The discovery of the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and its treasures turned 100 on Friday and set a milestone in “Egyptomania” and the scientific study of Ancient Egyptian civilization, with massive media coverage that ignited the mystery of “The curse of the mummy”, on which DNA tests were also done.

The anniversary of the discovery coincides with the bicentenary of the “deciphering of hieroglyphs”, carried out in 1822 by the French historian Jean Francois Champollion, considered the “Father of Egyptology”.

The discovery was made by the English archaeologist Howard Carter on November 4, 1922, when after a long expedition that began in 1914 and suspended during the First World War (until 1918), finally one of the members of the team he found the first step of the ladder of the tomb.

Along with that discovery, Carter also found Tutankhamun’s famous dagger a century ago. AndYesThe weapon is still arousing the interest of the scientific community for the secrets it hides. Details such as, for example, that the origin of the forged metal must be found in a meteorite. And it is not the only object of the Bronze Age to be built with “alien” materials.

Alberto JambonFrench researcher and professor at the Sorbonne, showed that iron was used during the Bronze Age it always comes from meteorites and ensures that this practice was abandoned during the Iron Age, according to a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The Iron Age began in Anatolia and the Caucasus around 1200 BC but, almost 2000 years earlier, different cultures were already making objects with this metal. “These objects were extremely rare and always highly prized,” says the author. Its peculiarity is that the iron used was not taken from the earth’s surface, but from rocks from space.

This is not the first time that meteorites have been discovered to have been used as a source of this metal. The problem so far is that the scientific community has not been able to establish whether this was a widespread practice or simply confined to a few Bronze Age artifacts.

Jambon collected the available data and performed a chemical analysis of several samples using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. Among the collection he studied were Gerzeh pearls (Egypt, 3200 BC); a dagger from Alaca Höyük (Turkey, 2500 BC); a pendant from Umm el-Marra (Syria, 2300 BC); an ax from Ugarit (Syria, 1400 BC) and many others from the civilization of the Shang dynasty (China, 1400 BC); and Tutankhamun’s dagger, bracelet and headrest (Egypt, 1350 BC).

This was revealed by the investigations of the French scientist each of these Bronze Age artifacts were made of meteoric iron. “When large celestial bodies are formed – explains Albert Jambon – like our planet, almost all the nickel moves towards the molten iron core. Therefore, it is extremely rare to find nickel on the surface. However, some meteorites are created when celestial bodies break apart. “

“They mainly contain iron with high levels of nickel and cobalt. This feature makes it possible to identify the source of the iron. Meteoric iron is also found in a metallic state, ready for use, which explains why it entered all iron artifacts from the Bronze Age, ”adds the French scientist.

The iron compounds in earth minerals must first undergo the reduction process, which removes oxygen to produce the desired metal. This is the basis of furnace smelting, a development that marked the beginning of the Iron Age. “With melting, Iron Age cultures could forget about the rare alien metal and exploit Earth’s minerals, which were much more abundant and readily available,” Jambon theorized.

his kingdom

During his reign, Tutankhamun restored polytheism and the worship of the god Amun, the temple of Karnak and the city of Thebes as the seat of kingship, which had been changed by who (perhaps) was his father, Akhenaten, during the government he ruled preceded him, in a “very troubled” period in the history of Ancient Egypt.

Previously, Akhenaten had implemented a monotheistic reform centered on the god Aten and had even left Thebes, the seat of royals in Egypt, to found a new city called Akhetaten (now El Amarna).

“Tutankhamun’s reign is a short one, but relevant because it ends with what was happening with the reform of El Amarna and returns to the previous cult,” said Argentine historian Roxana Flammini.

However, he added, being associated with the time of the El Amarna kings, Tutankhamun was an “invisible” pharaoh in the king’s lists.

Although the tomb had undergone two attempts of looting in antiquity, the treasure “was practically intact”, because Tutankhamun was a king “almost forgotten by the Egyptians themselves” and furthermore the Valley of the Kings had suffered a flood that left sediments that they covered her up and ended up protecting her, the teacher added.