60 years ago, an extraterrestrial metal was found inside a Bronze Age treasure discovered.
Scientists have identified “meteroic iron” in the so-called “Vilenna Treasure”, a collection found in December 1963 in the city of Villena in Alicante, Spain.
In a joint study, researchers from Saudi Arabia and Spain examined two pieces of iron from the collection. One is a C-shaped bracelet and the other is a gold-plated hollow sphere thought to have been used as an ornament on a sword pommel. Both pieces were reportedly produced in the Late Bronze Age, between 1400 and 1200 BC.
In the study published in the scientific journal Trabajos De Prehistoria, it was determined that an iron-nickel alloy similar to the meteroic core was used in the fragments.
According to the researchers, these fragments have similar properties to iron found in a meteorite that hit the Earth about 1 million years ago.
These are the first meteorite iron objects found on the Iberian Peninsula, archaeologists said.
“The link between gold and iron is important because both had great social and symbolic value. There were no kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula during this historical period. So the pieces were probably hidden treasures that belonged to a whole community, not just one individual.”
Montero-Ruiz also pointed out that in order to use extraterrestrial materials, the communities at the time must have developed a new technology:
Iron technology is completely different from copper-based metallurgy and noble metals (gold and silver). So communities that started working with meteoric iron and then with iron from Earth must have had to develop new technology. It is fascinating to see what cultures did with new technologies, and how experimentation and curiosity were part of these ancient societies.
To date, two items containing meteroic iron have been found. These included a 900 BC arrowhead from Mörigen in the Swiss canton of Bern and some items from 800 BC in Poland.
