4. 6. 2016 Meteorite iron dagger

The results of the interesting research were published five years ago by Egyptian and Italian scientists. They found that Tutankhamun's dagger is made of iron originating from a meteorite.

The roughly 3,300-year-old weapon with a golden blade was discovered in 1925 by the famous archaeologist Howard Carter. The archaeologists used X-ray imaging to investigate. Meteoritic gold is not difficult to recognize because it has a high nickel content. The daggers contain about ten percent of it. "In addition, we also found traces of cobalt," reported study leader Daniela Comelli.

We also wrote about the dagger here: https://www.lovecpokladu.cz/home/archeologicke-zpravy-nejen-pro-hledace-s-detektory-kovu-9-2016-6849

Carter discovered the entire tomb of Tutankhamun, which was unlooted. "He searched for the tomb for five years. Eventually it turned out to be located directly under the site where he set up camp each season in the Valley of the Kings. It was across from the present Luxor, on the other side of the Nile. The tomb was buried beneath a thick layer of stone rubble that was brought in by workers building the nearby tomb of Ramesses VI some two hundred years after Tutankhamun's tomb was built," writes Eric Cline in Three Stones Are the Wall.

It took Carter ten years to uncover the tomb. The finds were then taken to a museum in Cairo, where they are still on display today. Soon after the tomb was opened, Carter's patron Lord Carnarvon died. Speculation began to mount as to whether the tomb was cursed. But Carter himself was still alive seventeen years after the tomb was opened.

Tutankhamun ruled during the New Kingdom. He was a descendant of the Eighteenth Dynasty, which ruled from approximately 1550 BC to shortly after 1300 BC. This period includes some of Egypt's most famous rulers, including the famous Queen Hatshepsut, who reigned for twenty years. Then there was her half-brother Thutmose III, who conquered most of what is now Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Tutankhamun himself ascended the throne when he was only eight years old. "Ten years later he died suddenly and was buried in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was later filled in and forgotten. It was not rediscovered until three and a half thousand years later," Cline writes.

The discovery of the dagger shows that by Pharaoh's time, the Egyptians already had considerable skills in ironworking. According to the researchers, the Egyptians were also well aware of the origins of meteorites, as there are references to iron from the heavens as early as the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Sources: https://theconversation.com/, www.bbc.com, Eric Cline: Three Stones Are a Wall