Tutankhamun's meteoric iron dagger blade
Daga de hierro de Tutankamón
- Date
- 1925 · confidence medium
- Place
- Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt
- Credited to
- Howard Carter
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
A dagger with a meteoric-iron blade found among the wrappings of Tutankhamun's mummy, whose chemical composition matches that of meteorites, evidencing the use of celestial iron in 14th-century BC Egypt.
What it led to
- early evidence of meteoric-iron working before ironworking proper
- isotopic composition studies confirming its extraterrestrial origin
- emblematic piece displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo