has a “timeless” element. strange.
That’s because at the time the pharaoh brought this treasure with him, Earth people did not know how to make iron from natural materials on Earth. Therefore, this metal must be a rare material that comes from natural materials. alien body, according to Live Science.
The results of analysis of both sides of the blade show that the arrangement of the iron-nickel crystals is a typical “Widmanstätten pattern”, which is found in many iron meteorites but does not exist in any other objects. any material on Earth.
Some randomly distributed sulfur-rich dark spots are remnants of troilite (FeS) inclusions, also common in iron meteorites.
From the above points, a group of scientists led by the Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chima Institute of Technology (Japan) concluded that the dagger and some “timeless” iron objects in the tomb This pharaoh’s mystery is made from materials taken from rare meteorites and asteroids that the Egyptians were lucky enough to collect.
This caused the value of the dagger and other artifacts to increase many times over. The adhesive used on the golden handle of the knife was also a type of lime plaster not available in Egypt at the time, but may have been imported from Anatolia (Asia Minor peninsula), or the crafted knife itself. in Anatolia and then transported to Egypt and presented to the pharaoh.