Archaeologists find ancient jewelry made from metal of cosmic origin
Researchers find ancient jewelry made from cosmic metal (photo: turismovillena.com)
Among the Bronze Age gold jewelry from the Iberian Peninsula, archaeologists have found two artifacts that may have a very interesting origin. It is now known that the material is metal, but most likely, it is not of earthly origin.
Science Alert tells what is known about this discovery and the hypothesis archaeologists are proposing.
A massive bracelet with hollow hemispheres, found among Bronze Age gold jewelry, is made of an unknown metal. Researchers suggest that it is iron of meteorite origin, having fallen from the sky.
This discovery was made at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain. In the scientific work of Salvador Rovira-Llorens, it is stated that metallurgy technologies on the Iberian Peninsula more than 3,000 years ago were much more advanced than previously thought.
The Treasure of Villena consists of 66 items. It is primarily made up of gold artifacts and was discovered in 1963 in the modern-day Alicante area, Spain. This treasure has been recognized as one of the most important examples of Bronze Age jewelry art on the Iberian Peninsula and indeed in all of Europe.
This ornament is likely made from cosmic metal (photo: tp.revistas/csic es)
Among all the items, two artifacts caught the scientists' attention – a small hollow hemisphere, which could be part of a scepter or the hilt of a sword, and a massive bracelet that resembles a torc. Both items had a ferromagnetic appearance, indicating the presence of iron.
However, the Iron Age in Iberia began around 850 BC, while most of the treasure items are dated between 1500 and 1200 BC. This raised doubts among the researchers about the origin of the metal.
The thing is, metal ores found on the Earth's surface are not the only sources of iron. Artifacts made from meteorite iron, dating to before the Iron Age, have been found in different parts of the world.
The most famous such artifact is the iron dagger of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Such bronze artifacts made from meteorite metal are considered incredibly valuable.
The bracelet, made from cosmic metal (photo: tp.revistas/csic es)
There is an interesting difference between Earth-based iron and meteorite iron – the amount of nickel. The iron of cosmic origin contains much more nickel. Researchers have been granted permission to analyze the artifacts found in Spain. Despite the corrosion that could have altered the elemental composition, the test results clearly showed that meteorite iron is present in both items.
"The available data suggest that the cap and bracelet from the Treasure of Villena would currently be the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula, which is compatible with a Late Bronze chronology, prior to the beginning of the widespread production of terrestrial iron," say the scientists.
The next step for the researchers is to use the latest non-invasive analytical methods to obtain more detailed data, which will confirm the uniqueness and origin of these artifacts.
