King Tut was buried with a dagger made of an iron that literally came from space, says a new study into the composition of the iron blade from the sarcophagus of the boy king.
Using non-invasive, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a team of Italian and Egyptian researchers confirmed that the iron of the dagger placed on the right thigh of King Tut's mummified body a has meteoric origin.
The team, which include researchers from Milan Polytechnic, Pisa University and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, detailed their results in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
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Tushratta, King of Mitanni – a kingdom in northern Syria and Anatolia – is reported to have sent iron objects to Amenhotep III, who is thought to be the grandfather of Tutankhamun.
Recently several small beads found in a tomb in Gerzeh in Egypt, thought to date from 3,200 BC in the early days of ancient Egypt's history, were also found to be made of iron from meteorites.
The findings provide important insights into the use of the term 'iron' in relation to the sky in ancient texts found in Egypt and Mesopotamia, Dr Comelli and his team say.
Composite heiroglphic figures have been translated as meaning 'iron of the sky' and came into use in the 19th Dynasty in ancient Egypt, around 1,300BC, to mean all types of iron.
The researchers said: 'the introduction of the new composite term suggests the ancient Egyptians, in the wake of other ancient people of the Mediterranean area, were aware that these rare chunks of iron fell from the sky
already in the 13th century BC, anticipating Western culture by more than two millennia.'
The dagger reveals the sophisticated metal working skills that existed at the time of Tutankhamun. The researchers say the iron blade shows particular mastery compared to other iron objects from the time made using metal obtained from meteorites
The dagger is one of the most highly valued items to have been retrieved from the tomb. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall can be seen inspecting it at a recent exhibition in London
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