Data showing that ancient people were producing ironware from meteorites is confirmed

ByDavid Kingham

A product using iron was made even in the era when it is classified as "Bronze Age" before the iron age, where people have freely made iron making technology, but it falls from the universe as a material It is thought that the meteorite was used. The fact that there was no smelting technology for making iron was considered as a substantial backing, but by analyzing the ironware actually made in the Bronze Age, data supporting the theory are obtained I will.

Bronze Age iron: Meteoritic or not? A chemical strategy. - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440317301322

Before the Iron Age, Most Iron Came From Space - Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/before-iron-age-most-iron-came-from-space-meteorite-egyptian-bronze

Iron is the fourth largest element among the elements contained in the Earth's crust and iron sand and iron ore necessary for making iron as a product are widely distributed around the world, so it is relatively It is readily available. The mined sand iron and iron ore are refined by applying high heat of 800 degrees to 1,200 degrees, and it is refined, high purity iron "pig iron" and more tough steel " It is made.

Iron production was from 1300 BC to 1200 BC, the ancient EgyptianHittite KingdomIt is thought that it began with. Iron is a substance that is also advantageous when used as a weapon because of its higher strength than bronze ware and the Hittite Kingdom who gained iron when neighboring countries could only produce bronze ware gradually strengthened the power and gradually strengthened Mesopotamia I conquered and built a big country.

BySamuel Tristán

For the refining of iron, it is necessary to take out the iron only from iron ore as a raw material. Iron refining is the reduction action of removing oxygen from the raw material iron oxide to leave iron, and in order to cause the reaction, it is necessary to add a temperature of around 1000 degrees for a long time. At that time, high technology and know-how were necessary to realize this process, and iron smelting technology was managed at the national highest secret level of outsider. Iron produced in this way played a major role in the development of the country as impurities and high strength iron.

Meanwhile, even in the bronze age prior to the iron age there were few products using iron as well. I know that Tutankhamun's grave, which is said to have died in 1324 BC, was buried with iron armor and decorations, but its raw material is not buried in earth such as iron ore, but meteorite It is thought that it has fallen from space.

This is, "to come falling stones from the sky is a myth or magic" for the Europeans were thinking until around the 19th century and the like of the things that did not reach thinking, of archeology at the French National Center for Scientific Research "Many archaeologists do not seem to believe that people in the Bronze Age had knowledge of meteorites," said Albert Jambong, who is involved in the study.


However, in areas other than Europe, in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics "hierograf" the meaning of iron comes from "the one that came from the sky", and in China's Confucius about the meteorite in 645 BC " It is said that there has existed a culture that has long been aware that meteorites are "stone" or "meteorite", such as describing a connection between a line and a stone rolling on the ground.

Up to the modern era, Europeans were not tied to meteorite and meteorite, whereas in ancient Egypt and China it was thought that they utilized meteorites and meteoric irons to create iron products there. Meteoric iron falling almost as "iron mass" often has high purity of iron and it is possible to make iron products relatively easily without requiring high smelting technology.


In this way, products made from meteorite have been treated as precious ornaments that only influential people of each era can possess. Beginning in the Bronze Age, in the ruins of Alaja Huyuk that flourished through the later Hittite era, a dagger made from a meteorite was found ......


Even in Tutankhamun's king grave, a dagger made of meteorite has been found.


In order to make the theory that ironware was made from meteorites in ancient civilization, Mr. Jumbon conducted a survey of the ironware left in each place with a compact and portable spectrometer. This spectrometer can analyze the composition without destroying objects, Mr. Jumbon investigates the contents of the substance contained in the ironware, so that the ironware is derived from a meteorite or refined iron I tried to figure out whether it was made with.


As a result, Mr. Jumbon discovered that ancient ironware contains a lot of nickel. This is considered to be the same as the composition of the meteorite that has fallen on the earth and at the same time it is completely different from the refined iron composition of high purity, from which Jumbon discovered that the ancient ironware also had meteorites It is surely the cornerstone that it was made for.

Mr. Jambong also unravels that three different kinds of materials are used for ironware found in Tutankhamun's royal tomb. At that time, the meteorron that can make iron can be said to be more valuable than gold, so it was that three types of iron were collected so much that much labor and financial resources were spared is showing. It was also thought that the meteorite at that time was worth as much as modern diamonds, Mr. Jumbon said "I think people of those days were desperately trying to find the meteorite," he said.