The blade consists of an alloy, which was impossible to obtain artificially in those days
The dagger, discovered in 1925 after opening the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, is made of meteorite material.
This conclusion was reached by a group of Italian scientists who studied the artifact.
Professor of physics at the Turin Polytechnic Institute Francesco Porcelli, who took part in the examination, in an interview with the newspaper "Stampa" noted that the 35-centimeter iron blade immediately after its discovery in a mummy veil caused controversy in scientific circles.
“There were very few iron products in Ancient Egypt. This material was valued more than gold, - said the Italian. "It's incredible that no one has analyzed this alloy before."
Using X-rays, scientists have determined that the blade material contains 10% nickel and 0.6% cobalt. “This alloy is typical for a meteorite. It was absolutely impossible to get it artificially in that era,”Porcelli said.
According to him, scientists were forced to recall the dagger of Tutankhamun by the discovery in 2010 of the Kamil crater of meteoric origin in the Egyptian desert. One of the ancient papyri known to Egyptologists is also told about the "iron that fell from the sky", but no one has ever seriously considered the "extraterrestrial" version of the origin of the material from which the dagger is made.
Tutankhamun ruled from 1333 to 1323 BC and died at the age of 18. His tomb was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings by British scholar Howard Carter and antiquities collector Lord George Carnarvon.
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