King Tut’s Dagger Made From Meteorite

The mystery behind King Tutankhamen becomes a bit more fantastic today with a new study showing that the former young King of Egypt was buried with a dagger made from a meteorite.

According to a team of Italian and Egyptian researchers using some non-invasive, portable X-ray technology, they’ve been able to confirm that the dagger was imbued with something out of this world. What’s fascinating about this blade, and what stuck out to researchers, is that after all these years has not rusted one bit. Because the blade was sheathed in a carrier, previous researchers just assumed it was a regular iron blade that was highly ornamented.

Discovery of the blade dates back to 1925 when archaeologist Howard Carter found two daggers buried with King Tut. One blade was gold, and the other, iron. Even though copper, gold and bronze items were all the rage since 4,000 BC, the fact that this blade was made of iron fascinated researchers given its rare usage in ancient Egypt.

“As the only two valuable iron artifacts from ancient Egypt so far accurately analysed are of meteoritic origin,” the research team wrote, “we suggest that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of fine ornamental or ceremonial objects”.

While the presence of iron was enough for them to start their research, it was the presence of cobalt that sealed the deal.

For those looking to get up close and personal with the object, it is currently on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This reminds us of that time Anthony Bourdain made a chefs knife out of melted meteorite and now we want one for ourselves.

What do you think about this discovery? Let us know below!