Iron in Egyptian relics came from space

Nature ^ | Wednesday, May 29, 2013 | Jo Marchant

[SunkenCiv]

A study in 1928 found that the iron in the beads had a high nickel content -- a signature of iron meteorites -- and led to the suggestion that it was of celestial origin. But scholars argued in the 1980s that accidental early smelting could have led to nickel-enriched iron, and a more recent analysis of oxidized material on the surface of the beads showed low nickel content...

To settle the argument, Diane Johnson, a meteorite scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, and her colleagues used scanning electron microscopy and computed tomography to analyse one of the beads, which they borrowed from the Manchester Museum.

Microscopy showed that the nickel content of this original metal was high -- as much as 30% -- suggesting that it did indeed come from a meteorite. Backing up this result, the team observed that the metal had a distinctive crystalline structure called a Widmanstätten pattern. This structure is found only in iron meteorites that cooled extremely slowly inside their parent asteroids as the Solar System was forming.

Using tomography, the researchers built up a three-dimensional model of the bead's internal structure, revealing that the ancient Egyptians had made it by hammering a fragment of iron from the meteorite into a thin plate, then bending it into a tube.

The first evidence for iron smelting in ancient Egypt appears in the archaeological record in the sixth century bc. Only a handful of iron artefacts have been discovered in the region from before then: all come from high-status graves such as that of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.

[Berosus]

I am guessing that the iron dagger buried with Tutankhamun was a gift from the Hittites.

[colorado tanker]

That new/old GGG graphic reminds me of the new Star Trek movie for some crazy reason . . .

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve been trying to work the Bab5 wannabee into the logo, but so far, bupkis. Where’s the graphics generator for him, anyway?

[SunkenCiv]

Not relevant, I just really enjoyed this:

"Live long and suck it, Zachary Quinto!" -- Dr Sheldon Cooper

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ThanhPhero, OldNavyVet, and 2001convSVT!

If I weren’t so blamed lazy, I’d hunt down the FR topic links about Tutankhamen’s meteoritic glass doodads.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks C. Imagine, a forgotten empire that revolved around hitting people and cruel childhood games. ;’) “Stop Hittite yourself! Stop Hittite yourself!”

.

http://www.varchive.org/ce/theses.htm (#114, #117, #118, #138, #149, #151, #156, #244, #280)

http://www.varchive.org/ce/shamir/diamonds.htm
http://www.varchive.org/ce/affidavit.htm
http://www.varchive.org/ce/ocean.htm
http://www.varchive.org/cor/einstein/540616ve.htm
http://www.varchive.org/bdb/study.htm

[colorado tanker]

LOL!

[SunkenCiv]

There are potential drawbacks to saying that to ZQ, but anyway...

[fanfan]

So, would this new/old GGG ping message drive you to distraction?

No, I love it.
Thanks for all the pings Civ!

[UCANSEE2]

If that iron fell from space, that makes earth the ironing board, don’t it?

Or like your thick shag carpet after the iron falls from the ironing board.