Egyptian Pharaoh, King Tut's Dagger Made From Meteorite

King Tutankhamun, a famous Egyptian Pharaoh, is one of the most popular pharoahs in history. The discovery of his well-preserved tomb 1922 baffled archeologists because of its condition. Together with the pharaoh's body, some ornaments fit for a royalty were seen in his burial site including a seemingly normal dagger. But a recent study found out that the dagger was made from iron materials taken from a meteorite.

King Tut, as the pharaoh is more popularly known, is the 12th King of the Egyptian dynasty. Historically speaking, the young King who only ruled for approximately eight to nine years and was not as significant as the other rulers. But what made him popular is the contribution of his intact tomb to archeologists which evaded decay for more than 3,000 years. British archeologist Howard Carter lead the excavation of King Tutankhamun's tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, according to Biography.com.

In the paper published in the journal of Meteorics and Planetary Science, the authors said that the use of meteoric iron in the past had been widely debated due to controversial results of previous studies. But a recent study on King Tut's dagger, discovered in 1925, confirms the ancient belief that the iron used in weaponry was from a meteorite.

The dagger, despite more than 3,000 years of isolation, remains untarnished with no evidence of rust when it was discovered by the same archeologist who unearthed Tutankhamun, according to a report by BBC.

To arrive at this mystifying finding, the researchers used portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, which the paper said to "strongly" support the meteoric origin of the dagger.

In 1970, it was first suggested that the dagger was made from meteors due to high nickel content, but the findings were not published. But after another set of rigorous scrutiny by German and Egyptian researchers, using their "non-invasive" x-ray techniques, it was proven that the dagger is made out of iron materials of an alien source.

"The blade's high Ni content, along with the minor amount of Co and a Ni/Co ratio of ~20, strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin," said the authors of the paper in a statement.

What baffles the archeologist is the production aspect of the dagger, citing that the dagger exhibits mastery of ironwork during King Tut's time, which shows that ancient Egyptians are also ahead of their time.

"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 C. BCE, anticipating Western culture by more than two millennia," the paper's author added in a statement published by The Guardian.

According to the study, some other metal artifacts hammered into thin sheets are also made of meteoric iron materials.