Arrowhead Made From 3,500-Year-Old Meteorite Found in Switzerland

A world group of researchers in Switzerland has found {that a} late-Bronze Age arrowhead was initially constructed out of meteoritic iron, in response to a research revealed in August within the Journal of Archaeological Science. 

Weighing 2.9 grams and measuring about one and a half inches lengthy and fewer than an inch large, the rust-covered arrowhead was initially excavated within the late nineteenth century from a prehistoric habitation close to Mörigen on Switzerland’s Lake Biel, in response to the research coordinated by the Pure Historical past Museum of Bern. This website is lower than 5 miles southwest of a recognized area in Bernese Jura, bestrewn with over 2,000 fragments from the Twannberg meteorite, the most important of the eight meteorites which have been present in Switzerland, in response to the Pure Historical past Museum of Bern. Led by Dr. Beda Hofmann, the analysis group examined the arrowhead with a number of non-destructive evaluation methods, together with X-ray fluorescence, a course of that analyzes an object’s chemical composition, and high-sensitivity gamma spectrometry, a technique that detects radioactive supplies. 

By means of these research, the researchers discovered that the flat arrowhead revealed a deformed laminated texture resembling the distinct Widmanstätten sample — layered crystalline markings attribute of iron meteorites. These analyses additionally confirmed that the arrowhead was composed of aluminum-26 isotopes, a “cosmogenic” chemical factor, in addition to traces of an iron and nickel compound that’s in line with meteoritic content material, in response to the researchers’ findings. Nonetheless, the iron arrowhead’s construction didn’t match the scattered fragments of the Twannberg meteorite. As a substitute, researchers imagine that the arrowhead got here from a distinct area rock that fell over 3,500 years in the past and left a gaggle of craters in present-day Estonia. They think that the meteoritic iron was subsequently traded after it was unearthed, and that further artifacts originating from the identical meteorite “could also be current in archaeological collections,” in response to the research.

“It’s nearly unimaginable to ‘see’ that iron is meteoritic,” Hofmann, who heads the Pure Historical past Museum of Bern’s Earth Sciences Division, advised Hyperallergic in an electronic mail. “Largely, these will not be too attractive-looking rusty objects.”

Hofmann added that he thinks extra info may be gathered if archaeological collections in Europe and past had been “roughly systematically looked for early meteoritic iron,” particularly these containing iron artifacts relationship again to the Bronze Age.

“As soon as extra meteoritic objects are recognized, further analyses might be carried out to check the supply,” Hofmann mentioned.

Earlier than 1200 BCE, iron was a uncommon materials and principally sourced from meteorites that fell to Earth, in response to analysis revealed within the Journal of Archaeological Science in 2017.

“Archaeological objects fabricated from meteoritic iron are extraordinarily uncommon,” in response to a information launch revealed by the Pure Historical past Museum of Bern. Whereas meteoritic iron is understood to have been utilized in 55 objects present in 22 totally different websites throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, these artifacts are extraordinarily unusual in central and western Europe, having solely been discovered twice, each instances in Poland: an axe in Wietrzno-Bobrka and bracelets in Częstochowa-Raków, in response to the research.

The iron arrowhead will probably be on show on the Bern Historical past Museum as a part of a particular Bronze Age exhibition opening in February 2024 and operating till April 2025.