Using an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to detect the elements in the iron tools and other objects without actually degrading the items, the researchers were able to determine that the material was consistent with iron found in meteorites which fought through Earth’s atmosphere and smashed into the surface. Confirming higher levels of nickel and cobalt than terrestrial iron typically has, the iron tools are almost certainly carved out of space rocks.
The meteorite explanation also helps to clear up how iron tools have been found intermixed with Bronze Age artifacts. In the areas of Syria, Turkey and Egypt where the iron implements were found, humans simply didn’t have the technology or knowhow to efficiently smelt iron or into usable material at that time, but meteorites rich with iron would have arrived on the surface in a state suitable for tool-making.
Whether the individuals who made the tools knew of the material’s origins is impossible to determine. Did they actually see meteorites strike the earth and find the iron, or were the meteorite remains long-buried deposits that were stumbled upon by chance? That’s a question we’ll unfortunately never know the answer to.
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