At the time of the Pharaohs, knowledge of iron and steel as well as techniques for forging and casting these metals was still very limited because they required special furnaces with high temperatures, so the Metal tools found during excavation are mainly bronze.
And of course, they will oxidize and rust over time. However, when excavating the tomb of King Tutankhamun (Tut), archaeologists discovered a dagger completely different from the rest, although more than 3,000 years old, but it absolutely no rust.
In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his colleagues discovered the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who lived in the 18th dynasty (1332-1323 BC). The mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered intact, covered with jewelry, amulets and even a dagger with an iron blade.
This has raised a big question mark as to where this dagger came from because of its excellent quality besides the intricately crafted patterns that probably could not have come from the metallurgical masters of the time. that point (the Bronze Age).
This knife has also raised a lot of questions about the existence of aliens and how the ancient Egyptians were able to create it when in the Bronze Age, the technology to make iron was not yet available. Analyzing the dagger sample, the researchers found that there are many components that do not exist on Earth, and this is most likely the reason why this dagger still has not rusted after more than 3,000 years.
Archaeologist Mark Altaweel questioned: “How did the pharaoh Tutankhamun get iron when iron basically did not exist? The quality of this dagger is excellent.”
Archaeologist Hendrik van Gijseghem believes that no one in the world was able to create iron in the Bronze Age.
The portable analyzer can detect the chemical composition of objects with X-rays.
In 2016, a study used X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and found that the material used to make the dagger in King Tut’s tomb was an iron material that did not belong to the earth at all.
The team also determined that Tutankhamun’s dagger was made of iron containing nearly 11% nickel and cobalt – a silvery-white metal with strong magnetism, cobalt and nickel are the two signature ingredients in falling meteorite steel. earth for billions of years.
Scientists believe that ancient Egyptian craftsmen collected them after meteor showers, and that they were probably heated by a process of falling from space rather than through the forges of the time. hour.
Metallurgist Albert Jambon scans an iron meteorite with a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer.
In addition to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, scientists have also found many other weapons made from meteorite iron in other tomb sites around the world such as the ax from Ugarit on the northern coast of Syria, dating back to 1400. B.C; a dagger from Alaça Hoyuk in Turkey, dating back to 2500 BC…all of them have a history in the Bronze Age – when there was no iron metallurgy in the world.
The iron ax from Ugarit on the northern coast of Syria dates to 1500 BC, about 300 years before the invention of smelting iron.
The dagger-iron dagger from Alaça Höyük in Turkey dates back to 2500 BC – about 1,000 years before cast iron was invented.
