An ancient iron arrowhead found near Lake Biel in Switzerland, dating back to the Bronze Age, was likely made of iron from a meteorite, researchers taking part in a study by the Natural History Museum of Geneva have determined. Bern.
The researchers, in a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, said the arrowhead is 39 millimeters long and weighs 2.9 grams.
“A detailed interdisciplinary study of the arrowhead could confirm beyond doubt that it was made of meteoritic iron,” the researchers said in a press release.
Meteorites are “space rocks” that have survived their journey through Earth’s atmosphere and hit the ground, according to NASA. “Space rocks”, known as meteoroids, are objects in space that range in size from grains of dust to small asteroids.
The iron arrowhead was originally found during excavations in the 19th century, most likely in the winter of 1873 or 1874, then acquired by the Historical Museum of Bern in Switzerland where it is still in the collections, Professor Beda Hofmann, director and curator of Mineralogy and Meteorites at the Natural History Museum of Bern, told USA TODAY.
The iron arrowhead comes from a Bronze Age pile-dwelling station near a lakeside settlement on the outskirts of Bern and dates back to 900-800 BC, the press release said, adding that the site of the discovery was only a few kilometers from the broadcast field of the Twannberg meteorite, the largest known to have reached Switzerland. More than 2,000 fragments of an iron meteorite that fell to Earth about 170,000 years ago have been found there.
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‘Extremely rare’
While iron is a widely used metal today, it was considered extremely rare and valuable and was only known from meteorites, before the Iron Age (800 BC). In fact, only 55 such objects, discovered in 22 different sites, are known in the whole of Eurasia and Africa; 19 objects alone come from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt.
“We have no information on the use of the arrowhead,” Professor Beda explained. “But, because the material must have been very rare and special, it is unlikely that it was used for everyday hunting.”
“I suspect it was a prestige item or perhaps had some spiritual significance, but that’s pure conjecture. At least in other instances where meteoritic iron was used, it was usually in a situation where a high value of the material is evident (e.g. in Tutankhamun’s tomb),” he added.
Grinding marks and tar remnants were also seen on the surface of the arrowhead, indicating the object was likely used to attach to an arrowhead, the researchers said.
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Origins
Methods used for arrowhead analysis include electron microscope images, X-rays, and high-energy radiation analysis.
During their investigation, the researchers were also surprised to discover chemical evidence indicating that the arrowhead did not come from the nearby Twannberg field as it contained approximately 8.3% nickel, which is almost twice as high. than in the Twannberg meteorite.
The arrowhead also had a low concentration of aluminum-26 indicating that the sample came from inside a meteorite, which originally had a mass of at least two tons.
“The most likely origin is assumed to be the ‘Kaalijarv’ meteorite, which fell in Estonia during the Bronze Age [roughly 3,500 years ago]“, said the researchers. “The fall of this meteorite produced several craters. Since the larger meteorite fragments exploded on the ground, many smaller shards must have formed.”
The team is continuing their research to trace the course of the arrowhead from Estonia to Switzerland.
The arrowhead will be on public display from February 2024 to April 2025 at the Bern Historical Museum.
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