(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists conducted a thorough chemical analysis, as well as an x-ray scan of a dagger belonging to Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
Its peculiarity is that meteoric iron was used to make weapons. As it turned out, the dagger was made by low-temperature forging. At the same time, the birthplace of this weapon is definitely not Ancient Egypt.
In the 20s of the last century, archaeologists were studying the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen and found an ancient iron dagger, the length of which reached 30 cm.
Since there was still a lot of time before the Iron Age, it was immediately suggested that iron was used for the dagger from a meteorite. Such items were considered incredibly valuable not only in ancient Egypt, but also far beyond its borders.
Some time ago, experts confirmed that the weapons were iron mined from a meteorite. At the same time, questions remained open as to which meteorite was the source of the material and how exactly this unique dagger was forged.
Tomoko Arai of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan said that the weapons were scanned and thoroughly chemically analyzed.
These studies have shown that nickel, iron, manganese, sulfur, zinc, cobalt and some other elements are present in the structure of the blade.
The peculiarity in this case was how exactly these elements were distributed. The scientists learned that the structure present on the dagger resembled the Widmantgettten structure found in iron meteorites called octahedrite.
A unique pattern was found on the surface, created by distributing nickel. That is why it was concluded that octahedrite was used to make the dagger. Such iron meteorites are considered the largest. In addition, the artifact contained iron sulfides, which can be found in octahedrites.
The unique pattern would disappear if high temperatures were used in the manufacture of the weapon. Accordingly, we can say that the dagger was made at a temperature not higher than 950 degrees Celsius.
Further examination showed that the gems decorating the handle were attached with plaster. This material was often used in Mitanni territory. Due to this, it was suggested that the artifact came to Ancient Egypt from abroad.
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