Jun 03, 2024 17:00:00

Meteorite jewellery discovered in Bronze Age hoard

The '

Villena Treasure ' is a collection of jewels made of gold and silver, including tiaras, rings, and bracelets, discovered in 1963 in the city of Villena in eastern Spain. It has now been revealed that two of the jewels contain iron from a meteorite that fell from outer space.

Vista de ¿ What is meteorological history in the Villena Desert? | Historical Traditions
https://tp.revistas.csic.es/index.php/tp/article/view/929/1110

Strange Metal From Beyond Our Planet Found in Ancient Treasure Stash: ScienceAlert

https://www.sciencealert.com/strange-metal-from-beyond-our-planet-found-in-ancient-treasure-stash

The Villena Hoard, which consists of 59 pieces of jewellery including bowls, vases and bracelets, is thought to have been made between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age .

by

manuel mv

Salvador Rovira Llorens of the National Archaeological Museum of Spain and his colleagues analyzed a 4.5-centimetre iron and gold hemisphere from the Villena hoard and determined that the gold components of the jewellery dated from 1500 to 1200 BC.

However, in Europe, the technology to

refine iron from iron ore did not exist until the Iron Age began around 850 BC, so it was a mystery as to why jewelry combining gold and ironwork was made between 1500 BC and 1200 BC, in the middle of the Bronze Age.

Similarly, a bracelet thought to be made of iron was found in the Villena hoard.

With permission from the Villena Municipal Archaeological Museum, Lawrence and his colleagues carried out further analysis of the pieces, using X-ray fluorescence and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , which determined that the pieces contained nickel ranging from 5.5% to 6.9%.

Because iron ore with such a high nickel content does not exist on Earth, it was suggested that the iron used in these pieces of jewelry may have been an ' iron meteorite ,' a meteorite composed of an iron and nickel alloy.

This discovery makes it clear that during the Bronze Age, when the technology to refine iron was underdeveloped, iron was obtained from iron meteorites, a valuable material.

The research team said, 'The results of the investigation suggest that the two pieces of jewelry in the Villena hoard are derived from iron meteorites. This discovery tells us that these pieces were produced in the Late Bronze Age, before the smelting of iron from iron ore began.' In addition, the jewelry used in this analysis is corroded, which may make the results inaccurate. Therefore, the research team said, 'We plan to conduct another investigation using non-invasive analytical techniques that will provide a more detailed data set that will help to solidify this discovery.'