Latest news with #SalvadorRovira-Llorens
Time of India
4 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Mysterious jewellery made from alien world metal found in 3,000-year-old treasure
A stunning archaeological discovery in Spain is rewriting the story of ancient metalworking . Hidden within the famed Treasure of Villena , researchers have discovered two iron artifacts crafted from a substance meteoritic iron that does not belong to the Earth. It is a rare metal that arrived on Earth via falling space rocks. The treasure which dates back over 3,000 years, includes a bracelet and a decorative hemisphere. Both of the objects are made from extraterrestrial material . This surprising find predates the known start of the Iron Age in Iberia and reveals early humans' advanced use of celestial metals. Scientists discovered alien world metal jewellery The treasure was discovered in 1963 in Alicante, Spain. The Treasure of Villena consists of 66 stunning artifacts, mostly gold, from the late Bronze Age. But among them unusual iron items—a bracelet and a small dome—stood out. Their iron composition seemed out of place for an era that hadn't yet embraced iron tools or ornaments. What is the source of alien metal by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo Researchers led by Salvador Rovira-Llorens, former conservation head at Spain's National Archaeological Museum, tested the artifacts using mass spectrometry. They found the iron was rich in nickel which is a distinct marker of meteoritic origin. Unlike iron mined from Earth, this variety falls from space and makes these items some of the earliest known examples of space metal used by humans. Redefining Iberian metallurgy These artifacts date to between 1400 and 1200 BCE, nearly 500 years before the Iron Age began in Iberia around 850 BCE. The discovery challenges established timelines and suggests that ancient Iberians not only encountered meteoritic iron but also recognized its value and developed methods to shape artefacts and jewellery. Significance of meteorite iron Meteoritic iron was used in other ancient cultures like Egypt's Tutankhamun's dagger. Similarly, the Iberians may have regarded this 'metal from the heavens' as special. The items may have carried ritual or symbolic meaning, possibly worn or wielded by elite members of society. A first for Iberian archaeology This is the first recorded use of meteoritic iron in Iberia. The artifacts offer a rare glimpse into Bronze Age innovation. Published in Trabajos de Prehistoria, the discovery has opened the door to more non-invasive tests that could uncover further secrets from the stars that are locked within Earth's oldest treasures.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Strange Metal From Beyond Our World Found in an Ancient Treasure Stash
Amidst a cache of glittering golden treasures from the Iberian Bronze Age, a pair of corroded objects might be the most precious of all. A dull bracelet and a rusted hollow hemisphere decorated with gold are forged, researchers have found, not out of metal from beneath the ground, but with iron from meteorites that fell from the sky. The discovery, led by now-retired head of conservation at the National Archeological Museum Spain, Salvador Rovira-Llorens, was revealed in a paper published last year, and suggests that metalworking technology and techniques were far more advanced than we thought in Iberia more than 3,000 years ago. The Treasure of Villena, as the cache of 66 mostly gold objects is known, was discovered more than 60 years ago in 1963 in what is now Alicante in Spain, and has since come to be regarded as one of the most important examples of Bronze Age goldsmithing in the Iberian Peninsula, and the whole of Europe. However, determining the age of the collection has been somewhat difficult to do, thanks to two objects: a small, hollow hemisphere, thought to be part of a scepter or sword hilt; and a single, torc-like bracelet. Both have what archaeologists have described as a "ferrous" appearance – that is, they seem to be made of iron. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Iron Age – where smelted terrestrial iron began to replace bronze – didn't start until around 850 BCE. The problem is that the gold materials have been dated to between 1500 and 1200 BCE. So working out where the ferrous-looking artifacts sit in the context of the Treasure of Villena has been something of a puzzle. But iron ore from Earth's crust is not the only place source of malleable iron. There's a number of pre-Iron Age iron artifacts around the world that were forged from the stuff of meteorites. Perhaps most famous is the meteoritic iron dagger of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, but there are other Bronze Age weapons made of the material, and they were very highly prized. There is a way to tell the difference: iron from meteorites has a much higher nickel content than iron dug out of Earth's ground. So researchers obtained permission from the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Villena, which houses the collection, to carefully test the two artifacts, and determine just how much nickel they contained. They carefully took samples of both artifacts, and subjected the material to mass spectrometry to determine their composition. In spite of the high degree of corrosion, which alters the elemental makeup of the artifact, the results strongly suggest that both the hemisphere and the bracelet were made from meteoritic iron. This neatly solves the dilemma of how the two artifacts align with the rest of the collection: they were made around the same period, dating back to around 1400 to 1200 BCE. "The available data suggest that the cap and bracelet from the Treasure of Villena would currently be the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula," the researchers explain in their paper, "which is compatible with a Late Bronze chronology, prior to the beginning of the widespread production of terrestrial iron." Now, because the objects are so badly corroded, the results aren't conclusive. But there are more recent, non-invasive techniques that could be applied to the objects to obtain a more detailed set of data that would help cement the findings, the team suggest. The findings were published in Trabajos de Prehistoria. An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024. 3,500-Year-Old Pharaoh's Tomb Found in Egypt Is First Since Tutankhamun's Scientists Put a Human Language Gene Into Mice And Changed Their Voice Scientists Sniffed Ancient Egyptian Mummies And Got a Surprise
