Kimg Tut's dagger made from meteorite

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Kimg Tut's dagger made from meteorite

Post by ron » Sat Jun 18, 2016 8:52 pm

A recent analysis has confirmed that kjing Tut's dagger was made from a meteorite, There was a legend surrounding Jim Bowie that the first knife he had made for himself was made from a meteorite but that knife was lost in 1827 following the Sandbar Fight where Bowie was grievously wounded and lost the knife.

At the time King Tut was buried, it was 300 years before the beginning of the Iron Age and the use of smelted iron, but Egyptians were already skilled in the making of Iron and in this case, iron alloys. (98.6 Fe plus 10.8 wt% Ni and 0.58 wt% Co),

Here's from a report written in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science recently by the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy:

Egyptian King Tutankhamun continues to make a name for himself. Now, a professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy, has confirmed, in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, that Tut’s dagger blade—also discovered with the golden death mask—was made from the iron of a meteorite. The analysis was done using “X-ray fluorescence spectometry,” a method that identifies elements from the colors they emit. The results were compared to 11 metallic meteorite samples and showed undeniable similarities. King Tut must have had a penchant for the cosmic rock. Researchers believe his headrest and other daggers found in the tomb were made of meteoric iron as well.

Scholars have long discussed the introduction and spread of iron metallurgy in different civilizations. The sporadic use of iron has been reported in the Eastern Mediterranean area from the late Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. Despite the rare existence of smelted iron, it is generally assumed that early iron objects were produced from meteoritic iron. Nevertheless, the methods of working the metal, its use, and diffusion are contentious issues compromised by lack of detailed analysis. Since its discovery in 1925, the meteoritic origin of the iron dagger blade from the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (14th C. BCE) has been the subject of debate and previous analyses yielded controversial results.

Most recent analysis shows that the composition of the blade (Fe plus 10.8 wt% Ni and 0.58 wt% Co), accurately determined through portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, strongly supports its meteoritic origin. In agreement with recent results of metallographic analysis of ancient iron artifacts 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 artifacts, suggests a significant mastery of ironworking in Tutankhamun's time.


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