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[Archer]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/king-tut-dagger-1.3610539

A famous dagger found in the wrapping of Egyptian King Tutankhamun's mummy was made with iron from a meteorite, a study confirms.

An analysis of the dagger's blade led by Daniela Comelli, a professor of materials science at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy, showed that it contains 10 per cent nickel and 0.6 per cent cobalt, the researchers report in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

The analysis was conducted using a technique called X-ray fluorescence, which identifies different elements from the characteristic colours of X-ray light they give off when hit with higher-energy X-rays. Then they compared the composition of the dagger's blade with that of 11 metallic meteorites and found it to be very similar.

The dagger was found by archeologist Howard Carter in 1925, three years after he discovered King Tut's tomb. The dagger was in the wrapping surrounding the right thigh of the boy king's mummy. It had a decorated gold handle with a pommel of rock crystal, and the iron blade was protected with a gold sheath decorated with a pattern of lilies on one side, feathers on the other, and a jackal's head, the researchers reported.

The dagger dates back to the 14th century BC and is one of very few iron artifacts ever found from the ancient Egyptian culture, which isn't thought to have developed iron smelting until the 8th century BC — later than neighbouring countries, Comelli told CBC News in an email.

'High manufacturing quality'

"The problem with iron working is related to its high melting point (1,538 C). Because of it, early smiths couldn't heat ore enough to extract iron and couldn't forge the iron into weapons," she wrote.

Earlier iron objects were typically ornamental or ceremonial and made of meteoritic iron that was considered more valuable than gold, the researchers wrote.

It was shaped by hammering, Comelli said. King Tut's dagger had been suspected to have been made with that type of iron, but it had not been confirmed.

"In this context, the high manufacturing quality of Tutankhamun's dagger blade is evidence of early successful iron smithing in the 14th C. BCE," the researchers wrote in their paper.

They added that the finding also provides insight into Egyptian descriptions of iron that appeared around 100 years later, which use the term "iron of the sky."

"The introduction of the new composite term suggests that the ancient Egyptians … were aware that these rare chunks of iron fell from the sky already in the 13th C. BCE," the authors wrote.

 

[LumpOfCole]

Hide your baristas

 

[Garryk]

Aliens built the pyramids confirmed.

 

[j0hnnix]

 

[gdt]

So that thing is 3400 years old? Or am I not reading that right?

 

[Trojita]

Vibranium?

 

[GrizzleBoy]

Intredasting.

 

[veryslowhand]

 

[Sesha]

So does it have the power to control time or grant people Stands when stabbed?

 

[CopperPuppy]

 

[HStallion]

I love how the idea of making swords and weapons from meteorites was a thing even a few thousand years ago. Guess the idea of metal from the sky being magical and holding great power is nothing new to our species.

 

[Schadenfreude]

That is honestly pretty fucking badass. Wonder how hard it'd be to have a weapon made from a meteor.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Was looking for this

 

[Dalek]

Hide your baristas

Damn you're fast.

 

[hodgy100]

 

[Skittles]

That is honestly pretty fucking badass. Wonder how hard it'd be to have a weapon made from a meteor.

Sokka Meteor Sword

 

[enzo_gt]

That's pretty badass.

 

[Apathy]

It's happening stargate or that futurama episode are real

 

[TacticalHotdog]

That is honestly pretty fucking badass. Wonder how hard it'd be to have a weapon made from a meteor.

A company made a 1911 from a meteor

Selling for $4.5 million

 

[DiipuSurotu]

 

[Heshinsi]

That is honestly pretty fucking badass. Wonder how hard it'd be to have a weapon made from a meteor.

If you're Pharoah, better question would be how many would have to die before someone with enough balls said, "sure I can make a dagger for you out that sky rock oh noble, most merciful Pharoah."

 

[maquiladora]

So that thing is 3400 years old? Or am I not reading that right?

Give or take 100 years.

 

[Magwik]

Hide your baristas

Druckmann is King Tut?

 

[Mammoth Jones]

What's that clear shit on the handle?

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Tutankhamun was fighting the Stygians side by side with Conan

I always suspected as much

 

[Heshinsi]

What's that clear shit on the handle?

One of the chaos emeralds.

 

[Dice//]

Man, that's out of this world.

Spoiler

;D

 

[Bronetta]

One of the chaos emeralds.

Obama chuckled

 

[Schadenfreude]

A company made a 1911 from a meteor

Selling for $4.5 million

Not like I really wanted a weapon out of meteor. ;_______;

 

[teruterubozu]

Tutankhamun was fighting the Stygians side by side with Conan

I always suspected as much

King Tut was a scrub. At least that's what the documentaries tell me.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

The Stargate references are stretching it here when we've got a perfect reference with Legends of Tomorrow.

 

[Just_myles]

Tutankhamun was fighting the Stygians side by side with Conan

hahaha word

 

[Head of Vengarl]

That's some gangster ass shit.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

King Tut was a scrub. At least that's what the documentaries tell me.

With this new information that Tut had a star metal weapon, it's now obvious that these "documentaries" have been part of a massive disinformation campaign by by the Serpent Men.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Sokka Meteor Sword

Yeah, one of the simplest looking yet most beautiful build they did, along with the Jade Sword from last month.

I'm a sucker for chinese swords.

 

[Earendil]

Sokka Meteor Sword

Yeah, one of the simplest looking yet most beautiful build they did, along with the Jade Sword from last month.

I'm a sucker for chinese swords.

That's awesome...

 

[TheRealTalker]

thought the same thing lol

 

[Oregano]

Dat first post. Perfection.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Straight out of a fucking fantasy novel. Fucking bad ass.

 

[Space Runaway]

Ah, a star metal blade to defeat the snakemen.

 

[cdyhybrid]

Tut was ballin.

 

[adj_noun]

So what are we talking here. +2? +3?

 

[Kelsdesu]

Dat Star metal doh. +10 crit on reptiles.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

Maybe I'm confused.
14th century BC is 3400 years ago. How come the article says smelting was only discovered in Egypt 2800 years ago?

edit:
Doooh

 

[TAJ]

Maybe I'm confused.
14th century BC is 3400 years ago. How come the article says smelting was only discovered in Egypt 2800 years ago?

Because this wasn't smelted.

 

[cdyhybrid]

Maybe I'm confused.
14th century BC is 3400 years ago. How come the article says smelting was only discovered in Egypt 2800 years ago?

.

 

[ApharmdX]

I thought of that and this:

 

[triplestation]

tsoukalos was right

we were the clowns

 

[massoluk]

And when you pierce yourself with it, you may end up dead, or gain a superhuman apparition that always stand by you.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Well that's baller as all hell.