Scientists have long speculated that the ancient Egyptians used metal from meteorites to make iron objects. Now an analysis of a dagger found in Tutankhamen’s tomb has given us strong evidence that this was the case—and that the Egyptians knew the iron had come from the sky. But why did they use such an unusual source for the metal when there’s plenty of iron here on Earth?
Until recently, we didn’t think that the ancient Egyptians were particularly good at producing iron objects until late in their history, around 500 B.C. There’s no archaeological evidence for significant iron working anywhere in the Nile Valley. Even the large amounts of iron-rich smelting waste products found in the Delta region could actually have been produced by attempts to make copper. When Tutankhamen died—800 years earlier—iron was a rarer material than gold.
